Freezing-cold exhibition captures winter memories

After the Spring Equinox on March 20, Shenzhen residents are greeted by a bone-chilling “winter,” where real snow and ice awaken memories of the cold season. This is a unique space created by contemporary artist, documentary director, and poet Shen Shaomin, part of his “Negative 20 Degrees” exhibition at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning.

Visitors take selfies at the “Negative 20 Degrees” exhibition in Shenzhen. Photos courtesy of the exhibition organizers unless otherwise stated

Visitors walk past a huge ice installation at the exhibition. Photo by Cao Zhen

Wrapped in full-length winter coats and stepping carefully across the snow-covered ground, visitors encounter not just an abstract recollection, but a tangible sensory experience in this -20 degrees Celsius environment. 

As snow falls and accumulates — reaching up to 30 centimeters on the ground — you can physically feel the biting cold, with frozen hands turning red and shoes gradually becoming wet.

An ice chair on display. Photo by Cao Zhen

Originally from northeastern China, Shen drew on his own memories of the north to create this immersive winter scene inside two massive inflatable membrane structures. Centered on snow, ice and water, the exhibition captures the rhythms and prolonged nature of winter. It blurs the boundary between nature and artifice, reality and memory, inviting visitors to experience winter not merely as a season, but as a living presence felt in the body.

Shen said that the exhibition is open to everyone’s interpretation and he just brought “winter” to Shenzhen — a city that rarely experiences it. 

Shen Shaomin

Li Zhenhua

Curator Li Zhenhua echoed this idea, saying the exhibition is designed around direct experience. “When you stumble through the thick snow at the exhibition, what you see is what you get,” he said. “Art conveys human experience — inexplicable yet tangible — within the shared space we occupy,” he wrote in the curatorial statement.

In addition to the snowfield, the exhibition also features Shen’s drawings and other works. A 20-meter-long video installation shows a man carving a path through waist-deep snow. The sustained, concentrated physical effort becomes a metaphor for finding a way forward through harsh conditions. The work suggests that spring is not found at the end of winter, but in each act of perseverance.

A snow-covered path through an ice tunnel. Photo by Cao Zhen

Shen’s eight-meter-long scroll unfolds a narrative of memories from northeastern China. Rendered in drawings and fragmented text, it captures old objects and scenes scattered across time. More than a personal journey back to childhood, it offers a subtle portrait of collective memory tied to a region. Each image on the scroll opens a doorway to the echoes of “home” and “the past” that linger beneath layers of time.

Shen serves as director of the Public Art Research Institute at Shenzhen University’s Benyuan Design and Research Center and as art director of the Science + Art Joint Laboratory at the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society. His multidisciplinary, cross-media practice spans installation, video, documentary, conceptual painting, poetry, public art and more.

Visitors admire Shen Shaomin’s drawings at the exhibition. Photo by Cao Zhen

An ice bed on display. Photo by Cao Zhen

More photos from the organizers:

Dates: Through May 10

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., closed Mondays

Tickets: 68-88 yuan

Venue: Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning, Futian District (深圳市当代艺术与城市规划馆)

Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit A2

Note: The museum provides full-length coats and earmuffs for visitors entering the freezing-cold space, but visitors are advised to wear long pants and waterproof warm shoes.