Warm Machine

Warm Machine and Other Mirrorless Reflections is Chando Ao’s first monograph published and distributed internationally. The book is a proper representation of his mental state that he describes as a navigation between two extremes: “on the one hand, (he focuses on) his solo endeavors in paintings and drawings. On the other hand, he builds a complex and open system, which needs to be accomplished in conjunction with the external world, which includes robots, flora and fauna, software, food, machinery, exceptionally unique materials, and everyday consumer goods.” There is a dissonance between some of the (big) tech he wishes to use in his work and the concept sketches he makes that put these technologies up to use (in very playful ways). The book delves deeper through an interview featuring interwoven voices, including Gu Qianfan, Chando Ao, and Yve Yang (when reading it we wonder who’s who). Gary Zhexi Zhang was also invited to finally complement the book with a contribution in the form of an essay that attempts to clarify some of his understandings of the artist’s work and what it all means in present times. The book was printed in China using offset printing technology. It presents many of Chando’s iPad illustrations (single illustrations and stripes) and also photographs of his art installations in full color. The cover sleeve was printed on Japanese stock. The book binding is a lay-flat sewn and glued soft cover.