Zhang Peili was born in 1957 in Hangzhou, China. He graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou in 1984 with a degree in oil painting. In the 1980s, he was a founding member of the artists' collective “Pond Society,” and acted as a cornerstone of the avant-garde movement in Hangzhou.

Considered the father of video art in China because of his groundbreaking work in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he is currently the dean of the New Media Department of the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. In the first years of this century, he devoted much of his attentions to art education in China, and counts numerous important video, photography, and new media artists among his former students. In the past several years he has returned to a more intensive artistic practice.

His earlier works experimented with an aesthetics of boredom and have treated themes of social and political control. Zhang Peili’s work is always implicitly political, and he is infamous for his incisive use of irony that maintains a consistently mocking tone without descending into satire. His more recent work interrogates viewing conventions, perceptions of time, and notions of progress through the remixing and editing of found footage; it also challenges the boundaries of media art, having focused on complex video installations for the past ten years.

Solo Exhibitions
2009　Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
2008　Tilton Gallery, New York
　　　A Gust of Wind, BOERS-LI Gallery, Beijing
　　　Mute, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China
2007　Best Artist(Tilton Gallery, New York), 07 Shanghai Art Fair International
　　　Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shanghai Exhibition Centre
2006　Phrase, Currents/Art & Music, Beijing
2000　Artist Project Rooms (Art & Public, Switzerland) Arco2000, Madrid.  
1999　Jack Tilton Gallery, New York
1998　The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1997　Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria
　　　The Art Center, Centers of Academic Recources Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
1996　Video Forum” / Art27’96, (Art & Public)Basel, Switzerland  
1993　Maison des Cultures du Monde, Galerie du Rond Point, Paris/Galerie Crousel-Robelin, Paris

