Ou Ning

Short Biography

Ou Ning's cultural practices encompass multiple disciplines. As an activist, he founded U-thèque, an independent film and video organization; As an editor and graphic designer, he is known for his seminal book New Sound of Beijing; As a curator, he initiated the biennale exhibition Get It Louder (2005, 2007) and launched the sound project in China Power Station, co-organized by Serpentine Gallery and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art; As an artist, he is known for the urban research projects such as San Yuan Li, commissioned by 50th Venice Biennale (2003), and Da Zha Lan, commissioned by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. He is a frequent contributor of various magazines, books and exhibition catalogues and has lectured around the world. In 2009, he was appointed the chief curator of Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, and was chosen to be the jury member of the 8th Benesse Prize at the 53rd Venice Biennale. He's currently based in Beijing, and is the director of Shao Foundation.

Curriculum Vitae

_1969 born in Zhangjiang, Guangdong, China
_1993, graduated from Shenzhen University
_Founder of U-thèque Organization, Sonic China Productions and Alternative Archive
_Chief curator of 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture
_Director of Shao Foundation
_Now lives and works in Beijing

Fellowship Program

Beijing Case: Culture of the High Speed Urbanism, 2005, German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes)

Visiting Programs

_Architecture and Urbanism Research Program by Spain Section of 2010 Expo, 2010, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao
_Architecture and Urbanism Research Program by NAi, 2009, Rotterdam, Amsterdam
_Arts Festivals Research Program, 2008, British Arts Festivals Association, London, Manchester, Liverpool
_Design Research Program, 2008, IASPIS, Stockholm
_Art and Design Research Program, 2006, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami
_Design Research Program, 2006, British Council, London
_Acadia Summer Art Program, 2005, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia
_The Japan Foundation Invitation Program 2003 for Art Coordinators from China, 2003, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yamaguchi, Kokura, Fukuoka

Nominator

_Curry Stone Design Prize 2009, Louisville, Kentucky
_Designs of the Year 2008, Design Museum, London
_Designs of the Year 2007, Design Museum, London

Jury Member

_2009 Yokohama International Media Art Festival
_8th Benesse Prize, 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009

Selected Screenings

_Meishi Street(film of the Da Zha Lan project), 2010, State University of New York, Fredonia
_Meishi Street, 2010, Washington University, St. Louis
_Meishi Street, 2010, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
_Meishi Street, 2010, Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge
_Meishi Street, 2009, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
_Meishi Street, 2009, Portland Art Museum
_Meishi Street, 2009, Duke University
_Meishi Street, 2009, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
_Meishi Street, 2009, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona
_Meishi Street, 2008, 3rd Beijing Independent Film Festival
_Meishi Street, 2008, 6th Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival
_Meishi Street, 2008, Cinémathèque québécoise, Montreal
_Meishi Street, 2008, School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), University of London
_Meishi Street, 2008, California (Berkeley), Stanford University, University of Texas(Austin), Columbia University, Michigan State University, Chicago Unversity
_Meishi Street, 2008, Nova Cinema, Brussels
_Meishi Street, 2008, Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center
_Meishi Street, 2008, Center for Architecture, New York
_Meishi Street, 2008, BFI Southbank and Museum in Docklands, London
_Meishi Street, 2008, Babylon Cinema, Berlin
_San Yuan Li, 2008, Uplink Factory, Tokyo
_Meishi Street, 2007, Chinema Direct program, Nova Cinema, Brussels
_Meishi Street, world premiere, 2006, Museum of Modern Art, New York
_San Yuan Li, 2006, A/P/A Institute at New York University
_San Yuan Li, 2006, Center for Architecture, New York(organized by People's Architecture)
_San Yuan Li, 2006, University of Tokyo
_San Yuan Li, 2006, Kyoto Seika University
_San Yuan Li, 2005, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
_San Yuan Li, 2005, School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), University of London
_San Yuan Li, 2005, Michael Berger Gallery, Pittsburgh
_San Yuan Li, 2005, 3rd Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
_San Yuan Li, 2005, 29th Hong Kong International Film Festival
_San Yuan Li, 2005, London Chinese Film Festival, SOAS, University of London
_San Yuan Li, 2005, International Short Film Festival, Alliance Francaise, Bangkok
_San Yuan Li, 2004, Taiwan International Documentary Festival
_San Yuan Li, 2004, Reel China program, Yale University, University of California (Berkeley), University of Washington
_San Yuan Li, 2004, Seeing China program, Nova Cinema, Brussels
_San Yuan Li, 2004, China Now program, Museum of Modern Art, New York
_San Yuan Li, 2003, MK2 Bibliothèque, Paris

Selected Solo Exhibitions

_San Yuan Li (cooperation with Cao Fei), 2004, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing
_Blindness, 2004, Advance Art Center, Shanghai
_Talk Without Speaking, 1999, Libreria Borges, Guangzhou

