Welcome to the inaugural issue of ZAO – Contemporary Art and Culture, an independent publication dedicated to contemporary artistic practices, visual culture, and cross-cultural dialogue between Scotland, East Asia, and beyond.

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Issue 001 centres on The Fluid Self, a solo exhibition and ongoing artistic inquiry by Glasgow-based composer, audiovisual artist, and instrument designer Bowen Wu. Through sound, moving image, installation, performance, and self-built digital instruments, the project explores how identity is continually reshaped through migration, technology, memory, and cultural movement.

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Throughout this issue, readers are invited into a world where boundaries remain intentionally unstable. The exhibition moves between stage and gallery, body and machine, memory and speculation, asking how the self can be understood when no longer anchored to a single language, place, or cultural framework.

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Alongside the exhibition review, this issue presents a selection of Bowen Wu’s works, including audiovisual performances, sound compositions, experimental films, custom-built instruments, and interactive installations. Together they form a wider investigation into hybridity, perception, and the evolving relationship between humans, technology, and the environment.

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Rather than offering fixed answers, these works encourage reflection on transformation, uncertainty, and becoming. They invite us to reconsider how we listen, how we perceive, and how we position ourselves within an increasingly interconnected world.

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We hope this issue provides a space for curiosity, contemplation, and new perspectives.

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Enjoy reading.