Drop in to the ARC, Glasgow to experience •~ghosts~• (song~xian) by Glasgow-based artist Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊. 

In early 2025, Song began working with a microbiologist, who captured microscopic footage of organisms living in the Song family pond. Song reimagined these organisms as eight glazed ceramic deities. These drew from the Daoist tradition of kim sin, in which statues of deities are themselves considered as spiritual presences, to which daily respects are paid in both temples and homes.

These ceramics were 3D scanned in the XR Lab at the Advanced Research Centre. Then, working with animators, Song transformed the 3D models into lively, animated beings, which sway gently, then dance fitfully.

These beings were originally made to appear in Song’s exhibition •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~• at Tramway, Glasgow (November 2025 – August 2026). There, they shimmered as eight small dancing lifeforms, within a much larger environment – which has the family pond as its physical and poetic heart. Song considers the gyrating, contorting beings to be part of a complex ecosystem, in which visible, crafted offerings are entangled with an expansive system of unseen energies - of atoms, microorganisms, ancestors and spirits.

Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊 is appearing as a panellist on the upcoming ARC Conversations on Tuesday 28 April - The Art of Research: Expanding Disciplinary Horizons - tickets for which are available on Eventbrite: https://the-art-of-research.eventbrite.co.uk

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•~ghosts~• (song~xian) by Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊 is produced by Film and Video Umbrella. 

•~ghosts~• (song~xian) is co-commissioned by FVU; Tramway, Glasgow; FACT, Liverpool; the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow; and is supported by Thinking Culture, a cultural programme from the University of Glasgow’s School of Culture & Creative Arts.

FVU and FACT are supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Tramway is supported by Creative Scotland.

Animators: Tim Dalzell (3D Modelling and Texturing); Maurice Andresen (Rigging, 3D Animation & Rendering)