DORI DENG

Dori Deng is a Chinese British multidisciplinary artist based in the United Kingdom. She has committed extensive research to the philosophies of Modernist Architecture, thus imparting a deeply personal awareness of the self in industrial spaces. Working primarily with steel structures, rocks and LED neon lights, Deng opens a dialogue between the engineered and the natural, echoing re-surfacing conversations surrounding urbanisation that similarly underpinned the Modernist movement.

Deng has swiftly established herself as an invaluable collaborator in the music world, creating modular light installations for and working alongside the likes of Oliver Coates (Boiler Room), Mica Levi (London Sinfionetta), and Laurence Crane (Cafe Oto). In 2023, Deng’s first large scale commission was issued by Opera Grand Avignon: Three Lunar Seas, a contemporary opera in collaboration with composer Josephine Stevenson, inviting perhaps previously unconventional arenas to spur contemplations between the arts and urban landscapes.

Ark Kollekt presents four works from Deng’s ongoing Expansion Series (2020-present), an investigation into shifting cultural tectonics through the medium of projected light.