Zhou Bin
Leisurely Game of Chess by Zhou Bin, 2019, photo by Zhai Yitao
China
Born in 1970 in Xi’an, China, Zhou Bin graduated from Xi 'an Academy of Fine Arts and Chang'an University. Between the years of 1994 and 1997, he worked at Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan and Songzhuang artist villages. 1997 marked his move to Chengdu, where he turned exclusively to performance art. Zhou Bin’s work emphasizes the body’s experience in performance artworks, giving absolute substance to the idea-image, whether expressing some slight feeling or dealing with life’s contingencies. His works arrive at the epistemological and linguistic root of performance art, stressing: What you say is important, but how you say it, even more so. The body’s language, interaction of various media, spatial penetration, spontaneity, and the event are all in medias res, ready to be freely employed.
Zhou Bin has travelled extensively abroad with his performance art, spending productive time in Japan’s Tokyo Live Art Center, Korea’s Guangzhou City Museum, Renchuan Art Stage, Singapore’s Binhai Art Center, Thailand’s ManguCulture and Art Center, Holland’s W139 Museum, England’s Chinese Art Center, Moore University Museum, Seattle Action Art Space, Isreal’s ZAZ Performance Art Center, Germany’s SAVVY Modern Art Group, Ludwig Museum, Italy’s 21st Century National Art Museum (MAXXI), Austria’s KUNSTRAUM NIEDEROESTERREICH Gallery, Vienna’s TANZQUARTIER WIEN. He has researched and performed in art residency programs throughout Sweden, Belgium, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Zhou Bin has travelled extensively abroad with his performance art, developing performance art, constantly active in events and organizations as well as with academic work. In 2007, Zhou Bin created Up-On Live Art Space, which produced Up-On International Live Art Festival, involving actions and artworks by artists visiting from all over the world. From May 2012, Zhou Bin has been invited as Lecturer to Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and the Art College of Sichuan University where he gives classes on performance art. From Dec 2015, he has also been invited by Germany’s Berlin Free University as well as the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Applied Arts Vienna to conduct performance art curricula.
