From 19 to 20 September 2026, Threshold, presented as part of the London Design Festival 2026 Partner Programme, opened simultaneously at St Mary’s Hornsey Rise in London and SourSpace in Guangzhou. Guided by the central theme “A space between becoming and being,” the exhibition explored transition as an open and unresolved condition, in which identity, sensory experience and material form remain in a continuous process of becoming rather than reaching a fixed state. It focused on the ambiguous spaces between different states, where stability meets flux and the visible intertwines with the invisible. Participating artists and designers from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Canada and other countries brought diverse cultural perspectives to the exhibition’s central theme.

Exhibition View

　　Rather than offering a single, definitive interpretation,Threshold brought together a series of works responding to ambiguity, change and the reconfiguration of familiar structures. The exhibition was concerned not with the outcome of moving from one state to another, but with transition as an extended interval in which established categories and relationships become less fixed, allowing new understandings to gradually emerge. The parallel presentations in London and Guangzhou situated this curatorial proposition within two distinct venues, giving the concept a transnational structure. Both locations followed a shared curatorial framework and were connected through digital channels, while their respective spatial conditions and selections of works offered different viewing experiences.

Exhibition View

　　Festival Organiser:London Design Festival

　　Exhibition Organiser:Aurora Art&Fashion

　　Chief Curators:Peijun Gu, Haoyu Sun(Qiyu Sun)

　　Curatorial Team Members:Yitian Wang, Yiyuan Li, De, Nina Ning Guo, Qiongjie Ming, Alia, Xuyi Huang, Zihua Guo

　　Participating Artists & Designers:

　　Yonghao Zhu

　　Linrui (Yaning) Xiong

　　Yiting Wang

　　Xiaohan Chang

　　Peixin Bai

　　Haofeng Ji

　　Yifan Jiang

　　Huilin Li

　　Yat Sze Ashley Lo

　　Qin Yanyu

　　Shiyan Wang

　　Yixi Wang

　　Xinjue Xu

　　Jinghong Zhu

　　Wilham

　　Qiming Guo

　　Jannik

　　Xinyue Shen

　　Lukas

　　Haoyu Sun (Qiyu Sun)

　　Yiwen Yao

　　Xuewen Zhang

　　Conrad

　　Qiyun Liu

　　Klaus

　　Yiming Chen

　　Manfred

　　Alex

　　Henry

　　Yujia Han

　　Ming Yuan

　　Zuohui Wen

　　Qing Duan

　　Wandi Zhang

　　Fu Hao

　　Yuziyi Guo

　　Junying Jiang

　　Yuntian Mo

　　Chuying Sun

　　Yuning Yan

　　Xiyu Hu

　　Jing Huang

　　Yayi Li

　　Fujun Liao

　　Ping Wen

　　Chaofan Zhang

　　Keyue Zhang

　　Yuwei Zhu

　　Huaiyu Cai

　　Jin Chen

　　Hehui Zhao

　　Chenyuan He

　　Lingdan Zhang

　　Miao Miao Zhang

　　Felix

　　Xiaoran Yang

　　Simon

　　Qiyun Zhang

　　Oskar

　　Dangi Liu

　　Jiayi Xu

　　Hanyun Li

　　Yilu Lin

　　Yifan Chen

　　Ning Li

　　Levin

　　Yifan Wang

　　Emma

　　Yiyuan Li

　　Peijun Gu

　　Yulong Zhang

　　Lin Han

　　Jiahuan Zhou

　　Zhongqi Fu

　　Ming Chen

　　Yue Jin

　　Julia

　　Yujia Kong

　　Mikhi Dacus

　　Jiatao Cui

　　Lingqun Teng

　　Yixin Fan

　　…

　　Exhibition Photography:Yuecheng Li, Yifan Weng, Xin Lai, Jiaxi Zhang, Jin Chen, Jiahong Li, Yi Jin, Ze Dong

　　Musical Performances:Yue Li, Xiaoshan Chen

　　Exhibition Visual Design:Gply Art

　　Exhibition Volunteers:Dejian Chen, Ziqiang Gu, Ziyue Lu, Yen-Ju Ting, Iva Yip, Yunru Huang, Qiongjie Ming, Weixuan Li, Zibei Chen, Fangjing Shi, Danni Hong, Zhuohui Liao

Exhibition View

　　Within the curatorial team, Yitian Wang made a significant contribution to the planning and preparation of the exhibition. A museum and exhibition professional working across London and Shanghai, Yitian Wang is due to graduate from the Museum and Galleries in Education master's programme at University College London (UCL). Her professional practice and interests encompass exhibition production, visitor experience and public engagement.Nina Ning Guo, an independent curator and event planner, possesses curatorial and event planning experience in both China and the UK. She graduated from Central Saint Martins College, University of the Arts London.

