Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, in collaboration with K11 Art Foundation Hong Kong, presents EXHAUST, the first solo exhibition in Italy by London-based Chinese artist Xin Liu, with curatorial direction by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Liu’s practice examines the aftermath of technological and scientific aspiration – the debris and residue that accumulates at sites of progress. As a byproduct of industry, exhaust is re-examined as generative, explored in research projects that span the frontiers of genetics and cryogenics, satellite imagery and space research, along with bioplastic engineering and the Anthropocene. Taken together, Liu’s works form a constellation of metabolic worlds – a research trajectory she calls Cosmic Metabolism.
Bringing together a selection of new and recent works, EXHAUST traces how human aspiration mutates and decays, contributing to material lifecycles both microscopic and astronomic. Three key works ground this study: The White Stone (2021), The Map: Karamay (2026), and The Lab (2026). In total, the exhibition maps the transformation of interplanetary and terrestrial landscapes, studying monumentality, degradation and the accelerating production of
exhaust at various scientific frontiers.
