Yuge Zhou: Biography & Artworks

Biography

Yuge Zhou, born in 1985 in Beijing, China, resides and works in Chicago, United States. Zhou is known for her captivating video installations addressing connections, isolation, and longing across urban and natural environments.

Portrait of Yuge Zhou, filming in Beijing. Courtesy of the artist.

At the age of five, Yuge Zhou became a household name in China as the singer for a popular children’s TV series. Zhou came to the US a decade ago to study and eventually became an artist working in video art and installations. She creates immersive experiences through digital collaging and sculptural reliefs. Her recent projects explore metaphorically her personal history as an immigrant and bonds between her homeland and adopted country. She is also incorporating live choreographed dancers as a vehicle to explore the intersection between performance and video art. In addition to her art practice, she curates the 3300-square foot 150 Media Stream 150 Media Stream, a unique public digital art installation in Chicago.

Zhou earned her Master of Fine Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015. In addition to her MFA, she holds a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University. Zhou’s work has exhibited around the globe and been featured in various publications such as the New York Magazine, HYPEBEAST, and The Atlantic Monthly. Zhou received the Santo Foundation Individual Artist Award in 2017 and Honorary Mention in the 2020 Prix Ars Electronica (Austria). She is currently an artist at NEW INC, the world’s first museum-led incubator for art, technology, and design founded by New Museum.

Zhou recently received the Honorary Mention in the internationally renowned Prix Ars Electronica where her work was shown at Ok Center for Contemporary Art as well as Ars Electronica 2020 exhibition at Kepler’s Garden in Linz, Austria. Her work will also be on a worldwide tour as part of the Ars Electronica animation festival sponsored by the Austrian embassy. In addition, Zhou has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including the Grand Rapids Art Museum; Elmhurst Art Museum; Spartanburg Art Museum; K Museum of Contemporary Art and Oil Tank Cultural Park in Seoul, South Korea; Chicago Cultural Center; SIGGRAPH Asia in Kobe, Japan; Microscope Gallery in NY; and Run Run Shaw Creative Media Center in Hong Kong among many others.