In the films of Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye, the effects of China's transition to a Western economic system are reflected in the details of everyday. As two representatives of the 'Sixth Generation', both film-makers connect individual lives and larger China society in films set in the recent past and contemporary context.

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Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye a lso inherit from film-makers associated to the ‘Fifth Generation’, such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. They preserve an interest in tracing the past, through their references to historical narratives, or to keep the memory of the present for a future vision. Lou Ye prefers to portray problematic relationships of individuals, to mirror the complexity of larger society, while Jia Zhangke directly presents the state of ordinary life.

Jia Zhangke’ Platform (2000) portrays the lives of a group of amateur performers travelling China, at the start of the policy of economic reform which has operated since 1979. Lou Ye's Summer Palace  (2006) reconstructs a story set in 1989 at the time of the Tiananmen Square Protest. Unknown Pleasures (2002) is a contemporaneous film recording Shanxi of 2000s under rapid urbanization.Through film screenings, interviews and film stills, the exhibition explores how these two directors of the ‘Sixth Generation’ reflect Chinese society in transition, by their focus on the fragmented experience of everyday life.