LIU Zhenchen, born in 1976, is a multidisciplinary artist based between Paris, Hamburg, and Shanghai. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University and the National High School of Art in Villa Arson, France. Later, he received his Post-Diplôme from Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts in Tourcoing, France, in 2007. His work engages with contemporary social and environmental issues, exploring the complexities of urban life through moving images, installations, and painting. By blending poetic visuals with critical reflections, he offers a deep exploration of the postmodern urban experience.
LIU has exhibited internationally across major film and visual arts platforms, including the Locarno Film Festival, Oberhausen Film Festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles Photo Festival, Nuit Blanche in Paris, Transmediale in Berlin, and Ars Electronica in Linz. His works have been shown in prestigious venues such as the Grand Palais, Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou (Paris), Kunst Museum Bonn, and the Contemporary Art Museum in Marseille. His work is part of the permanent collection at the Centre Pompidou.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
Tilted Time, How Art Museum, Shanghai
Exposition d’art France-Chine, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing
Beyond the soil: Art on ecology, Hanshan Art Museum, Suzhou
Chinese Medicine and Art Exhibition, Mingyuan Museum, Shanghai
Kaleidoscope, West Bund, Shanghai
2023
A Silence Already Filled With Noises, M Art Center, Shanghai
Swirl, Wuhan Museum of Art, Wuhan
2022
Ran, 1905 Art Space, ShenYang
Floating, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
Conte de Printemps, Chao Art Center, Pekin
Entr’acte, Galerie ArtCN, Shanghai
Spring, Whitebox Art Center, Pekin
2021
PASSAGGI, MAXXI, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma
Botanical Transmutations, Galerie ArtCN, Shanghai
2020
Panacée, Mois Franco-Chinois de l’environnement, Shanghai
In the Name of Flower, Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai
2019
Belvedere, MARS Milan Artist Run Space, Milan
BelVedere Locarno, Teatro dei Fauni, Locarno
La main qui dessinait toute seule, Galerie Danysz, Shanghai
En Chantier, la petite galerie, La Maison Europeenne de la photographie, Paris
2018
Here/Ever, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, en collaboration avec Photo Shanghai, Shanghai
Témoins de la ville, Metropolis Art Center, Pekin
Photo Macau, Macau
2017
HEAT Paris, Asian contemporary art festival, Mi*Galerie, Paris
Architecture invisible, The Swiss Church Londres, London
Videobox, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris
2016
Ice Monument, Mois franco-chinois de l'environnement, Bund, Shanghai
No Translation Needed, Kunstlerhaus FRISE, Hamburg
Quand la Chine réveille l’art contemporain, Galerie RueVisconti, Paris
Babord / Tribord, Maison de France, Sfax
Là où va le cinéma, MK2 Beaubourg, Paris
Trace, Minsheng Art Museum, Pekin
Welcome to my life, Himalayas Museum, Shanghai
Changing City, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
We, K11, Shanghai
2015
Nuit Blanche, Hôtel de Ville, Paris
Le Fresnoy, Mémoire de l’imagination, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
2014
Festival OPEN VideoArt, Maison Européenne de la photographie, Paris
Y es-tu, l’Institut français du Japon à Yokohama, Yokohama
2013
Festival Temps d’Images, 104, Paris
Imaginaires des villes, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Money, Chi K11 Art Center, Shanghai
Traverse Video, Goethe Institut, Toulouse
Je sème à tout vent, galerie Martine et Thibault de la Châtre, Paris
Futur en Seine, 104, Paris
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai
2012
A la croisée des images, La Maison européen de la photograhie, Paris
Nuit Blanche, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
Festival International Jean Rouch, Maison des Cultures du Monde, Paris
Architekturfotografie / Made in China, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Köln
2011
Nuit Blanche, Le Bal, Paris
Videonale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
Ornamental Structures, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken
Alles wandelt sich, Galerie DNA, Berlin
Petit formats, Galerie Briobox, Paris
2010
Kaleidoscope – Zhenchen Liu, Galerie Briobox, Paris
Nuit Blanche, Maison des Métallos, Paris
Imaginez Maintenant, Cite de l’architecture & du patrimoine, Paris
Paradise is somewhere else, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt
Animated Images, Goethe Institut, Taipei
Architecture Film Festival, Rotterdam
2009
Espacios Urbanos, Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires
OVNI, CCCB, Barcelona
Video Dumbo Festival, New York
2008
Dans la nuit, des images, Grand Palais, Paris
Down Town Production, The Red Mansion Foundation, London
Single channel, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin
Worlds on Video, International video art, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Loop Festival, Galerie Anita Beckers, Barcelona
Tea time, Living with Art, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt
International Triennale of Contemporary Art, National Gallery, Prague
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid
Trunk, Fargfabriken, Stockholm
Cinéma du réel, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Studio, Invitation à Madeleine Van Doren pour le Fresnoy, Galerie des Filles du Calvaire, Paris
Transmediale 08, CONSPIRE, Berlin
Festival Courtisane, Gent, Belgium
2007
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid
Who do you think you are? BaseB, Milan
Exis, Experimental Film and Video Festival, Seoul
2006
Zhenchen LIU, Studio44, Stockholm
Shanghai Shanghai – Zhenchen Liu, City Hall Art Gallery, Ottawa
Under construction – Zhenchen Liu, Gallery Allegra Ravizza Art Project, Milan
Manifestation internationale video et art electronique, Montréal
35th Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Montréal
2005
Biennale International d’Art Contemporain Chinois, Montpellier, Montpellier
Biennale de I’image en mouvement, Geneva
Formation & Residence
2017
Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai
2016
Frise, Hamburg
2013-2015
104, Paris
2008-2009
Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
2005-2007
Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing
2003-2005
Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Art de Nice, Villa Arson
1996-2000
Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Shanghai
Public Collections
La Maison européenne de la Photographie, Paris
Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne
Collection Départementale d’Art Contemporain de la Seine-Saint-Denis
Centre d’art contemporain, Domaine Départemental de Chamarande
Collection Neuflize Vie