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Xiaowen Zhu (b. Shanghai) is a Manchester- and Berlin-based institutional leader, curator, artist, and author. Named by Apollo magazine as one of its 40 Under 40 Asia Pacific Thinkers, she is recognised for her contributions to contemporary art and cultural exchange. Since taking the helm of esea contemporary in 2022, Zhu has led a significant period of institutional transformation, reimagining the organisation as a platform for artistic experimentation, critical inquiry and new forms of cultural knowledge, while expanding its international reach and extending its presence in the international contemporary art landscape. She is a member of the British Council’s Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group.
Zhu has worked internationally in Shanghai, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin as a director, author, and lecturer. She previously served as Assistant Director at Times Art Center Berlin, the first overseas parallel institution established by the Guangdong Times Museum. Her curatorial practice is informed by an understanding of art as a form of knowledge production, attending to how artistic practices challenge inherited narratives, complicate cultural categories and articulate alternative ways of understanding the contemporary world. Her work also explores how art engages with place, history and cultural exchange, opening up new perspectives on the relationships between local contexts and global imaginaries.
Zhu is the author of the artist book Oriental Silk (Hatje Cantz, 2020) and the short story collection Encounters (Shanghai Educational Publishing House, 2022). Her writing, interviews, and reviews have appeared in Art Review, e-flux, Kaleidoscope, Asian Review of Books, Crown Magazine, Arts of the Working Class, It’s Nice That, and elsewhere. She has delivered lectures and talks at institutions including the London School of Economics and Political Science, Goldsmiths, University of London, Heidelberg University, Lund University, University of Westminster, Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, Syracuse University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Kyoto City University of the Arts, and Kyushu University.
Highlights
Thresholds of Becoming
21 February–17 May 2026
esea contemporary marks its 40th anniversary in 2026 with Thresholds of Becoming, a new group exhibition bringing together six artists whose practices probe the architectures of transition and the fragile ecologies of the in-between: Nicole Coson, Xin Liu, Charmaine Poh, Minoru Nomata, Yang Yongliang, and Yin Aiwen. Curated by esea contemporary Director, Xiaowen Zhu, the exhibition understands transformation as a restless process of reconfiguration — of meaning, of material, of the bonds that hold us together and the fractures that pull us apart. The exhibition positions mutation and instability not as failures, but as generative states through which new worlds might be glimpsed.
Slavs and Tatars: The Contest of the Fruits
14 June–14 September 2025
esea contemporary is pleased to present The Contest of the Fruits, the first UK institutional solo exhibition by the internationally acclaimed art collective Slavs and Tatars. Running from 14 June to 14 September 2025, the exhibition is an exploration of language, politics, religion, and humour through the lens of a 19th-century Uighur poem, reimagined as a vibrant animated film and rap battle.
Shadow and Void: Buddha¹⁰
January 18–April 20, 2025
esea contemporary and MAO (Museum of Asian Art), Turin, are pleased to present ‘Shadow and Void: Buddha10’, an innovative collaboration between the UK’s only non-profit gallery dedicated to East and Southeast Asian contemporary art and one of Europe’s foremost institutional collections of Asian art. Curated by Xiaowen Zhu, Director of esea contemporary, and Davide Quadrio, Director of MAO, this exhibition intertwines scientific studies, contemporary art, and spirituality by showcasing recently restored Buddhist sculptures from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries CE, on loan from MAO, alongside contemporary works by Shigeru Ishihara, Lee Mingwei, LuYang, Sun Xun, Sinta Tantra, Wu Chi-Tsung, and Zheng Bo, including three new commissions created specifically for ‘Buddha10’.
Amplifying Women's Voices: Leadership, Mentorship, and Global-Majority Perspectives in Contemporary Art
16 November 2024, 15:15–16:30
esea contemporary and Manchester Contemporary are pleased to present Amplifying Women's Voices: Leadership, Mentorship, and Global-Majority Perspectives in Contemporary Art, an insightful panel discussion celebrating the vital contributions of women in the contemporary art world at this year's Manchester Contemporary Art Fair.
Chaired by esea contemporary Director Xiaowen Zhu, the event features Petra van den Houten, Director of Development, Marketing, and Communications at Liverpool Biennial; Helena Lee, acting deputy editor of Harper’s Bazaar; artist Sinta Tantra; Rehana Mughal, Director of Creative Economy at the British Council; and Thanh Sinden, Director and Head Coach at Hoa Lotus
From (Counter-)Archives to Activation
May–August 2024, convened by Xiaowen Zhu
While archives embody power, the act of counter-archiving aims to destabilise their projected authority. Who holds the right to speak, to be documented, to exist not solely as statistics but as lived human experiences? What influences, supports, and undermines archival strategies and models within our society? What is the meaning of authenticity, subjectivity, and hegemony in this context? Can oral history facilitate intertextuality and counter-archiving to re-evaluate the narratives entrenched within institutional structures?
Jane Jin Kaisen: Halmang
January 20–April 21, 2024
esea contemporary presents the inaugural UK solo exhibition of internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker Jane Jin Kaisen, featuring polyphonic moving-image works, archive and reference materials. By weaving together oceanic cosmology and gendered histories, the exhibition is an in-depth inquiry into narratives of subjective and collective loss, resilience, and the formation of alternative communities.
Writing
Director's Letter
It is with great pleasure that we relaunch esea contemporary, previously known as the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art
Interweaving 交织
A hybrid of fiction, non-fiction, memoir, archive,
and script that explores what silk meant to Asian migrants
Oriental Silk 乡绸
An English-Chinese bilingual book exploring the complex relationship
between people and object in migrants' worlds (also a documentary film)
1/10
Contact
mail@zhuxiaowen.com
You can also find me on Instagram.
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