Michael Zheng
Michael Zheng’s work is conceptually based and often takes the form of situational intervention, sculpture or performance. He creates situations that challenge the established positions so that a new perspective becomes possible. His recent projects have taken on various forms of social intervention for which he considers himself as a medium, or an enabler for certain experiences and perspectives.
San Francisco based artist Michael Zheng grew up in China. He studied Computer Science at Tsinghua University and worked as a computer software designer for ten years. Later he quit his job to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied with Paul Kos, Tony Labat and John Roloff. The artist has been often awarded and has exhibited his work worldwide.
Artist Info
Biography
Born in China
Lives and works in San Francisco/USA
Education
2003
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine/USA
1999-2005
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco/USA
(BFA, Sculpture; MFA, New Genres)
1989-1999
Computer Software Designer, Silicon Valley/USA
1989
Master of Science, Marquette University, Wisconsin/USA
1987
Bachelor of Science, Tshinghua University/CN
Awards and honours
2012
Nomitated for SECA Award, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA/USA
2010
Emergency Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York/USA
Nominated for the Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco/USA
2007
Artist Residency, Ateliers Hoeherweg e. V., Duesseldorf/DE
Nominated for the SECA Award, SFMOMA, San Francisco/USA
Finalist for Artadia Award, San Francisco/USA
2006
Art for Sale! selected as No. 2 of the 10 Best Art Shows of 2005 by the Pravda Magazine/LIT
2005
Nominated for the SECA Award, SFMOMA, San Francisco/USA
Fellowship, Artists Residency at MacDowell Colony/USA
Graduated from SFAI with Honor
2004
MFA Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute/USA
Murphy Fellowship for the Fine Arts, San Francisco Foundation/USA
Fellowship, Artists Residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture/USA
Selected solo exhibitions and performances
2017
The Winding Path, or the Guided Visualisation, WHITECONCEPTS, Berlin/DE
2016
The Increasing Presence of Presence in Contemporary Art, performance and lecture, University of Cologne/DE
2014
What Do You See With Your Eyes Closed?, intervention performance, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA/USA
2013
Shadow of dust, when the sun blooms, WiE Kultur, Berlin/DE
2012
Medication / Mediation, with Daniel Rothbart, Stattberlin/DE
2011
Double Screens, Gallery WiE Kultur, Berlin/DE
I look to the sky and miss the ceiling, WHITECONCEPTS, Berlin/DE
Performing Politics, performance, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco/USA
Making Out, performance in collaboration with Nicole McClure, SFMOMA, San Francisco/USA
2010
artwork inside, The Profession, Marina Abramovic Institute West, San Francisco/USA
2006
As the Butterfly Said to Chuang Tzu, MISSION 17, San Francisco/USA
From Lithuania, Artists Television Access, San Francisco/USA
2005
Officially Unofficial: Art from the Baltic Triennial for Sale!, ARTima Gallery, Vilnius/LIT
Art for Sale!, 9th Baltic Triennial of International Art, ICA, London/GB
Selected group exhibitions
2017
Special Event:Drawing Meditation and Artist Talk, WHITECONCEPTS gallery, Berlin/DE
Buddhism, Contemporary Art and Social Practice, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia/CA (upcoming)
Tribute show to Harun Farocki, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin/DE
2016
Hidden Views, Markthaus, Offenbach am Main/DE
2015
RCA Secret, Royal College of Art, London/GB
RADICAL MEDICINE BEGINS WITH A PURGE AND IS SUSTAINED BY LOVE, Walking Meditation, Krowswork,CA/USA
2013
Shamanic Soul Constellations, Dissident Future Arts and Ideas Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco/USA
All Good Things, SOMArts, San Francisco/USA
THE LONG CONVERSATION, Southern Exposure, San Francisco/USA
ENDE, Kunstverein Schwerin/DE
Daddy YOU can´t make a cactus… this has been done., Grimmuseum, Berlin/DE
2012
imPOSSIBLE?, Culture Centre Kühlhaus, Berlin/DE
Inward Gazes – Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art, Macao Museum of Art, Macao/CN
