M HKA Ensembles

° 1968

Lives in Shanghai (CN), born in Hangzhou (CN).

Yang Zhenzhong (°1968) began studying textile and painting in 1995 with photography and video. One of his first mature works was Lucky Family (1995), a series of photos of a rooster, a chicken and a clutch of chicks, illustrating different family standards (and commenting on China's one-child policy).

Yang characterises himself and his praxis as ‘inconsistent,’ which of course can also be formulated as ‘versatile.’ He is an important figure in Shanghai's art scene. He has not only influenced its development as an artist, but also as a curator. He has been organising exhibitions with other influential artists since the end of the nineties. These projects have a positive effect on Shanghai's art scene and help the artist with his international profiling.

One of the recurring themes in Zhenzhong's work is the desire to emphasise the many contradictions and inequalities in society. In addition, he wants to explore the (mis)perception of space and the associated political and psychological appropriation.

In his work, he also investigates the human body and how it could be thought of and depicted on the threshold of the millennium. The Mao regime's disciplinary collectivist ideology was making way for more fluid but no less interesting social practices that responded to China's new role in global capitalism.