　　Curators Yiyuan Li with exhibition assistants Zora Ting, Fangjing Shi, Iva Yip, Xuyi Huang and Zihua Guo, also played important roles in coordinating the production and implementation of the exhibition.

Exhibition View

　　The exhibition featured works spanning algorithmic moving images, fashion design, installation art, photography and graphic design, bringing together diverse media to create a rich visual and material landscape. Several participating artists and designers attracted particular attention through their distinctive conceptual approaches and compelling use of media, offering audiences tangible ways to explore the liminal states, transitional qualities and uncertainties embodied in the concept of “threshold”:

　　Linrui (Yaning) Xiong and Mikhi Dacus – Algorithmic Shadow

　　Created collaboratively by Linrui (Yaning) Xiong and Mikhi Dacus,Algorithmic Shadow explores how algorithms gradually become the “shadow” of the physical world in the age of artificial intelligence. Beginning with physical objects, the work translates three-dimensional forms into photographs, which are processed using artificial intelligence and transferred onto 16 mm film, creating a continuous cycle between objects, images, data, film and embodied perception.

Algorithmic Shadow

　　Huilin Li – Hippocampus & Amygdala: Whispered at the Cosmic Core

　　Huilin Li is an artist whose practice explores how memory, emotion and personal narratives foster connections between people. In her workHippocampus & Amygdala: Whispered at the Cosmic Core, she draws inspiration from anonymously submitted stories and research into the hippocampus and amygdala, combining illustration, collage, 3D modelling and textile techniques such as embroidery and printing to create a garment that serves as a material archive of shared memories and emotions. She also incorporates augmented reality (AR) into the work to introduce an interactive experience, treating the virtual garment as an alternative medium for memory storage and using digital try-on to offer a more accessible means of online gathering and emotional connection.

Hippocampus & Amygdala: Whispered at the Cosmic Core

　　Yifan Jiang – ALL is ONE

　　London-based interdisciplinary artist and fashion stylist Yifan Jiang explores how clothing connects the body, emotion, narrative and space. In ALL is ONE, he draws on the traditional Chinese philosophical concept of the unity of humanity and nature, alongside the theory of the Five Elements. Incorporating natural clay and metal rings into the design, the work uses contrasts of black and white, rigidity and softness, and enclosure and exposure to explore the relationship between the body and natural forces. Clothing becomes a medium for carrying stories, blessings and spiritual care, reconnecting humanity with nature.

ALL is ONE

　　Fujun Liao – Trace · Home

　　Independent artist Fujun Liao draws upon memories of rural landscapes and wilderness to counter the dulling of sensory perception brought about by modern society. In Trace · Home, he seeks to rebuild the connection between humanity and nature through painting, using lines as his central artistic language. The spreading of branches and leaves, the passage of the wind and the undulating terrain are conveyed through variations in the density, straightness, curvature and length of his lines. For Liao, each stroke is not merely a means of depicting physical forms, but a form of inward spiritual practice that guides him back towards the tranquillity of being close to nature. His work seeks to reawaken viewers’ gradually dulled senses, encouraging them to perceive the world anew through their bodies, reflect on the interactive and symbiotic relationship between humanity and nature, and nurture their inner spirit.

Trace · Home

　　Yuziyi Guo – Vomiting Symphony

　　In Vomiting Symphony, illustrator and visual artist Yuziyi Guo transforms an unpleasant concert experience into an absurd hand-drawn narrative. Two young rock music fans discover that the musicians are sacrificing members of the audience to a musical demon, prompting them to fight back and ultimately destroy the concert hall. Created using pencil and coloured chalk, the work employs a relatively simple, light-hearted and even childlike visual language, creating a contrast with the absurdity and alienation embedded in the story.

Vomiting Symphony

　　Zuohui Wen and Qing Duan – The Throne

　　Created by designers Zuohui Wen and Qing Duan, TheThrone explores the threshold between shared domestic life and private retreat. Beginning with a familiar moment of leaving a communal space, closing a door and sitting alone, the work reinterprets a toilet as an absurd modern chair, removing its original sanitary function while retaining associations with privacy, pause and psychological shelter. Positioned between furniture, sanitary ware and sculpture, the work also presents the act of sitting as a brief moment of self-preservation, through which an ordinary domestic ritual becomes an experience of spatial and emotional transition.

The Throne

　　These works, rooted in diverse individual experiences and creative contexts, collectively question and respond to the transitional states at the heart of the exhibition. The parallel presentations in London and Guangzhou allowed a shared creative theme to generate distinct, locally grounded interpretations and layers of meaning across different spaces, cultural contexts and audience perspectives.

Exhibition View

　　Through diverse artistic languages, Threshold fostered a sense of connection across geographical and temporal boundaries, inviting viewers to enter a liminal space, seek their own answers where boundaries become blurred, and experience the echoes of a world in constant flux and resonance.