foam wave

foam wave translates a computer-generated landscape into a physical surface. A single frame from a procedurally generated sequence is UV-printed onto memory foam, fixing an image drawn from a process capable of producing an open-ended landscape. The work brings the idea of an infinite digital landscape into contact with a finite, soft material surface. For the Santa Mònica, the work was newly fabricated in 2026 as twelve printed foam modules arranged on the floor in a 3 × 4 m rectangle. Visitors may touch the work and, after removing their shoes, walk, sit or lie on it.

Credits

With the assistance of Liu Xiaoguang. With thanks to aaajiao’s studio.

aaajiao

aaajiao (Xu Wenkai, born in 1984 in Xi’an, China) is a media artist and programmer living and working in Shanghai and Berlin. Using a virtual persona, he explores the cultural and political conditions of life on the Internet, paying particular attention to data processing, social media and the filtering of information. His multidisciplinary practice draws on architecture, topography and design to examine how a generation immersed in digital technologies experiences the world.

His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in collections including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, and Castello di Rivoli in Turin.