How porcelains make love: Geng Xue’s Mr. Sea (2014) and other moving image works

This article illuminates the secret symmetry between animation and porcelain mainly through a close reading of contemporary Chinese artist Geng Xue’s (b. 1983) single-channel video installation Hai gongzi ( Mr. Sea 2014), which presents a fantastical world almost entirely composed of blue-and-white porcelains. My analysis of Mr. Sea is situated (1) in relation to the legacy of the Shanghai Animation Studio; (2) in the discourse of how porcelain becomes contemporary art and (3) in Geng Xue’s oeuvre. Drawing on first-hand materials gathered through a studio visit and in-depth conversations with Geng Xue, this article argues that both porcelain and animation are arts of transformation, where contingency emerges. The belated recognition of animation as contemporary art raises issues regarding collecting and acquisition.