Erica Zhan
(b. 1999, CN)
Erica Zhan is a Chinese interdisciplinary artist and writer who is currently based in Chicago, the United States of America. Their work navigates the pressures of consumerism, competitive intensity, and professionalization in late capitalism, exploring themes of play, vulnerability, and the eroded zones of personal freedom. Through performance, video, photography, and experimental writing, Zhan critically examines contemporary systems of competition, training, and regulation.
Their practice investigates the paradigm of modern games and sports, not only as structured activities but as reflections of broader societal conditions shaped by discipline and commodification. Through humor, satire, and participatory engagement, Zhan’s work questions the rigid standards of professionalism and the commercialization of identity, offering alternative perspectives on autonomy and creative agency. Positioning themselves as a “rule hacker” and an “alternative player,” Zhan approaches art-making with a keen awareness of the constraints imposed by social expectations and institutional frameworks. They aim to reveal the limitations placed on personal freedom, exploring the tension between structured environments and moments of spontaneity. By incorporating low-tech materials and parodic strategies, their works resist the spectacle-driven nature of contemporary art, opting instead for interventions that provoke thought and encourage dialogue.
For instance, in the performance How To Become a Professional Artist (2025), Zhan confronts the industrialization of art, highlighting how the artist’s identity is compressed into a professional standard. Audience members are invited to construct an image of the “professional artist” through interactive voting and written contributions, which the performer then applies to their own body. Using food, digital tools, and edible materials, Zhan critiques the commodification of artists and the tension between creative expression and market expectations. The performance culminates with the artist consuming the audience-generated text until their body can no longer process it, reflecting the absurdity of professionalization in art. Another example can be found in Step by Step (2025), a participatory performance exploring the evolution of rules and the dynamics of power within a game. Players are divided into small groups, each given different rules that they can modify at specific intervals. As the game progresses, individuals transition from being constrained by rules to becoming rule-makers, ultimately reshaping the game itself. The shifting mechanics of the performance reveal the tension between control and autonomy, order and transformation, allowing participants to experience firsthand how structures influence relationships and power dynamics.
Another notable artwork consists of a two-channel video work that juxtaposes a narrative monologue with adapted face yoga tutorials set to the soundtrack of Chinese school radio gymnastics. Titled Teath Gymnastics (2024), the piece reflects on personal experiences of dental health as a site of both fantasy and pain, using training as an imagined pathway to normalcy. Through poetic and sentimental storytelling, Zhan explores the interplay between body discipline, societal expectations, and the fragility of self-perception. In My Prescription is a Long Confession (2024), another two-channel video artwork, Zhan critiques the commodification of psychotherapy and the language surrounding mental health in consumer culture. The work draws parallels between traditional Chinese medicine practices, such as gua sha, and Western pharmaceutical approaches, highlighting how healing has become intertwined with capitalist logic. Zhan uses repetitive gestures—speaking, rubbing their body, taking medication—to illustrate how therapy-speak has become a product marketed alongside lifestyle choices, ultimately questioning the authenticity of psychological care in a commercialized world.
In or lighter than a goose feather (2023), a durational performance invites audience members to write down seemingly insignificant thoughts or events on slips of paper, which are then placed into sealed plastic bags and weighed. The title references an ancient Chinese phrase describing things of little value. By physically materializing overlooked language and experiences, the work creates a poetic meditation on the weight of fleeting moments and the subjective value of what is often dismissed. To conclude, Debate (2024), performed at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, involved the artist wearing multiple masks adorned with audience-generated words. Visitors were encouraged to read, contribute, and alter the inscriptions, shaping the performance in real time. Over time, the words dissolved in water, symbolizing the transient and mutable nature of identity and perception. The work examines how meaning is collectively constructed and eventually eroded, returning the artist to an unembellished state.
Born 1999 in Ganzhou, China, residing and working in Chicago, the United States of America, Zhan holds a Master’s degree in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Their work has been exhibited at various venues, including the No Nation Art Lab in Chicago, the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, and the Terrain Biennial in Chicago, to name just a few. Zhan won the first prize for the 2024 Midwest Open in Chicago and was an artist-in-residence at the GlogauAIR On-line Residency in Berlin, Ox-bow School of Art Longform Residency in Saugatuck, SODAS 2123 in Vilnius, and the Ragdale Residency in Lakeforest. In addition to their artistic practice, Zhan is an accomplished writer, contributing poetry, fiction, and art criticism to The Art Journal and other publications.
For more information, please consult the artist’s website here.
Last Updated on March 11, 2025
About the author:
Sylvia Walker (b. 1986, US) is an art historian, essayist, art critic, and curator. After contributing to numerous publications, and curating exhibitions in the United States of America and beyond, she currently works as the assistant director of Contemporary Art Issue (CAI).
