One of the relationships between elements in a novel can very well be that of conflict, but reducing a narrative to conflict is absurd.
Ursula K. Le Guin
The title of the exhibition, Heavenly Questions, comes from a poem by Qu Yuan, an exiled and suicidal poet from the 4th–3rd century BCE, which, according to the artist, consists of philosophical questions ranging from the origin of the universe to human matters.
Before entering the exhibition itself, it is important to note that “Heavenly Questions,” in Chinese Tianwen, is also the name of a series of missions in the Chinese space program, within which, in 2025, the scientific exploration probe Tianwen-2 was launched. Considering the scientific and para-scientific scope of the universes evoked here, the first series of works produced by Mingyu Wu for the challenge posed by the Lisbon Municipal Galleries emerges, entitled Axiomatic.
An axiom is a fundamental and self-evident truth, a basic proposition accepted as true without the need for proof, serving as a starting point to build systems of knowledge, theories, and demonstrations in areas such as mathematics, logic, philosophy, and geometry. Let us start with this last one. In geometry, the axiom “Through two points, there is exactly one straight line” is unavoidable.
However, the definition of an axiom becomes entirely contradictory when applied to the arts, and specifically to the ceramic work developed by Mingyu Wu.
Ceramics, and particularly porcelain and stoneware, are unpredictable materials and domains of work. Too much water, too little material, poorly kneaded clay, uneven thickness, sudden drying, short firing, inadequate temperature—any of these can ruin the work, causing pieces to crack, break, shatter, melt, shrink, or change color. These are undesired effects resulting from inefficient handling of materials, techniques, and tools.
Why, then, does the word axiom arise in conversation with Mingyu Wu, giving title to one of the series presented by the artist at the Boavista Gallery? The artist seems to throw herself into an endless challenge: to overcome the improbabilities of the material and the labour of working with ceramics.
The Axiomatic series, composed of six stoneware elements, stands rigidly on bases arranged sequentially in the gallery, creating an angular path for the viewer. The elements are not monuments—better said, they are not models representing or rehearsing monuments. Positioned at human height, they are bodies that converse with ours and transport us to a stripped-down, scientific, timeless landscape. These pieces are the result of meticulous, patient modelling. Assuming the form of monolithic, solid objects, they bear the different hues of their clays or the oxides the artist applied to colour them. According to the artist, the idea of Axiomatic comes from a short science fiction story of the same name by Greg Egan, about a man who implants a cerebral device to gain the determination needed to exact revenge for his wife’s murder. The story is set in an undefined future where it is possible to artificially and temporarily alter, at low cost, the synaptic patterns that govern human behaviour. Through the theme of bioengineering, the story raises questions about the nature of the “self” and the axiomatically unquestionable (and unprovable) core of our belief, value, knowledge, and power systems. At the heart of rationality lies the unfathomable night! For this reason, what is most important, for Mingyu Wu, in the pieces of this series is invisible: the axiom [axis].
The works on the upper floor, by contrast, result from a fast and spontaneous gesture, a “quick firing,” rejecting any control in modelling or firing. Here, the artist experiments with another type of movement and relationship with the material, hoping it will respond with unpredictable behaviour.
Resembling rolled-up sacks and blankets—a life on the move?—the pieces emerge from a production process entirely unconventional, involving porcelain absorbed by a consumable material that disappears in the kiln under heat. From this rapid firing, only shells, membranes, and pores remain from these coverings, filled in their raw state. This series of porcelain works, entitled Platform, borrowing its name from a song in a Jia Zhangke film of the same title, reflects on waiting, the ambiguous sense of belonging to a place, and the yearning for an un-lived life. This body of work speaks of the transition of matter, the transience of life, and existential precarity.
Shells, fossils, bones. Can we speak of speculative fiction when thinking about the artist’s experiments with concepts such as balance, density, and archetype?
From the past to a future?
From a timeless moment, or from an elemental synthesis composed of a time full of times?
If nothing else remained, what would endure?
Mingyu Wu’s works result from complex processes of self-knowledge, displacement, cultural shock and confrontation, reconciliation, and silence. Each piece seems to function as an enigmatic capsule of encrypted, condensed, crystallised, and inaccessible data. With profound knowledge of her discipline, its inherent materialities, expressive forms, and representational possibilities, and with specific interests in philosophical, spiritual, and cultural/literary questions, Mingyu Wu establishes, for each series of works, a challenging set of requirements that allows her to explore the intriguing (and sometimes obscure) properties and possibilities of materials, using different techniques, devices, and “firing” temperatures—both physical and intellectual.
Hence arises the importance of discovering, reflecting, and questioning what is evident, incontestable, unquestionable—that is, what belongs to the realm of the axiom.
– Sara Antónia Matos and Pedro Faro
– 26.04.2026