Xu Zhen

Xu Zhen is a Shanghai-based artist who experiments with a wide variety of art forms, including installations, video performances, photography, and paintings. His works are also widely featured on the international stage, such as the Venice Biennale (2001, 2005), and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2004). He has also curates many shows in his career. Xu Zhen was the head of the BIzArt, a Shanghai based art organization that also creates a wide variety of art. He is currently the head of the MadeIn company, which has taken over the exhibition space at the M50 in Shanghai in the place of the
BizArt Space. The MadeIn company’s works mainly respond to world issues. For example, their works that are displayed at the 2010 Shanghai Biennale are mainly responses to the media that shapes today’s reality.
Xu Zhen’s art tends to challenge social norms. An example of Xu Zhen’s creativity is his video installation “8.848-1.86” (2005) documents an expedition to Mount Everest. Here, he removed 1.86 meters of the mountain’s peak and transported it home to be exhibited in a large display cabinet, which represents the extent he will go to oppose social and cultural norms.