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Work by Furen Dai: handling-instructions poster titled "HOW TO HANDLE A PRECIOUS MAN", with warning icons, diagrams of a man, and a crate labeled "MAN: THE UNIVERSAL STANDARD".
Work by Furen Dai: woman in a dark blue top reaching to stick a sheet of paper on a bright yellow wall covered with sheets of black Chinese characters.
Work by Furen Dai: staged scene of a person in a white lab coat and gloves examining a seated man, in front of a green sign reading "PRECIOUS MAN CONSERVATION LAB".
Work by Furen Dai: woman in a blue sleeveless dress standing in shallow water holding a small tablet screen against her body, under a blue sky.
Work by Furen Dai: yellow hanging sheet covered with nested rows of small black, blue, and purple labels listing census race categories and years.
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Furen Dai’s practice has focused largely on the economy of culture industry, and how languages lose function, usage, and history. Dai’s hybrid art practice utilizes video, sound, sculpture, painting and collaboration. Her years as a professional translator and interest in linguistic studies have guided her artistic practice since 2015. She has been researching and developing the nearly extinct language of NüShu. The language, derived from Chinese characters, was created and used exclusively by women.

Furen Dai's artistic practice has focused largely on the economy of the cultural industry, and how languages lose function, usage and history. Dai’s hybrid art practice utilizes video, sound, sculpture, painting and collaboration. Her years as a professional translator and interest in linguistic studies have guided her artistic practice since 2015. She has exhibited work at the National Art Center, Tokyo; Athens Digital Arts Festival, Greece; International Video Art Festival Now&After, Moscow, Russia; and Edinburgh Artists’ Moving Image Festival, Scotland, amongst others. She is a recipient of residencies and fellowships at Art OMI, International Studio and Curatorial Program, Elsewhere, Samson Projects and The Studios at MASS MoCA. She received her BA from Beijing Foreign Studies University in China and her MFA from Tufts University.

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