A peer-reviewed paper published in the Proceedings of EVA London 2026 explores the intersection of digital printing, urban repair, and trompe l'oeil through two artworks by Jiaqi Li. The paper, titled "Fixing Chicago Neighbourhood and New Nature: Simulation with Paper and Digital Printing," is authored by Jiaqi Li, Wenru Xu, and Elke Reinhuber and is available as open access at https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2026.15.
The paper examines two art projects: 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 formed into more than fifty hollow sculptural forms. The work contrasts the visual appearance of organic matter with a lightweight, constructed interior, highlighting the separation between surface and structure.
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. While they did not repair the underlying material, they made visible the difference between an appearance of repair and a material repair.
The authors position these projects between simulation, trompe l'oeil, and optical illusion. Rather than aiming for 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, prompting reflection on the nature of representation and materiality.
The paper introduces the term "expanded trompe l'oeil" to describe 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 reveals a productive gap between virtual representation and physical objects.
This research matters because it challenges conventional notions of repair and simulation in public spaces. By using paper to simulate repairs, Li's work invites viewers to question what constitutes genuine restoration and how digital technologies can mediate our experience of urban environments. The concept of expanded trompe l'oeil also offers a framework for understanding how digital images interact with physical surfaces in an increasingly mediated world.
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 (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) is an interdisciplinary conference on art, visualization, and digital technologies, held this year from July 13 to 17 in London and online.
Surface & Signal Press, the imprint that announced the publication, is operated by Jeekwai Art Co Ltd and focuses on factual, accessible communications about contemporary art, visual culture, digital media, and research-led creative practice. Its work emphasizes how images, materials, and technical systems shape public and everyday environments.
