Press Release
Close Flow Immersive Art Exhibition by Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US Receives the Bronze A' Design Award in Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design
Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US recognized for advertising, marketing and communication design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Close Flow Immersive Art Exhibition by Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US, designed for ROCA Beijing Gallery, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Close Flow Immersive Art Exhibition
The artist aims to explore the alienation of people under consumerism, reflecting on the excessive pursuit of luxury, medical aesthetics and fast fashion in contemporary society. The vacuum air bag is chosen as the medium for its dual attributes of airtightness and mobility, which perfectly fit the reflection on the closed and flowing characteristics of consumer desire, expecting to arouse universal thinking on the true meaning of consumption and the pursuit of the authentic self.
About Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US
C.L.A.P. US is a New York-based new-media digital art institution, rooted in the philosophy of asynchronicity and parallel creativity. Born from the vision of weaving coherence from fragmented inspirations, we transcend conventional design boundaries to explore the harmonious dialogue between diverse creative languages. Our journey evolved from a crossover design lab to a dynamic creative ecosystem, where the slow craftsmanship of traditional artisans and the real-time generative power of digital creators converge in unified aesthetic spaces.
Award Record
This recognition makes Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design Award
The A' Advertising Design Award is an international advertising design competition recognizing good advertisement designs by designers and agencies worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to advertising designers, marketing professionals, communication designers and creative directors from all countries. Typical entries include advertisement campaigns, billboards, commercials, print ads, social media campaigns and direct mails. The awarded advertising designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/advertising
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/183057
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/183057
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!183057
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/381332
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://www.clap-us.com
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Close Flow Immersive Art Exhibition
- Function
- Immersive Art Exhibition
- Category
- Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Branding & Advertising
- Colors
- Black, Dark Slate Gray, Gray, Dim Gray and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- ROCA Beijing Gallery
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #183057
Credits
- Team
- Julie Hu(Xiwen Hu), Jasmine Zhou, Audrey (Xiaoran Zhu), Nicky Meng, Arlene Sun, GQ Chen, Ning Sun, Unakoko (Jingting Wang), SLO.syx, Dylan Deng and Norton Chamberlain
- Image Credits
- Artist: Julie Hu(Xiwen Hu) ROCA Beijing Gallery Director: Jasmine Zhou Chief Curator: Audrey (Xiaoran Zhu) Curator: Nicky Meng Art Director: Arlene Sun Video: GQ Chen Photography: Ning Sun Visual Design: Unakoko (Jingting Wang) Digital Visual Design: SLO.syx Executive Producer: Dylan Deng Music: Norton Chamberlain
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The artist aims to explore the alienation of people under consumerism, reflecting on the excessive pursuit of luxury, medical aesthetics and fast fashion in contemporary society. The vacuum air bag is chosen as the medium for its dual attributes of airtightness and mobility, which perfectly fit the reflection on the closed and flowing characteristics of consumer desire, expecting to arouse universal thinking on the true meaning of consumption and the pursuit of the authentic self.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the profound changes of modern consumer society where commercialization and marketization reshape lifestyles, values and social connections, with individuals’ identities defined by commodity labels and desires endlessly inflated by symbolic goods.
- Research
- In the wave of modern consumer society, the logic of commodification and marketization has deeply permeated the fabric of life, reshaping people's lifestyles, value perceptions, and social connections. Consumers' identities are defined by the labels of the goods they possess, while their inner desires continue to expand amidst the endless allure of commodity symbols. The true self is gradually obscured by a fog, becoming a pressing question to explore.
- Challenge
- At the end of 2024, a new sanitary ware product from Roca Beijing Gallery is set to be launched. Entrusted by the client, we (C.L.A.P. US) intended to co-host an interactive art exhibition with artists to promote the new product through this event. Yet the client was keen to avoid the event devolving into a mere product launch due to over-commercialization, instead hoping to achieve organic brand communication in a subtle, unobtrusive manner within this immersive interactive art experience. We submitted multiple versions of the proposal, all of which the client considered to carry overly prominent commercial undertones.
- Realization and Technology
- The core installation adopts industrial vacuum air bags as the main material, matched with commercial price tags of various specifications for artistic transformation. The creation technology includes on-site inflation construction in multiple U.S. and China cities to endow the works with regional spatial attributes, The exhibition adopts immersive pop-up and building an interactive space through the dense arrangement of thousands of air bag installations.
- Operation and Interaction
- In modern consumer society, commercialization and marketization reshape people’s lives, identities defined by commodity labels and desires inflated by symbols, as Jean Baudrillard noted that consumption has become a symbolic performance beyond material needs. Visual artist Julie (Xiwen Hu) created her core installation Vacuum Air Bags in U.S. cities, transported them to China, and held a SOLO Exhibition themed CLOSE FLOW. The work, thousands of inflated air bags with price tags, deconstructs consumerism, price tags symbolize commodity value. The pop-up immersive exhibition became interactive, attracting many check-ins. The uncertainty of whether the air is from the U.S.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in 2024 in New York, Boston and Chicago of the United States for the creation of the core installation, and the on-site exhibition was held in Beijing and Shanghai of China in the same year. The pop-up exhibition in each city lasted for 7 days, with the whole project from creation to the end of all exhibitions completed in 6 months in 2025.
- Specifications
- Space Scale：800 ㎡ two-floor indoor space The exhibition is a site-specific immersive installation art project, and the air bag installation can be flexibly adjusted according to the venue space, and the on-site inflation and pressure maintenance technology is used to ensure the stable shape of the air bags during the exhibition period, with the whole installation system maintaining good airtightness for the exhibition cycle.
- Keywords
- Consumerism, Immersive Art, Installation Art, Site Specific, Cross Regional, Interactive Exhibition, Visual Art, Art Reflection
