The sound of objects being broken at an art exhibition would normally cause an immediate disturbance and may, these days, become a viral scene on social networks.

This exact scene became a reality at an ongoing exhibition at the Tsinghua University Art Museum in Beijing. However, it was not done to create outrage in public, but was encouraged — artist Yin Yunya invited the audience to crush her works on display in Shelter, a rectangular installation on display in which a large number of shells lie on the ground.

Yin says the installation communicates her interest in the shell as a form of natural shelter. She says that by inviting people to feel shells smashing at their feet and hear their crunching sounds, she hopes to inspire discussions about "the importance and, meanwhile, the fragility, of a protective mechanism, even those as small as the lives living inside a shell".

Sense of Happiness, another of Yin's works in the exhibition, is a group of portraits painted on the interior of shells. She also hints at the shell as being a metaphor for a sense of security.

Yin is one of the featured artists in The Natural Contract: Technology, Media, Human, Nature exhibition being held through to next Tuesday at the Tsinghua University Art Museum.