“Will Things Ever Get Better?” is comprised of artworks Xiang Jing created from 2009 to 2011 - a timeframe that includes the artist’s relocation from Shanghai back to Beijing in the year 2009. After Xiang Jing concludes her discussion on female identity, she now opens up to a new topic on the “predicament” faced by human beings. Similar to “Naked Beyond Skin” series, Xiang Jing still insists on restoring the “apprehensibility” nature of art, and she insists on creating art that is inexplicable but which causes one’s body to have a reaction. With this collection of artworks, she starts her tour from Beijing and then visits Shanghai and Taipei, allowing viewers to come in front of her artworks and experience them first-hand, participating in discussions on predicament confronted by human beings.
The Acrobat Series and the Animal Series form the collection. The Acrobat Series is a metaphor for human’s social character and the Animal Series is a metaphor for human’s natural character. The Acrobat Series is a metaphor for the social and exterior façade of human nature; and the Animal Series is a metaphor for the internal aspect of human nature that is masked by our social identity - true redemption of human nature lies therein. The artwork also reflects Xiang Jing’s attempt to continue exploring oriental aesthetics language, although it is not thorough - it is very difficult to find its counterpart in Western contemporary art language system.
During the exhibition, Xiang Jing poses the real question of “Will Things Ever Get Better?” to the public via Internet, email and at exhibition site, and collects many answers in different cities. The artist’s attempt to interact with audience in the exhibition context is warmly received by the audience. During the summer of 2013 in Taipei, the visitor traffic of Xiang Jing’s exhibition ranks top among all exhibitions in Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art. Selected answers from audience are included the two exhibition catalogues published in Mainland China and Taiwan. The catalogues, along with the two documentaries filmed for “Will Things Ever Get Better?”, form the complete collective for this series of work.