Selected Group Exhibitions

_4th Tirana Biennale, 2009
_Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, 2008, BAM/PFA, California (Berkeley)
_Moving Perspectives: Video Art from Asia, 2008, Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington
_Concrete Culture, 2008, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, College of Fine Arts, The University of New South Wales, Sydney
_China Power Station Part III, 2008, Mudam Luxembourg
_Communities of Tastes, 2008, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, 798 Art District, Beijing
_La Rue est a Nous… Tous!(The Streets are Ours!), 2008, Shanghai and Beijing
_China Design Now, 2008, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
_On Cities; maps, cars, people and narratives in the urban environment, 2008, The Swedish Museum of Architecture in Stockholm, Sweden
_Borderline Moving Images 2007, Beijing
_On The Outside: The Social Engine-Exploring Flexibility, 2007, ACC Galerie, Weimar
_2nd Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, 2007, OCAT,Shenzhen
_China Power Station Part II, 2007, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
_10th Istanbul Biennial, 2007
_Who do you think you are?, 2007, Base B, Milano Bovisa
_World Factory, 2007, San Francisco Art Institute
_Detours: Tactical Approaches to Urbanization in China, 2006, Faculty Of Architecture, Landscape & Design, University of Toronto
_China Power Station Part I, 2006, Battersea Power Station, London (organized by Serpentine Gallery and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art)
_Slum: Art and Life in the Here and Now of the Civil Age, 2006, Neue Galerie Graz
_Total Stadt: Beijing Case, 2006, ZKM, Karlsruhe
_Contemporary China: Architecture, Arts and Visual Culture, 2006, NAi, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Nederlands Fotomuseum
_Celluloid Revolutions, 2006, House of World Culture, Berlin
_Never Go Out Without My DV Cam , 2006, Museo Colecciones ICO, Madrid
_Guangzhou: Cantonese Artists in the Sigg Collection, 2006, Kunstmuseum Bern
_1st Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, 2005, OCAT, Shenzhen
_2nd Guangzhou Triennial, 2005, Guangdong Museum of Art
_Kunst und Film, 2005, Kunstmuseum Bern
_Traveling Outside & Within: 4 Contemporary Chinese Artists, 2005, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
_The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art, 2005, Millennium Art Museum, Beijing; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; University at Buffalo Art Galleries
_Follow Me! Contemporary Chinese Art at the Threshold of the Millennium, 2005, Mori Museum, Tokyo
Unspeakable Happiness, 2005, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo,Mexico City
_Living in Interesting Times: A Decade of New Chinese Photography, 2005, The Open Museum of Photography, Tel Hai, Israel
_Crossovers and Rewrites: Borders over Asia, 2005, World Social Forum 2005, Museum of Contemporary Art, Porte Alegro, Brazil
_Die Chinesen: Fotografie und Video aus China, 2004, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
_Flip: Chinese Contemporary Book Design, 2004, Hong Kong Heritage Museum
_Tätig Sein, 2004, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst e.V. (NGBK), Berlin
_Traditions and Contradictions: New Video Works from Asia, 2004, Filmtheater 't Hoogt, Utrecht; Argos Festival, Brussels
_Out the Window: Spaces of Distraction, 2004, Asia Center, Japan Foundation, Tokyo; Project Space Zip, Darling Art _Foundation, Seoul
_Fabricated Paradises : Artists from China, 2003, La Parvis Contemporary Art Center, Vidéo K 01, Pau, France
_10th Biennial of the Moving Image, 2003, Centre pour I’Image Contemporaine, Genèva
_Public Space and Personal Eyes, 2003, Kampnagel, Hamburg
_Z.O.U.(Zone of Urgency), 50th Venice Biennale, 2003
_4th Gwangju Biennale, 2002
_Mirror Images of the Public: The Avant-garde Poster from China, 2001, Hochschule der Kunste Berlin
_Living in Time: 29 Contempoary Artists from China, 2001, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum fur Gegenwart, Berlin
_19th International Biennale of Graphic Design, 2000, Brno

Selected Lectures

_City Mobilization: Towards Another Kind of Biennale, 2010, Urban Field Speakers, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto; Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Boston; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Columbia University, New York; State University of New York, Buffalo.
_From Urbanism to Ruralism, 2010, Snow Scape Moere V, Sapporo
_Design and Politics, 2009, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
_A Thousand Splendid Ideas, Fall 2008 Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series, San Francisco Art Institute
_In Practice, 2008, IASPIS, Stockholm
_Limited Design, 2007, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art
_Impoverished Communities in Urban China, Fall 2006 Lecture Series, Faculty Of Architecture, Landscape & Design, University of Toronto
_Mass Media and Art in China, 2006, Art Lobby, Art Basel 37
_Design for the Poor, 2005, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
_The Interaction of Art and Design, 2004, Cheung Kong School of Art & Design, Shantou University
_The Production of San Yuan Li, 2004, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
_Post-6th-Generation Chinese Independent Cinema, 2004, Hong Kong University
_Nonfiction China: Chinese New Documentary Film, 2003, 2003 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival
_New Wave of Multimedia, 2001, Sun Yat-sen University and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
_Alternative Moving Images, 2000, The 3rd Yearlong Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, He Xianning Art Gallery, Shenzhen
_Talk without Speaking: Poetry, Music, Film, Culture and Graphic Design, 1999, Shenzhen University