The Artist is Elsewhere, Zero1 Biennial, Performance Art Institute, San Francisco/USA
Positioning Osmotic Impulses, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin/DE
I Am Crime: Art on the edge of law, SOMArts, San Francisco/USA
Uncanny Home, Corridor, Reykjavík/IC
Skowhegan Alumni Exhibitions, 92YTRIBECA, New York/USA
The universe is built on a plan, SAVVY Contemporary in cooperation with WHITECONCEPTS, Berlin/DE
2011
In you is the illusion of every day, Gallery LATITUDE 28, New Delhi/IND
Conceptualizing the Body: Gaze, Masquerade, and Spectacle, Amelie A Wallace Gallery, New York/USA
Keeping an Eye on Surveillance, The Performance Art Institute, San Francisco/USA
The End of the Dream, MicaMoca & WHITECONCEPTS, Berlin/DE
NOMADIC SETTLERS – SETTLED NOMADS, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin/DE
The End of Failure, Louis V E.S.P, New York/USA
2010
The Distance Between You And Me, Worksound Gallery, Portland/USA
The artist and the 40 thieves, Gallery Absence of Art, Berlin/DE
Broken Lines, Gallery Anna Klinkhammer, Duesseldorf/DE
Moves10: Framing Motion, The Bluecoat, Liverpool/UK
You see, I paint, Program Gallery, Warsaw/PL
2009
Vancouver Sculpture Biennal, Vancouver/CA
Christmas Palm, Freies Museum, Berlin/DE
imPOSSIBLE!, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and MISSION 17, San Francisco/USA
error:%/?/art, Warszawa Gallery and Galeria Beznadziejna, Warsaw/PL
The whole place is dark and we see, Wroclaw/PL
Cou-Huo, Beijing/CN
Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art, Macao Art Museum, Macao/CN
2008
We Remember the Sun, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute
Multiple Realities, F2 Gallery, Beijing/CN
55 Days of Chinese Art in Valencia, The Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia/ES
Crosscut – Humane slaughter act performance festival, SlaughterHouseSpace, Healdsburg/USA
The Source, part of the 100 Performances for the Hole, The Garage, San Francisco/USA
2007
Kunstfilmtag, Kuenstlerverein Malkasten, Duesseldorf/DE
Reincarnation, Doris McCarthy Gallery/University of Toronto Scarborough/CA
4 Walls Art Festival, Duesseldorf/DE
East-West Project, Espace 72, Dison, Verviers/BE
Play with Food, public performance at the Ateliers Höherweg e.V., Düsseldorf/DE
2006
Emerge 2006, GenArt, San Francisco/USA
APAture, Kearny Street, San Francisco/USA
Close Calls, Headland Center for the Arts, Sausalito/USA
Four on One – Curators Create, Artist Curates, four curators each curates Stephanie Syjuco, The Garage Biennale, San Francisco /USA
2005
ISA Black Market Auction, Independent School of Art, San Francisco/USA
ERNST Museum, Budapest/HU
Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland/USA
CREAM from the Top, Arts Benicia, Benicia/USA
San Francisco Art Institute MFA Show, San Francisco/USA
2004
MAGMA, Tenerife/ES
Murphy and Cadogan, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco/USA
21st National Juried Exhibition, Berkeley Art Center, Jocobson/USA
Monumental, Southern Exposure, San Francisco/USA
Topographies, with the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Secrets, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute/USA
“How to go from here…”, Balatonfured/HU
Center of Europe, performed at the Geographical Center of Europe, Vilnius/LIT
2003
INPORT: International Video-Performance Festival, Tallinn/EST
One Minute Film/Video Festival, Toronto/CA
Which Way Out?, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco/USA
Stare, performance, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine/USA
2002
Enlightenment Guaranteed, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco/USA
Public collections
Macao Art Museum, USA
Other activities
Juror, Social Art Award, The Institute for Art and Innovation, 2017
Juror, Diego Rivera Gallery year round submission, San Francisco Art Institute, 2010
Guest lecturer, CCA, San Francisco, 2010
Juror, ANTI/SOCIAL, MISSION 17´s Third Annual Juried Exhibition, with Clark Buckner, Cheryl Meeker, and Elaine Santos, 2006
Panelist, “China´s Next Generation”, with Orville Schell (Dean of School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley) et al, moderated by Scott Shafer, Commonwealth Club, broadcast on NPR on September 23, San Francisco, 2005
Guest lecturer, San Francisco Art Institute, 2005