Every year The Armory Show gives one artist free rein to make his mark on New York’s largest art fair, including an on-site installation and a limited-edition work. This year, that artist is Shanghainese firebrand Xu Zhen, recognized for the playful and provocative works he has produced with his 2009-born collective MadeIn Company, spanning performance, sculpture, video, photography, internet art, and painting. A collaboration with online platform Artsy, today’s film by Anthony Chen captures the artist’s beguiling practice in a rare tour of Xu’s Shanghai studio. “Behind a lot of the work we do is our desire to express the curiosity of being human,” says Xu. “When it comes to taking initiative or being confident, curiosity is a motivating factor. From this perspective you can see why a lot of our work is in so many different mediums, styles and methods.” His work appears in conjunction with the fair’s Focus: China series curated by the Director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Philip Tinari: alongside MadeIn Company’s candy-colored, frosted “Under Heaven” oil paintings, which serve as the primary visual for The Armory Show, Xu’s “Action of Consciousness” installation and performance piece sees objects created by the artist hurled into the air from an enclosed white box. “The audience will see artwork flying overhead,” he says. “Every 30 seconds there will be something new. This is an artwork that is seen only in a moment’s time, then it immediately disappears.”

Learn more about Xu Zhen on Artsy and visit The Armory Show through March 9.