Surface & Signal Press, an independent arts-research communications imprint operated by Jeekwai Art Co Ltd, has announced the publication of a peer-reviewed paper in the Proceedings of EVA London 2026. Titled "Fixing Chicago Neighbourhood and New Nature: Simulation with Paper and Digital Printing," the paper is authored by Jiaqi Li, Wenru Xu, and Elke Reinhuber and is available open access at https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2026.15.
The paper analyzes two artworks by Jiaqi Li: New Nature (2019) and Fixing Chicago Neighbourhood (2020). In New Nature, photographs of organic materials such as banana peel, chicken skin, plants, and caterpillars were processed into repeating digital textures and printed on paper. These prints were then transformed into more than fifty hollow sculptural forms, setting the visual appearance of organic matter against a lightweight, constructed interior. The work draws attention to the separation between surface and structure, challenging viewers to consider the relationship between simulation and reality.
Fixing Chicago Neighbourhood began with photographs of damaged surfaces in Chicago, including cracks in roads, walls, paving, and transit stations. The damaged areas were digitally reconstructed and printed at approximately their original scale. The resulting paper images were placed over the damaged sites as temporary interventions. These interventions did not repair the underlying material but made visible the difference between an appearance of repair and a material repair, highlighting the role of simulation in urban environments.
The authors situate these projects between simulation, trompe l'oeil, and optical illusion. Rather than seeking flawless deception, the works retain visible seams, repeated textures, paper edges, and other material inconsistencies. These features allow viewers to recognize the construction of the image while it occupies physical space, thereby revealing a productive gap between virtual representation and physical objects.
The paper proposes the term "expanded trompe l'oeil" for contemporary practices that extend beyond illusionistic painting to include photography, digital printing, sculpture, installation, screens, projections, public interventions, and video-game aesthetics. It argues that the imperfect return of a digital image to material form can expose this gap and foster critical engagement with how images shape our perception of reality.
The paper appears on pages 83-88 of the open-access Proceedings of EVA London 2026, published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. EVA London, or Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, is an interdisciplinary conference on art, visualisation, and digital technologies. The 2026 conference took place in London and online from July 13 to 17.
Surface & Signal Press, operated by Jeekwai Art Co Ltd, is an independent arts-research communications imprint that publishes factual, accessible communications about contemporary art, visual culture, digital media, and research-led creative practice. Its work focuses on how images, materials, and technical systems shape public and everyday environments.