Selected Symposiums

_City as Playground, 2009, The Architecture Foundation, London
_Exposing the City of Tomorrow, 2009, Tirana Dialogues
_We are Born for Play: Revitalization of Osaka as a Water Metroplis, Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009
_Graphic Design and Typography in China: Then and Now, 2009, Shanghai International Literary Festival
_Design Cities: Where Next? , The debate chaired by Deyan Sudjic, 2008, Design Museum, London
_Chinese Blogger Conference, 2008, Guangzhou
_Conversations on Contemporary China: Hou Hanru, Ou Ning and Jane DeBevoise, 2008, BAM/PFA, California (Berkeley)
_After Hours: New Institutionalism in Asia, 2008, Yokohama Campus, Tokyo University of Arts
_Extra/Ordinary Cities: The Cultural Dynamics of Urban Intervention, 2008, Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics, The University of New South Wales, Casula Powerhouse and 2008 Biennale of Sydney
_Magical Mysterious Regeneration Tour: Art, Artists and the Future of the City, 2008, Tate Liverpool, The Bluecoat and Liverpool University
_Creative China: Visual Culture, Architecture and Design, 2008, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
_Dialogue between Lenny Kwok and Ou Ning, host by Leung Man Tao, 2008, Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
_Contemporary China Through The Lens, 2008, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
_X-Media Lab, 2007, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
_China-Japan Culture Forum, 2007, Beijing
_DDB Co-creative Conference, 2007, Beijing
_China Volcano? Hou Hanru vs Ou Ning, Domus China conversation series, 2007, South China University of Technology
_Ctrlshift07: The Biennial Pacific Students of Architecture Congress, 2007, School of Architecture & Design, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
_Chinese Contemporary Art Ecology, 2007, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen
_Urban Body, TU Delft and Tsinghua University, 2007, Beijing
_Panel Discussion on Meishi Street, 2007, CCA Kitakyushu
_Ubiquitous China: Dialogue between Ole Bouman, Ou Ning and Jiang Jun, launching Volume magazine in Beijing, 2006, Peking University
_Bridge The Gap?, 2006, CCA Kitakyushu and Shanghai International Arts Festival
_Design in China Workshop, 2006, V&A Museum and CAFA, Beijing
_Art Basel Conversation Beijing, 2006, China National Museum
_Creative Links: Design and Consultation in Urban Regeneration, 2005,Hong Kong Design Centre and British Council
_Canton Cinema Retrospective, 2004, Guangdong Museum of Art
_China Breakz: Contemporary Art, Sound, Film and Video from China Now, 2003, Kyoto Art Center and Japan Foundation (Tokyo)

Selected Curatorial Projects

_The Chinese Thinking: Shenzhen Marathon Conversation with Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist, 2009, Shenzhen Civic Centre
_City Mobilization: 2009 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture
_Traces: Liu Xiaodong (exhibition and conference co-curated with Hung Wu), 2009, Shao Foundation, Beijing
_Sichuan Chronicles: A Ying Liang Retrospective (screening and conference), 2009, Shao Foundation, Beijing
_Public Space as Side Effect: The End of Neo-Liberalism, a talk by Scott Lash, 2009, Shao Foundation, Beijing
_Social Space and the Post-80’s Generation, conference, 2009, Shao Foundation, Beijing
_Jia Zhangke: 24 City (screening, exhibition and conference), 2009, Shao Foundation, Beijing
_Experiments in the New Countryside Laboratory, a talk by Jay Brown, 2009, Shao Foundation, Beijing
_Be True: Artwork for Nike Dunk, 2008, 1918 Art Space, Shanghai
_Get it Louder, 2007, Grandview Mall, Guangzhou; Daning, The Life Hub, Shanghai; SOHO Shangdu, Beijing
_Awakening Battersea(Sound Project), 2006, China Power Station Part 1, Battersea Power Station, London, commissioned by Serpentine Gallery
_Get it Louder, 2005, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen; Salon Vogue, CITIC Square, Shanghai; Xinfucun Art Centre, Beijing
_Moving Image of Pearl River Delta, 2005, Hong Kong Film Archive, Lyon Asia Film Festival; 2003, Xue’eryou Book House, Guangzhou,DDM Ware House, Shanghai, Peking University, Beijing
_Nonfiction China: Chinese Neo Documentary Film, 2003, Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology
_Cui Jian Live Concert, 1995, Shenzhen
_John Zorn and Yamatsuka Eye: Tour in China, 1995, Foshan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing

