We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cosmo  a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cosmo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Vessel, the first piece I made in MICA is a very meaningful piece to me. Vessel explores the tension in forming female subjectivity. The outside container consists of quilted latex fabric, flat steel bars and chains made of plastic zip ties. This interactive vessel reacts to the audience’s clapping by mapping randomly generated blood spatter onto the latex. In this work, the quilted latex is a trace of a dynamic of how females are expected to view, understand, perform, and control their bodies. Females are constantly assuring, doubting, and reassuring themselves as a reaction to the pre-existing patriarchal societal framework. This dynamic of a collective resistance to structural suppression is often obscure and invisible yet is a common daily activity in female groups. The audience is allowed to enter the vessel from the back of the container and become vulnerable, at the same time, they are also encouraged to stay outside and give impetus to the piece.

In the year when I created Vessel, there were some tragedies in my home country China due to female identity. Those sad stories in our community led me to a further reflection on the identity and living circumstances of women in mainland China. I wanted to discuss the plight of women while also realizing that the difficulties faced by each individual in this community of women are different, so we cannot generalize about the plight of women. Therefore, when creating “Vessel,” I wanted to use mechanisms similar to games to help me express myself better. I hoped to create a work/space where the audience could receive feedback on this piece through interaction, and how this feedback is understood varies from person to person. When designing the interactive features of this piece, I hoped to initiate the running of code and projections in unexpected ways to express that the plight of women is a state that permeates life at all times, and the triggered emotions and thoughts are very random.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Cosmo, an in-between creature that eats away the borders of binary categories, currently studies at Rinehart School of Sculpture at MICA. Their identity in human society is a contemporary artist whose work centers on the living experience of liminality. Their technology-integrated ceramic sculpture practice tends to create a space for the margin of two binary categories, such as male and female, human and non-human, nature and culture, and finally to reclaim the right to use clay as the paper for the history of female and non-binary groups.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think since artist and art serve as a special adhesive of the society that government and society should give more support for us to live and create. For example, offering affordable working space, helping connecting the community and giving freedom to artistic speech. To achieve that, It is also imperative that we gradually detach the art world from a capitalistic-centered mode and transition towards a more community-based art economy. Art holds intrinsic value beyond its monetary worth; it serves as a mirror reflecting societal values, narratives, and aspirations. By shifting the focus away from the commercialization of art and prioritizing community engagement, we can foster a more inclusive and accessible creative landscape. Art should exist and thrive within communities, sparking conversations, inspiring change, and nurturing cultural identity. Instead of only being confined to the walls of affluent collectors, art should be celebrated in public spaces, galleries, and grassroots initiatives, where it can resonate with diverse audiences and contribute to the collective well-being of society.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I have some concerns around it. I understand it as another type of stock in the name of art and in practice the art value in it becomes less important.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: cosmo_the_nomandic
• Other: [email protected]