Shu Yang (; born 1969) is a Chinese

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, performance artist,

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

who was born in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He studied at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Art, where he received his BA in art in 1993 and his master's degree in 1996. He initially taught fine art at the Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, before becoming an independent curator in 1999. He moved to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and in 2000, in collaboration with Chinese artist Zhu Ming and Chen Jin, set up the first performance art festival in China known as the Open Art Festival. In 2001 they curated the notorious festival of performance art in Cheng Du which was reported on Chinese television and in the press. It attracted the unwelcome attentions of the Chinese authorities. Amongst the artists to have performed there were Chinese artists, Zhu Yu, whose work involved killing a pig, Zhu Ming who works mainly with bubbles and Dai Guangyu, Singapore artist

Lee Wen Lee Wen (; 1957–2019) was a Singapore-based performance artist who shaped the development of performance art in Asia. He worked on the notion of identity, ethnicity, freedom, and the individual's relationship to communities and the environme ...

, Slovakia artist Jozsef Juhosz, a member of the performance art group

Black Market International Black Market International (BMI) is a performance artist collective with international members, each with an established and independent practice as a solo performer. Since 1985 the group has presented durational collective performances worldwide. ...

, American artist Skip Arnold, British artist

Lennie Lee Lennie Lee (born 4 March 1958) is a South African conceptual artist who lives and works in London. Life and career Lennie Lee is a British artist born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He moved to the UK in 1960. He was educated at Dulwich college ...

, Canadian artist

André Éric Létourneau André Éric Létourneau is a French Canadian media and transmedia artist, researcher, author, musician, composer, curator and professor based primarily in Montreal and Saint-Alponse-Rodriguez, Québec, Canada. He uses several pseudonyms, most ...

and Japanese artist Arai Shinichi. In 2002 he co-curated the 3rd Open Arts Festival in Xian, China with Chen Jin and Xiang Xishi. Many important performance artists took part including Ai Weiwei,

, Seiji Shimoda,

Huang Rui Huang Rui (born 1952) is a Chinese artist known for his social and cultural criticism. Life and work Huang Rui was born in Beijing in 1952. During the Cultural Revolution, he was sent at the age of 16 to Inner Mongolia where he worked as a farm ...

, Yue Luping and Wang Mai. After a split with Chen Jin, Shu Yang organised the first Dadao Live Arts Festival in 2003, the largest performance art festival in Asia featuring works by Wang Chuyu, Liang Tao.

Yang Zhichao Yang Zhichao (; born 1963) is a multi-disciplinary artist who is known for his agonizingly painful performance pieces. Biography Yang was born in Gansu Province, China, in 1963. He graduated from the Art Department of Northwest Normal University ...

, Cai Juan and JJ Xi,

, Michael Mayhew, Hayley Newman,

Kira O' Reilly Kira O'Reilly is a performance artist based in the UK. She graduated from Cardiff School of Art in 1998, and has participated in a number of performance art festivals throughout the UK and Europe, including at the Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Tren ...

, and

Andre Stitt André Stitt (born 1958 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an artist currently based in Cardiff, Wales, where he is a Professor of Fine Art at the Cardiff School of Art & Design. Background Stitt's family moved from Belfast in the 1960s an ...

. He acted as the director of the annual festival until 2009. In 2006 the festival took place in the 798 Art Zone in Beijing. In 2003, he took part as an independent curator of China-UK Arts Management Placement Programme at Visiting Arts in London and Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, UK. In 2004 he was a resident artist at the

Chinese Arts Centre The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art is a contemporary art gallery based in Manchester, England. It is located on Thomas Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter in the renovated part of the Smithfield Market Hall. History Origins of th ...

, Manchester, UK. He used his residency to research live arts in the UK & meet with artists who could take part in future Dadao festivals. In 2005 Shu Yang organised 'China Live', a UK tour of performances and film screenings of performance work by Chinese artists. The show was exhibited in 8 galleries including the

, Manchester; Arnolfini, Bristol;

Bluecoat Arts Centre Built in 1716–17 as a charity school, Bluecoat Chambers in School Lane is the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool, England. Following the Liverpool Blue Coat School's move to another site in 1906, the building was rented from 1907 ...

, Liverpool; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff;

Colchester Arts Centre The Colchester Arts Centre, is an arts centre in Colchester, Essex, which is located in a former Church of England parish church, the church of Saint Mary-at-the-Walls, a name derived from its proximity to the Roman town walls. The church may ha ...

; Warwick Arts Centre in collaboration with Fierce, Coventry; Green Room, Manchester;

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, Gateshead; and

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London. In addition to curating performance art festivals, Shu Yang is a well-known performer in his own right, has worked as an editor for Chinese art magazines and numerous catalogues. He is currently setting up the first archive of contemporary performance art in China. He has also curated numerous shows of photography, painting, video and movie in China, Germany, Italy and the UK.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shu, Yang 1969 births Living people Chinese performance artists People's Republic of China painters Chinese photographers Chinese contemporary artists Fellows of the American Physical Society