Introduction

Chen Xiaoyun was born in 1971 in Hubei, now works and resides in Hangzhou. Chen Xiaoyun's works are always both artistic and poetic in style, with introspective thinking present in the narrative structure as well as the use of individual fragments of consciousness to channel the real world in pictorial form. His works usually start with a caption, a dialogue, or a motion that is then overlapped, refined, and abstracted, to make our known world more ridiculous, hesitant, and emptier. Since his participation in the group exhibition “Art for Sale” held in Shanghai in 1999, he started his contemporary art creation and practice in video art, and has become one of the most important experimental artists in China.

His recent solo exhibitions include: Arrival, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing (2018); 106 Flashes of Lightning That I Collect, ShanghART Main Space, Shanghai (2016); Twenty-one Poems of Lenin, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, (2014); Hysteria, Metaphorical and Metonymical Life-World, A4 Contemporary Arts Center, Chengdu (2013); Darker than Darkness, Death beyond Death, Fire Burning Fire, Walking Down along the Stairway. , ShanghART Beijing (2013); "Zhuiku Tablet" Annotation, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing (2012); Why Life, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing (2011); Emerald Tablet held at ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai (2009); Love You Big Boss, the Project Gallery, New York (2008); Faint, MC, Los Angeles (2007).

His recent selected exhibitions include: Metropol Drama, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, U.S.A (2023); The Circular Impact: Video Art 21, OCAT, Shanghai (2021); The 5th Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts - Physis: Production of Nature, Human and Technology, Hubei Museum of Art & Fine Arts Literature Art Center, Wuhan (2020); Free Prism - Video Wave, Boxes Art Museum, Foshan (2019); Post-sense Sensibility: Trepidation and Will, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing (2016); China 8, Contemporary Art from China at the Rhine and Ruhr, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2015); Montevideo Biennale, Montevideo, Uruguay (2014); Moving On Asia, Towards a New Art Network 2004-2013, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand (2013); Perspectives 180 - Unfinished Country, New Video from China, The Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, U.S.A. (2012); Moving Image In China: 1988-2011, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011); Shanghai Kino, Shanghai Kino, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (2009); 16th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (2008); 10th Havana Biennial, Cuba (2009); Drapeaux Gril, CAPC Musée d'art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France (2007); The Busan Biennale, Korea (2006); Yokohama International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Japan (2005); Torino Triennial, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy (2005); 5th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai (2004).