Ban Lei was born in Shanghai in 1990. He is a musician and visual artist.
After training as a classical musician and a career in new technologies, Ban Lei has moved away from pre-existing musical rules, equipment for expected use, and electronic sound effects in order to obtain an “objective” or “neutral” creative context. He makes his own musical instruments, mainly out of wood—inspired by nature (trees, plants, wind, rhythm)— which he plays alone or in groups. For him, the instrument is part of the musician’s body. This practice has enabled him to master every aspect of the work process: inspiration, concept, technique, manufacture, adjustment, performance, and public sharing.
Educational Background
2012, graduated from the Music Department of Digital Art Institute of Shanghai University with a Bachelor's in music and engineering.
2013, studied independent artist program at Musician Institute in Hollywood.
2022, graduated from HEAD-Genève with a Master's in Fine Arts.
Biography
From 2008 to 2015, his band performed at numerous festivals and independent music venues. In 2012, his band performed at Summer Sonic, the biggest music festival in Asia.
Since 2015, he has been working as an independent musician and collaborating with many visual artists to create audio-visual type works.
In 2016, he collaborated with visual artist Xu Cong on the work "Immaterial Perception" in the group exhibition "Shanshui within". After the exhibition, the piece was collected permanently. At the same time, he formed the new media art group "Project Default". In the same year, he started programming to understand the world beyond music.
In 2017, he created his first sound installation "Pendulum", which was exhibited and performed in Modern Art Museum Shanghai. Since the same year, he has been working with the PCI Lab at the Interactive Media Art program at New York University in Shanghai. The lab's research focuses on VR and body capture systems. He was involved in projects at the Shanghai International Festival of Technology and Art and the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), etc.
In 2018, he received support from the Swiss Cultural Foundation “Pro Helvetia” for a three-month artist residency in Geneva. During the residency, he created " Resonance ", a musical instrument based on real-time capture technology. This work toured and exhibited nearly 40 times around the world in the following two years.
In 2020, with the time of the global epidemic, he began to think about the meaning of modern technology. He started to use wood as a physical material, combined with self-made CNC technology, and created the work " 222nd Day of Rain". His performance drew an attendance of nearly 200 people during the epidemic. That same year, he decided to return to Geneva to study visual arts in a deeper context.
During his two years of study in Geneva, he determined to build a sound instrument without electric drive and using only wood as a material. He was inspired by nature and through his continuous research in woodworking techniques, he understood the physical phenomena of reality. His work was described by the audience at the graduation exhibition as the longest lasting applause the school had ever seen. It also received the top from the jury.
Through long time practice as well as exploration, Ban Lei has gradually gained a clear understanding of the interrelationship between music and technology. His work explores the forgotten sounds and technologies of this era and bring them back to the present and enrich the future to which humanity wants to go.
Performances and Exhibitions
2023
“153 returning birds”, KorSonor, Geneva, Switzerland
“The wind that goes, the birds that come”, Mos Espa, Geneva, Switzerland
“Üēn & Lín”, Werdenberg Castle, Werdenberg, Switzerland
“Tinkling”, Villa Arson, Nice, France
“The wind that goes, the birds that come”, Eye’s walk Festival, Syros, Greece
“Üēn & Lín”, Dear 2050, Zurich, Switzerland
2022
“Tinkling”, live in your Head, Geneva, Switzerland
“Üēn & Lín”, Grand Tour in HEAD-Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
2021
“YOU”, AMARUS | Concert, Bern, Switzerland
“Resonance”, The Embassy Of Foreign Artists, Geneva, Switzerland
2020
“222nd Day of Rain”, Yongfoo Elite, Shanghai, China
2019
“Resonance”, Eye’s walk digital art festival, Syros, Greece
“Resonance”, IN VIRTO Sound art exhibition, Matera, Italy
“Resonance”, 2019 China Tour, 12 cities Shanghai ,Beijing, Guangzhou, Xiamen, etc, China
2018
“Pendulum”, EXTRART Base, Shanghai, China.
“Frames”, Shanghai Art 24 hours Festival, Shanghai, China.
“Resonance”, Embassy of Foreign artists, Geneva, Switzerland
“Resonance”, Urgence Disk, Geneva, Switzerland
“Resonance”, Ondulor, Geneva, Switzerland
“Resonance”, ZHiwu, Shanghai, China
“Resonance”, Swissnex, Shanghai, China
2017
“Pendulum”, Morden Art of Museum, Shanghai, China.
“MR”, Shanghai Science and Technology festival, Shanghai, China.
“Neuron”, International Computer Music Conference, Shanghai, China.
“Hyperspace”, Tian’an Digital and Art Center, Shenzhen, China.
2016
"Immaterial Perception" ,“Shanshui within”, MoCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
“Project Default”, MoCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
“Nongfu Spring”, MoCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
“Project Default”, basement6, Shanghai, China
“Project Default”, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China