Selected Editorial Design

_Airplanes and Parachutes: A Jonathan Napack Anthology, 2007, Art Basel
_Cao Fei: Hip Hop, exhibition catalogue, 2006, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York
_Total Stadt: Beijing Case, exhibition catalogue, 2006, ZKM, Karlsruhe
_Bie Ce(Alternative Issues), Modern Weekly, theme magazine, 2000-2005
_Red Flag Collection: Liu Xiaodong, artist monographs, 2005, Loft Gallery , Paris
_Jia Zhangke: The World, film poster and publication, 2005
_Wu Shanzhuan: Red Humour International, artist monograph, 2004, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong
_Float: A Cine Ladder Project by Cao Fei, Chen Xiaoyun, Jiang Zhi and Yang Fudong, exhibition catalogue, 2004, Shanghai Biennale
_Excessive, Dense, Speedy, Complex, Empty… But Humane, catalogue, 2004, Argos Festival, Brussels
_The San Yuan Li Project, 2003, 50th Biennale di Venezia,
_On The Mid-Ground: Selected Texts by Hou Hanru, 2002, Timezone 8
_Fabricated Paradises : Artists from China, exhibition catalogue, 2003, La Parvis Contemporary Art Center, Vidéo K 01, Pau, France
_Living in Time: 29 Contempoary Artists from China, exhibition catalogue, 2001, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum fur Gegenwart, Berlin
_Fang Lijun, artist monograph, 2001, Hunan Fine Art Publishing House
_Zhou Tiehai, artist monograph, 2000, Hara Museum, Tokyo and ShanghART Gallery
_New Sound of Beijing, experimental publication, 1999, Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House

Selected Writings Translated and Published in English

_A City Called Shenzhen, published in the guidebook of 2009 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture, Shenzhen
_City Mobilization: Towards Another Kind of Biennale, published in the guidebook of 2009 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture, Shenzhen
_Odyssey: A Wanderer's Manifesto, foreword for the book Odyssey: Architecture and Literature, published by 2009 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture, Shenzhen
_The Revolutionary Imagination and its Cultural Praxis, published in CHiE! Culture Sieges Politics, 2008, Para/Site, Hong Kong.
_In Practice: Q & A between Magnus Ericson and Ou Ning, published by IASPIS(International Artists' Studio Program in Sweden), 2008, Stockholm
_The Country Where Dreams May Come True, published in Icon Magazine, Issue 057, March 2008, London
_Rewriting Asia: The Global Identity of Contemporary Asian Art, published inArt & Entrepreneurship, by Credit Suisse, 2008, Zurich
_The Past Has Said Goodby to Us: Q & A between Sonja Ernst and Ou Ning, http://www.bpb.de, launched by Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2008, Germany
_Everyone is a Curator, published in the guidebook of Get It Louder 2007, exhibition catalogue, by Modern Media, 2007, China
_Is London Still the Center of the World?, published in Everything Material, Something Immaterial:UK Chapter of Get It Louder 2007, by British Council, 2007,China
_]Neo Photography and Media Industry in Guangzhou[/i], published in 3030: New Photography in China, edited by John Millichap, 2006, Hong Kong
_Street Life at Da Zha Lan, published in Urban China, 2006, Shanghai
_Liu Xiaodong and the Sixth Generation Films, published in Liu Xiaodong, 2006, Map Publishers, Hong Kong
_The Story of Zhang Jinli, published in Kulturstiftung des Bundes Magazine, vol. 7, 2006, Germany; Volume 8: Ubiquitous China, Archis+AMO+C-LAB+NAi, 2006, Rotterdam;Totalstadt: Beijing Case, Verlag, Koln,2006
_Who is Designing for the Poor?, published in Plugzine, Issue 1, 2005, Beijing
_Being As Surrealistic as Reality：Chinese Independent Cinema after the Fifth Generation, published in Metropolis M, October 2004, Amsterdam
_Digital Images and Civic Consciousness, published in Argos Festival 2004, Catalogue, October 2004, Brussels
_Revealing Keys to the Riddle of Reality:Moving Images of the Pearl River Delta from 1999 To 2003, published in Yishu, Summer Issue, June 2004, Vancouver
_Shadows of Time, published in Yishu, Spring Issue, March 2004, Vancouver
_The U-theque Organization: An End or a Beginning? , published in Yishu, Summer Issue, June 2003, Vancouver
_Talk Goes On: Interview with Hou Hanru, published in On The Mid-ground, April 2002, Timezone 8
_Chinese Design Today, published in Monthly Design, Vol 232, October 1997, Seoul