Selected Group Exhibitions
2009　Intramoenia Extra art, Casties of Puglia, Italy
　　　Bourgeoisified Proletariat, Songjiang Creative Studio, Shanghai
　　　Yi Pai – Century Thinking, Today Art Museum, Beijing
　　　Timelapse, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
　　　Avant-Garde China: 20 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art”, The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art,Nagoya, Japan
　　　A Gift to Marco Polo, A Collateral Event for the 53rd Biennale di
　　　Venezia, Venice International University, Island of San Servolo, Venice Blackboard, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai
　　　eARTS BEYOND, 2009 Shanghai eArts Festival,Shanghai
2008　Insomnia, Bizart, Shanghai
　　　Where Are We?, Beijing Center for the Art, Beijing
　　　Beijing-Athens/Contemporary Art from China, Technopolis of the City of Athens, Greece
　　　Homesickness, T Space,Beijing
　　　Writing on the Wall/Chinese New Realism and Avant-Garde in theEighties and Nineties, Groninger Museum, Holand
　　　Avant-Garde China: 20 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, TheNational Art Center, Tokyo
2007　We are your future(Video Box), 2nd Moscow Biennale, Moscow
　　　Dutch Electronic Art Festival, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
　　　Chinese Contemporary Art, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria
　　　China on Ward/The Estella Collection/ Chinese Contemporary Art,
　　　1966-2006, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Humlebæk, Denmark
　　　’85 New Wave, The Birth of Chinese Contemporary Art, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
　　　Forms of Concepts”, 2nd Documentary Exhibition of Arts, Wuhan, China
2006　European Media Art Festival 2006, Osnabrueck, Germany
　　　China Power Station Part 1”, Serpentine Gallery, London
　　　Create History: Commemoration of Chinese Modern Art in 1980s,
　　　OCT-Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China
2005　L’ART DE PRODUIRE L’ART, Le Fresnoy-Studio National, France
　　　Le invasioni barbariche, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
　　　Shaun Gladwell / Tracey Moffatt / Zhang Peili, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
　　　Archaeology of the future/ The Second Triennial of Chinese Art, The Nanjing Museum, China
2004　Techniques of the Visible/ Shanghai Biennale 2004，Shanghai Art Museum
　　　Light as Fuck/ Shanghai Assemblage, The National Museum of Art, Norway
　　　BEYOND BOUNDARIES, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai
　　　Zooming into Focus/ Contemporary Chinese Photography & Video from the Haudenschild Collection, Shanghai Art Museum
　　　China, Video Generation, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris
　　　Dialogues …/ Gu Dexin, Wang Gongxin, Zhang Peili, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2003　Z.O.U-Zone of Urgency La Biennale di Venezia (50a Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte),Venice
　　　Happiness: a survival guide for art and life, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.
　　　10th Biennial of the Moving Image, Geneva
　　　Alors, la Chine?, Centre Pompidou, Pairs
　　　The First Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Museum of Art, China
　　　OPEN SKY, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
2002　PAUSE/Gwanju Biennale 2002, Gwangju, Korea
　　　MOIST/4th Multimedia Art Asia Pacific Festival, Beijing
　　　The Third Space in The Fourth World/ Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai
2001　TELEVISIONS Kunst Hall, Wien
　　　Living in Time Nationlgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum fÜr Gegenwart, Berlin
　　　China Art Now, Singapore Art Museum, National Heritage Board, Singapore
　　　Compound Eyes/ Contemporary Video Art from China, Eart Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
2000　Open Ends /Art at the MOMA Sine 1980, The Museum of Modern Art ,New York
　　　media-city seoul 2000, Seoul Metropolitan Museum, Seoul, Korea.
　　　Shanghai Biennale 2000, Shanghai Art Museum, China
　　　Passe-murailles Nouvelles- scenes de l’art contemporain chinois,
　　　Musee de Picardie, Amiens, France
1999　APERTO over ALL, La Biennale di Venezia (48a Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte),Venice
　　　ZEITWENDEN ausblick/ Global Art Rheinland 2000, Kunstmuseum Bonn,Germany
　　　Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin 1950s –1980s, Queens Museum of Art, New York
　　　Skin-Deep/ Surface and Appearance in Contemporary Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
　　　Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
　　　The 1st Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial 1999, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum,Japan
　　　Cities on the Move 4, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
　　　Cities on the Move 5, Hayward Gallery, London
　　　Inside Out: New Chinese Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, U.S.A.
1998　Every day/ 11th Biennial of Sydney, Sydney
　　　Zhang Peili and Gu Wenda, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery(U.B.C) Vancouver
　　　Cities on the Move 2, Cape Mussee d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux,France
　　　Inside Out: New Chinese Art, P.S.I Contemporary Art Center, New York
1997　La 4e Biennial d’ Art Contemporainl de Lyon, Lyon, France
　　　Cities on the Move 1, Group Exhibition of Contemporary Asian Art,Vienna Secession, Austria
　　　Immutability and Fashion/ Chinese Contemporary Art in the Midst of Changing Surroundings, Kirin Art Space Harajuku, Tokyo; Kirin Plaza,Osaka; Altium , Fukuoka, Japan
　　　Uncertain Pleasure, Art Beatus Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
　　　Another Long March/ Chinese Conceptual and Installation Art in the Nineties, Chasse Kazerne, Breda, the Netherlands
　　　W2.Z2 –Multi medium Slide Show, The Gallery of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
　　　New China, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York
　　　Chinese Photograph and Video Art, Max Protetch, New York
1996　4 Points de Rencontre, Chine, 1996, Galerie de France, Paris
　　　OE uvres Choisies, Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
　　　Image and Phenomena, the Gallery of Zhejiang Academy of fine Arts,Hangzhou, China
　　　China - Aktuelles aus 15 Ateliers, Perfomances Installationen, Munich,Germany
1995　Open Your Mouth, Close Your Eyes/ Beijing-Berlin Art Communication,The Art Museum of Capital Normal University, Beijing
　　　Configura 2, Dialog Der Kulturen, Galerrie am Fischmarkt, Erfur,Germany
　　　PIER SHOW 3, Red Hook, New York
　　　China, Artistic Avant-garde Movements, Centro d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain
1994　Out of the Center, Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
　　　Gaze - L’lmpossible Transparence, Parc Floral de Paris, Carre Arts,Paris
1993　Passaggio a Oriente- La Biennale di Venezia ( 45a Esposizione Internazionale d’Art, Venice
　　　China Avant-garde, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin-Kunsthal,
　　　Rotterdam-Museum of Modern Art, Oxford-Kunsthallen Brandts
　　　Klaedefabrik, Odense
　　　China’s New Art, post-89, City Hall, Hong Kong
　　　Mao goes Pop, Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia
　　　Artedomani- Punti di Vista, Installations in the former 18th Century San
　　　Matteo hospital, Incontri Internazionali d’arte, Spoleto, Italy
　　　Gran Delubro-I’Arte, ex Convento di San Carlo, Erice, Italy
1992　Gu Dexin,Huang Yangping, Zhang Peili, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre,Paris
　　　Recent Works -Art Show by Zhang Peili and Geng Jianyi Since1991, Diplomatic Missions Restaurant, Beijing
1991　I don’t want play cards with Cezanne and other works, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, U.S.A.
　　　Garage Show, Education Congress Hall, Shanghai
1989　Documentary Exhibition on Chinese Contemporary Art, Tokyo Gallery, Japan
　　　China Avant-garde, China National Gallery, Beijing
1988　Chinese Oil Painting, Shanghai Exhibition Hall
1987　Beyond the open door, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, U.S.A
1986　Performances and street installations with the “Pool Society”, Hangzhou, China
1985　New Space 85, Exhibition hall of the Zhejiang Academy of fine Arts, Hangzhou, Chin

Collections
The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Centre National des Arts Plastiques, France.
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia.
Annie Leung Art Foundation, Hong Kong.
Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation. Switzerland.
La Fudación Helga de Alvear, Spain.
Asia Society, New York.
Sammlung Goetz, Germany.
Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Ullens Center for the Arts
Uli Sigg