Multidisciplinary artist Liang Shaoji, known for installations and mixed-media works incorporating live silkworms, died on September 14 in Shanghai following an illness, his longtime dealer ShanghART announced. He was 81 years old. Born in 1945 in Shanghai, Liang forged a singular path that joined textile labor, experimental sculpture, and time-based practice into one of contemporary art\u2019s most distinctive bodies of work.<\/p>\n
As a young adult, Liang was unable to join his local arts school because enrollments were barred throughout the Cultural Revolution, and he was instead sent to work in a textile factory. Afterward, in 1986, he was admitted to the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou (formerly the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts). There he trained under the Bulgarian artist Marin Varbanov and took up soft sculpture<\/em>, the fiber-based movement Varbanov co-established. The technique\u2014three-dimensional art constructed from fabrics, fibers, and organic materials\u2014would come to define Liang\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n In 1989, Liang began his Nature<\/em> series, incorporating real silkworms into installations, video art, and performances. Drawing on his experience as a fabric worker, he allowed silkworms to take over environments, gently guiding their ceaseless silkspinning. He started on an intimate scale\u2014coating objects such as shoes and coffee cups\u2014before expanding to large-scale installations. These silk-encrusted, conceptual works probe time, transformation, purpose, and existence, reflecting Liang\u2019s interests in Eastern philosophies and aesthetics.<\/p>\n His art has been exhibited widely: at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing (1989); ShanghART Space, Shanghai (2007); Hayward Gallery, London (2012); Al Riwaq, Doha (2016); and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitiba (2017). In 1999, his works appeared simultaneously in the 48th Venice Biennale, the sixth Istanbul Biennale, and the fifth Lyon Biennale. He won the Chinese Contemporary Art Award in 2002 and received the Prince Claus Award in 2009. Most recently, his solo exhibitions \u001cSea of the Cloud\u001d at Shenzhen\u0019s Sea World Culture and Arts Center (2024) and \u001cSilk Radiance\u001d at the Liangzhu Museum (2025) featured his largest silkworm installations to date.<\/p>\n While some critics voiced concerns over the use of live animals in artworks, Liang regarded silkworms as artistic \u001ccollaborators\u001d and devoted much of his life to rearing them with care, seeing an equality between himself and the insects. He once mused, \u001cConsumed by the pursuits of life, am I not a silkworm myself?\u001d<\/p>\n Liang Shaoji\u0019s passing closes a life devoted to art made with life itself\u2014an oeuvre spun from fabric, fiber, and the fragile measure of time.<\/p>\nThe \u001cNature\u001d series and global recognition<\/h2>\n
Ethics and a guiding philosophy<\/h2>\n