7. – 30.8.2026

In Tianjun Li’s solo exhibition Bird Collisions at Forum Box, they employ the bird as a cross-cultural symbol to map the entanglement of ecology and migration.

Bird Collisions extends from the long-term project Free as Birds. Over the past two years, Li has moved akin to a migratory bird, exploring islands across borders to examine how birds function as a cross-cultural emblem of “freedom”. Within this project, visual elements and vocal experiments intertwine. Through photography, video installations, and vocal performance, Li develops a new decoded “bird language”, collaborating with local communities to create birdsong choirs and a collective imagination of “becoming a bird.”

The new exhibition takes the ecological phenomenon of birds striking architectural glass as a point of departure to question transparency. The natural instinct of avian migration collides with the invisible architecture of social structures – a tension that mirrors the seemingly transparent yet rigid barriers confronted by human migrants within systemic frameworks. Li reconfigures the gallery into a sensory site. Through vocal mimicry; collective and individual chanting, collaborative storytelling, alongside bodily presence, sound, video installations, and experimental photography, the exhibition constructs a space that is both poetic and poignant.

Tianjun Li and Bird Collisions is supported by the Saastamoinen Foundation, B28 Residency by Nordic Culture Point, Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), and Aalto Studios and Genelec.

Special thanks to the participants in the work: Ida Vu, Ricardo Baltazar, Branislav Dakovic, Safa Solati, and Tangmo Ladapha.

Tianjun Li (Timjune, CN/FI) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Finland whose practice integrates lens-based media, experimental vocal performance, and spatial installation. Through synesthetic translation and a four-octave vocal range, they process the correspondences between human and non-human entities into a visual and sonic cross-species storytelling system.

Li holds an MA in Visual Cultures, Curating, and Contemporary Art, with a minor in Sound in New Media, from Aalto University. Their work has been supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Saastamoinen Foundation, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Espoo City Artist Grant. Residencies include Saari Residence (Kone Foundation) and B28 Residency (Nordic Culture Point). Their work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, performances, and installations. A new solo institutional commission at Fruitmarket Gallery (UK), supported by the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, is scheduled to open in late 2026.