Drifder

2026

Glass | chain, steel | stereo soundscape

Single component: max. H:40, W:40, D:40 cm

（Click anywhere to activate the soundscape）

Since moving from land to water, my only neighbors have been spiders. They drift on the current with their light bodies, traveling vast distances to reach my boat, then patiently weave their home. This reminds me of myself:
I was born in Chongqing, shaped by its dock culture, its humid air where rivers meet, its boats large and small. Now my other home is on a boat in Berlin. An anchor holds me in place; the chain keeps me tethered. I am like a spider that has drifted from Chongqing to Berlin—arriving in a foreign place, finding a foothold amid uncertainty.
Perhaps this mirrors the new immigrant generation. By 2024, China had 11.7 million immigrants overseas; the post-90s generation makes up 55% of returnees. Spiders drift because they are light—much like post-90s immigrants, who carry no heavy "burden of homeland" and move flexibly between cultures. Yet this lightness is also fragile: vulnerable to the currents, in constant need of re-anchoring. And they carry their own baggage: language, skills, self-identity, sense of belonging, etc.