GAME: Liquid Left by aaajiao

aaajiao

Game

Location: Rowden White Library, Level 2, Student Pavilion, University of Melbourne, Parkville (MAP)
Monday to Friday, 9am-7pm

"我不害怕。我不在了，湿也永远会在。"
"I am not afraid. Even if I am gone, the wetness will always remain."

Liquid Left by aaajiao, the virtual persona of Shanghai-and Berlin-based artist Xu Wenkai, is a 2.5D atmospheric narrative game that explores how language, systems, and environments shape perception. Working across media art, writing, and programming, aaajiao’s practice examines internet culture and digital infrastructures, reflecting on the social and political conditions of networked life.

Presented within the Rowden White Library’s gaming space as part of To Name the World, Liquid Left, adapted from Xindi's fiction Liquid Left, invites players to play as didi, a sentient droplet navigating a breathing, organic world. Through a series of abstract, sensory stages, players explore themes of language, physical connection, and the cycle of nature.

About the Artist

Active online as a media artist, blogger, activist and programmer, aaajiao is the virtual persona of Shanghai- and Berlin- artist Xu Wenkai. Born in 1984—the title of George Orwell’s classic allegorical novel— and in one of China’s oldest cities, Xi’an, aaajiao’s art and works are marked by a strong dystopian awareness, literati spirits and sophistication. Many of aaajiao’s works speak to new thinkings, controversies and phenomenon around the Internet, with specific projects focusing on the processing of data, the blogsphere and China’s Great Fire Wall. aaajiao’s recent projects extend his practice to various disciplines (among them, architecture, topography, and design) to capture the pulse of the young generation consuming cyber technology and living in social media.

aaajiao's works have appeared in the following museums and institutions, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2025); HKW | Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2025, 2010); Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou (2025); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2024, 2023); West Bund Museum, Shanghai (2024); Today Art Museum, Beijing (2023, 2020, 2014); Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou (2023); HOW Art Museum, Shanghai (2023, 2019); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2022); OCAT, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an (2014, 2016, 2017, 2021); Asia Culture Center, Gwangju (2021); Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2020) ; Ars Electronica, Linz (2020); UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2020); The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston (2018); Villa Medici, Rome (2018); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2018, 2017); Haus der elektronischen Künste, Basel (2017); Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milano (2017); Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas (2016); Jewish Museum, New York (2016); Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2023, 2016); K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong and chi K11 art museum, Shanghai (2016, 2014, 2013); MinSheng Art Museum, Beijing, Shanghai (2016, 2015, 2015); ZKM | Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2015); The National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2014, 2011).