Prayers to Fornax: Science, Technology, and Spirituality

Prayers to Fornax: Science, Technology, and Spirituality is the first exhibition presented as part of Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025, curated by Yifeng Wei & Penny Dan Xu, one of the program’s two final awardee teams. Initiated by Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Blue Prize+ is a global curatorial initiative established as a laboratory for the evolving role of curators, supporting emerging practices that engage with pressing contemporary issues in connection with the contexts of Asia. On view at Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing from July 18 to December 13, 2026, the exhibition brings together eight international artists and artist collectives to explore the intersections of science, technology, and spirituality.

Taking its title from Fornax, the southern constellation named after a laboratory furnace rather than a mythological figure, the exhibition reflects on a historical shift from understanding the cosmos through myth to interpreting it through scientific observation. Yet the act of looking to the sky has always involved more than observation; it has also been shaped by myth, belief, and imagination. Through images, installations, videos, and sculptures, the exhibition examines how rational inquiry and spiritual imagination intersect in an era shaped by artificial intelligence, data systems, and rapidly evolving technologies, opening pathways toward more inclusive and responsible technological futures.

Structured around the interconnected themes of “Measuring the Unmeasurable,” “Othered Knowledge,” and “Looking for a Sign,” the exhibition explores how scientific inquiry, spiritual traditions, Indigenous cosmologies, folklore, and mysticism might together offer new ways of thinking about technology.