Now Instant and Art21 present artist Candice Lin in Realms of the Real with select animations by Lin screening alongside the documentary. Realms of the Real is the new episode of Art21’s Art in the Twenty-First Century, the first series on television in the U.S. to focus exclusively on contemporary visual art and artists.

From her Los Angeles studio to museums and galleries worldwide, artist Candice Lin creates works of art that steam and bubble, emit pungent odors, and invite touch and embodied exploration. Through multi-sensory sculptural installations, the artist crafts fantastical fictions that are grounded in rigorous research of materials involved in complex histories of trade, labor, exploitation, and desire. The artist’s investigations allow her to mine unexplored paths and create works using a range of unconventional creatures and materials, including porcelain, indigo, and cochineal, as well as flesh-eating beetles, silkworms, and urine. This documentary short follows the artist down the myriad rabbit holes of her practice, revealing how she incorporates materials with deep historical resonances to complicate official narratives. “What are the things that can’t be verified, but probably happened, and are important stories to tell?” asks Candice Lin. “I use the speculative aspect of my work to allow those things to come to the surface.”

Candice Lin is a visual artist and Associate Professor in Art at UCLA who lives and works in Altadena, California. Her work examines the ongoing legacies of colonialism through her installations, sculptures and drawings. She often uses loaded materials like porcelain, sugar, indigo, and living or entropic processes, such as mold, mushrooms, bacteria, fermentation, and stains. Lin had recent solo exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK, 2026), Talbot Rice Gallery (Edinburgh, UK, 2024), Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai, UAE, 2024), MUMA (Melbourne, Australia, 2024); and Canal Projects (New York, 2023).  Lin also participated in the 24^thBiennale of Sydney (2024), the 59^th Venice Biennale (2022), and the 13^th and 14^th Gwangju Biennial (2021, 2023). 

Art21's Art in the Twenty-First Century is a Peabody Award-winning biennial program that allows viewers to observe the artists at work, watch as they transform inspiration into art, and hear how they struggle with both the physical and visual challenges of achieving their visions.

Please note: seating is limited. Doors open thirty minutes prior to the listed showtime. Your RSVP does not guarantee you a seat. Seating is first-come, first-served.