Guan Xiao

Guan Xiao was born 1983 in Chongqing Province, China. In her sculpture and video work, Guan juxtaposes discordant images, diverse cultural artifacts, and modern technology to create objects that are futuristic, referential, unsettling, and humorous. Working with traditional Chinese sculpted tree roots, 3D fabrications, and readymade industrial objects, Guan Xiao epitomizes the next generation of artists from China, rooted in transnational culture and immersed in our technology-fueled present. Her video works mirror viewers’ experiences of the Internet and personal memories, where seemingly unrelated images find inexplicable yet resonant connection.

Guan Xiao received her BA in directing at the Communication University of China in 2006. She has had major solo exhibitions at Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany (2019); Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri (2019); FIAC, Paris, France (2016); K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai, China (2016); ICA, London, England (2016); CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2016); Zabludowicz Collection, London, England (2016); Antenna Space, Shanghai, China (2015); Art Berlin Contemporary, Germany (2014); Magician Space, Beijing (2013); among others. Guan lives and works in Beijing.

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“Everything an artist does is to express their sense of freedom—to break our ideas free of the frames that are holding them in. That is actually what is political.”

Guan Xiao