The solo exhibition “A Rabbit’s Tale” by artist Chen Xi opened on October 15, 2025, at the Museum of Cultures (MUSEC) in Lugano, Switzerland. The exhibition focuses on the artist’s vivid experiences and expressions as an independent individual in today’s world. Having personally witnessed the tremendous transformations that China has undergone over the past half-century, this leading Chinese contemporary artist condenses into her creative practice both an image history of China’s ever-changing reality from the 1990s to the present, and—equally—a personal chronicle of a woman’s growth within that historical process.
Curated by the renowned art historian Lü Peng, the exhibition, in his words, “centers firmly on the realities of China while continuously engaging in diverse linguistic experiments. Up to the present day, the artist has further outlined her most private doubts, attempting to pose inner questions as a means of conversing with the world. This exhibition offers audiences a compelling and exemplary case through which to understand the condition of contemporary Chinese art.”
“A Rabbit’s Tale” takes the evolving image of the “rabbit” as a narrative thread, connecting the artist’s changing perspectives on life and the world over different periods. From the expressionist language developed in the 1990s, to the introspective explorations of “the self” after 2000, to the deeply humane and emotionally resonant “Chinese Memories,” and finally to the emergence of the “rabbit” motif over the past decade, Chen Xi tells, through individual stories, of the existential questions that face human beings: How do we confront the future when possibilities unfold before us? How does one seek redemption when stranded in solitude? And amid the overwhelming pace of social change, what remains the meaning of life?