Kaitian Cong
- Anna Lilli Garai
- Sep 26
- 3 min read
Kaitian Cong creates sculptures and installations that play with balance, transformation, and the space between solidity and fragility. Her work often begins with simple forms or materials, then shifts through small gestures that invite open interpretation. She sees objects as active participants in a process, not fixed things but elements in motion. Negative space, tension, and quiet visual rhythms are just as present as the materials themselves. Her recent projects, including “Checkmate” and “Where the Seed Dissolves,” reflect these ideas through precise, quiet compositions that draw attention to small details.
Q: In "Checkmate" you turn space into a kind of game. What keeps you interested in that back-and-forth dynamic?
A: For me, every placement and movement of an object implies existing rules, yet also creates new relationships and opens the possibility of breaking those rules. This process allows the object to escape from fixed definitions. What fascinates me is this openness—it keeps unfolding new pathways and invites me to reconsider both what objects are and how they relate to one another.
Q: "Where the Seed Dissolves" feels caught between solidity and fragility. How do you hold that balance while working?
A: I don’t deliberately pursue absolute stability in my work. Instead, I prefer to leave space for the material to express itself. Balance emerges through observation and intuition. The natural collisions between different materials bring the work to its most intriguing point—right at the edge: solid enough to exist, yet fragile enough to remind us of its transience.
Q: Change and transformation run through your work. Why do you keep returning to that theme?
A: For me, transformation is a way of observing the world. It allows me to capture fleeting shifts that often go unnoticed and provides a means of breaking fixed boundaries while opening up new possibilities. I return to this theme again and again because change is not just a subject of my work—it is a condition of existence itself.
Q: Some of your pieces seem to hide as much as they reveal. What draws you to that kind of tension?
A: I’m very drawn to this state of tension. For me, hiding is not about absence but about invitation—an invitation for viewers to slow down and approach the work in their own way. This openness keeps the work alive, leaving space for multiple readings and encouraging more angles of perception.
Q: Negative space in your work feels like an active element. How do you treat emptiness as material?
A: Negative space plays a crucial role in my work. It directs the viewer’s gaze, highlights what I want to express, and creates a rhythm through distance between objects. For me, emptiness is not a void but an active presence—a really essential part of my work.
Q: Moving from two dimensions into sculpture shifts the experience. What makes you decide when a piece needs that step?
A: That’s a great question—I rarely think of it in those terms. For me, it’s more an intuitive decision, a response to what the work itself asks for. Sometimes an image demands to enter space and engage in direct dialogue. When it begins to ask for weight, volume, or touch, I sense it should become a sculpture. And if bringing it into space allows the audience to experience and understand it more fully, then I let it take that step.
