The exhibition title “Border Hotel” exists in a critical state. It is a representation of Hungarian-British archeologist Aurel Stein’s nomadic exploration of Central Asia, but it is also an abstract reference to the ambiguity of borders in the transition from dynasty-states to nation-states and to the mobility of the people who moved through or settled here. In contrast to the ambiguity suggested by the title, the exhibition’s narrative presents two clear spatiotemporal threads: early twentieth century colonial expeditions and twenty-first century natural resource conversion. Sustained and everchanging human activities have left different marks on the Earth’s surface and features, an expression of manpower in an evolving landscape or border.

The tent, the topographical map of the Kunlun Mountain range, and the digital archives of the International Dunhuang Project in the living room re-create how Stein lived when he was making topographical surveys and organizing archeological expeditions in the Kunlun Mountains. Several Chinese-made mobile phones on stands outside the tent play videos and live streams of Hotan jade sellers on a loop. The old colonial order and the new mode of capitalist production—two structural spaces separated by a century—come together here and prompt us to ask the question: What value does a frontier area like Xinjiang have? Historically, it was a transitional zone between Eastern and Western cultures, a rich reserve of precious metal resources, and a land to which surplus population could be dispatched. In the next work, Liu Yujia further explains how these values and incentives are mediated by things and people, mixing the replacement of colonial patterns and the management of conceptions of sovereignty.

Archaeological Journal - Topographic Exploration is comprised of a two-channel video playing amidst a re-creation of the bedroom of George Macartney, the first British consulgeneral of Kashgar. Liu incorporates two kinds of journals into the piece: Stein’s text on the excavation of ancient Khotan—part of which came from Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan—and her own visual journal of topographic exploration built on archival material and footage she shot. The narrative voice that Liu developed based on a vision of Stein is used to identify five types of topography (the Kunlun Mountains, the Taklamakan Desert, glaciers, riverbeds, and the Red Willow Sand Dunes), showing how the colonial explorers who traversed Central Asia in the early twentieth century relied on topographic descriptions in antique documents to locate ancient ruins. Perhaps intended to create a visual sense of distance with the topography (border), this work reflects the aesthetic influence of Chantal Akerman in the use of long shots; the pan of the lens gives the impression of temporal stagnation. These important cinematic elements have been deeply rooted in Liu’s work since her Taklamakan shoot, and she continues to explore ways of connecting the two temporal dimensions of past and present within that stagnation in her next work Treasure Hunt.

In addition to topographic studies, Stein undertook the political task of human surveys. The archival photographs covering the conference table show part of this work. Human surveys are an exercise in biological categorization, which appeared in the West in the nineteenth century and fed into scientific racism. After the colonial machine started, these surveys were used to identify an ethnicity’s attributes and encourage national self-determination. Pulling aside the curtain in the conference room, the screen behind the glass shows a face being shaved. In that moment, these two spatiotemporal forces are simultaneously brought to bear on the correction of thought.

In addition to these complete spaces and works of art, Liu also cleverly inlays the everyday records of border laborers in the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway, which includes a seamstress in a tailor shop, a stall keeper in a market, and Rayaman Dawut, the Princess Consort of the Kucha Hereditary Hui Prince. In her 2018 work The Pale View of Hills, Liu Yujia presents the life of the last Princess Consort, from pictures with tourists to daily tasks. These trivial, ordinary details were re-developed and reedited, disassembled and distributed into the living spaces that connect to the artworks. For example, a sound clip of the Princess Consort cleaning the toilet plays on a loop in the bathroom. The juxtaposition of many kinds of laborers brings what was previously a deadlock or tension of ethnicity in the living room, bedroom, and conference room into an understanding of our identities as human beings. This is akin to processual archaeology; the exploration of historical relics must be experienced through the human body, and the perceptions, memories, and emotions of those who experienced it become new materials in the construction of historical scenarios. (Artforum Review)