Zhang Peili’s three-screen video “At Sea” is undoubtedly the most daring piece in his new work exhibition at the Red Brick Art Museum, stepping out of his creative comfort zone and expressive territory. From the multi-angled camera work, the visual effects harmonized by artificial intelligence, the texture of costumes and props, to the extensive list of crew members at the end, it is evident that Zhang Peili has embraced and experimented with industrial film production. However, this video, which the artist calls a “pseudo-film,” seems to be an attempt at parodying genre films, canonical narratives, and classic images.

The opening scene, which traverses through clouds and mist with a bird’s-eye view, evokes the magical opening of a heavily effects-laden genre film. Subsequently, we are presented with a prototypical shipwreck scenario, where the sea is sublime and merciless, and humans are insignificant and helpless. A character with distinct middle-class and urban professional attributes calmly makes a phone call from a lifebuoy, accompanied by Mozart’s background music. These symbols together form a Camusian absurd landscape. We can easily place ourselves in this uncertain, anxious, yet methodically progressing situation. Like the gas cylinders repeatedly cut, rolled, and collided in other works in the exhibition, “At Sea” presents an urgent danger from another perspective, in a static, silent, and immersive manner.