Art Within Reach
Artist / Zhou Xiaohu
Zhou Xiaohu (b. 1960, Changzhou) is a pioneer of video animation in China. Zhou began using computers as an artistic tool in 1998. As one of China’s most well-known most prolific contemporary artists, he specializes in inducing confusion and bafflement, making viewers question the evidence of their senses and their assumptions about the so-called "facts".
Zhou Xiaohu is committed to promoting the energy theater of comprehensive art, using the methodology of ready-made products and "automatic writing" to expand the scope of art and survival observation.
He has since experimented with stop-frame video animation, video installation and computer-gaming software, whereby the interlayering of images between moving pictures and real objects has become his signature style. Working across performance, photography, installation, sculpture, video, and animation, Zhou’s practice reflects the documentation and misunderstanding of history in a digital age.
2023
16 Splice screen animation, VR headset game, aluminum plate, projector, floor mat + map, sculpture
Courtesy of the artist
2023
Courtesy of the artist
2022
Clay freeze frame animation, color single channel HD Video, Length: 8 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
From Zhou Xiaohu's works, we can feel that animation and scene can be juxtaposed to maintain parallel space and time, or exist independently. The dreams, absurd imagination and unreal color world in video may just show the authenticity of the brain or subconscious, full of strange and charming visual charm.
2021
Ceramic sculpture
Courtesy of the artist
2021
Ceramic sculpture58 x 58 x 68 cm
Courtesy of the artist
2020
3D. animation video, nine split-screen installation
Courtesy of the artist
2018-2019
3D animation, Single Channel HD Video, Length: 18 minutes 50 seconds
Courtesy of the artist
2018
Marionettes electric installation700 x 400 x 400 cm
Courtesy of the artist
2016
E-waste, steel frame installation, projection lighting
Courtesy of the artist
2016
Marionette video, A dual-channel synchronous project, Length: 15 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
Installation
2011
Courtesy of the artist
Installation
2011
Courtesy of the artist
Exhibitions
The artist ZHOU Xiaohu has attended group exhibitions including the Shanghai Biennale (2000); China Rushes, Hamburger Bahnhof National Museum, Berlin, Germany (2001); Between past and Future, International Center of Photogrphy, New York, USA (2004); the Utopia Machine, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the First Seville Biennial in Spain (2004); Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia (2006); Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Austria, and Kunst museum Bern, Bern, Switzerland (2007); the 8th Gwangju Biennial (2010); Not Soul For Sale, Tate modern turbin hall, Londong, UK (2010); Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK, and the National Art Museum of China (2011); The fourth Guangzhou Triennial-Grangdview project, Guangzhou, China (2012); Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2012); White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2013); Harmonious Society, Asia Triennial, Manchester, UK (2014). Zhou Xiaohu Solo Exhibition, Germany (2015); Chimera, Zhou Xiaohu Solo Exhibition, Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, China (2016). The 2nd Bangkok Art Biennale (2020). The 14th Shanghai Biennale (2023). Zhou Xiaohu Solo Exhibition, Boxes Art Museum, Shunde China (2023).
Awards
In addition, ZHOU Xiaohu’s animation works have been exhibited at the 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam in Netherland, and the 56th Festival International Film locarno-Video Installation Show in Switzerland. He won the Experimental Video Gold Award in the 36th World Fest-Houston International Film Festival; the CCAA Award (2002, 2006); and Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst Awards (DAAD-2014).
This article is sourced from Zhou Xiaohu Studio.
