UCCA's ongoing "Curated By" series has produced some quality exhibitions, but our favorite so far is Lu Yang's "The Anatomy of Rage." This young multimedia artist mixes and matches ancient traditions, modern science and CGI effects in works that playfully pose questions about the nature of anger and belief.

What happens when a Buddhist deity's temper flares? Does the emotion originate from the same physical entity as it does in humans? Is it possible to mix myth with science? Lu Yang's curiosity about what lines separate fact and fiction is evident when she superimposes images of the amygdala, the anger center of the brain, inside the heads of a range of fierce-faced Buddhist deities. Not only do the works visually underscore the inherent contradictions between science and religion, they also contrast traditional art with modern scientific diagrams.

The artist's video installation is well worth watching through to the end. The camera circles around a computer generated image of a terrifying-looking Guanyin, the 1,000 hand bodhisattva, flash-focusing in on a range of objects it is holding in its hands, including severed legs, human skulls filled with blood, and other paraphernalia. Each is frozen in frame for a few seconds while a digitalized voice explains the object and script appears underneath, much like Mortal Kombat meets the bodhisattva. The amygdala is present in this deity's skull as well, softly pulsing and glowing behind a face twisted in rage. That this figure in particular represents compassion is an intriging side note. Following this, the viewer is then treated to an extensive science lesson in how anger is physically manifested in the body.

It's no wonder that Zhang Peili, the father of Chinese video art, chose to curate the works of this recent art school grad. Lu Yang's art experiments with form, function and meaning, while at the same time eliciting reactions in the viewer that very much have to do with the viewer's own belief system and culture, much like Peili's own ground-breaking works.

DETAILS

What: Lu Yang's Anatomy of Rage

Where: UCCA

When: through Nov. 20

Web: www.ucca.org.cn