Project Native Informant

Shu Lea Cheang

Shu Lea Cheang (born in Taiwan, 1954) is an artist and networker working at the interface between video, net-based installation, software interaction and durational performance. For over four decades, her practice explores subjects that are in a state of constant flux, including racial relations, the ecological impact of humans, information dissemination, the ethics of biotechnology and sexual politics. 

Her first landmark exhibition, Color Schemes, was held in 1990 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The Guggenheim web-based commission, Brandon, 1998-1999, is the first work of this medium commissioned by a major institution and is continually cited in new media art history as a seminal work of net art. Brandon is a probing investigation of human sexuality and identity through the life and death of Brandon Teena, a young transgender man, who was raped and murdered in Nebraska for being transgender. She has had foresight into alternative currencies and decentralised organisations with Garlic=Rich Air (2002–), investigated gamified societies with Bowling Alley (1995), probed biotechnologies in Locker Baby Project (2001–2012) and explored their mutable nature in Mycelium Network Society (2017–).

Cheang represented Taiwan at the 58th Venice Biennale, presenting 3x3x6, 2019, a panoptic installation dealing with architectural control, confinement technologies and data collection via ‘case studies’ of people imprisoned because of their gender, sexual or racial nonconformity. 

In 2024, Project Native Informant presented Scifi New Queer Cinema, 1994-2023, a solo exhibition of Cheang’s four major film works: FRESH KILL, 1994, I.K.U., 2000, FLUIDØ, 2017, and UKI, 2023. Each work dismisses disciplinary limitations, conventional separations of form and content, aesthetics and truth. Her genre bending gender hacking practices challenge existing operating mechanisms and society’s structural boundaries.

Cheang’s works have been exhibited internationally, including; MUSEION, Bolzano; Museum Brandhorst, Munich; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; NTT Inter Communication Center, Tokyo and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. She has been a member of the alternative media collective Paper Tiger Television since 1982 and produced public-access programs for the group addressing racism in the media.

She was recently awarded the 2024 LG Guggenheim Award in recognition of her prescient exploration of emerging technologies and their broader societal implications.

In 2025, Tate Modern will host the UK premiere of Hagay Dreaming. This acclaimed performance by Cheang and practicing shaman Dondon Hounwn combines dance and ritual with laser projections and motion-capture technology.

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Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024Scifi New Queer Cinema, 1994 - 2023, Project Native Informant, London
2021Virus Becoming, Musée des Arts Asiatiques, Nice
20193x3x6, Taiwanese Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice
2007Baby Love, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
2006Baby Love, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung
2005Baby Love, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
2002Garlic=Rich Air, Creative Time, New York
2001Baby Play, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo
SCIFI DIGI PORN, Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago
2000FLUID, The Project, New York
1998BRANDON, Theatrum Anatomicum, Waag Society, Amsterdam
BRANDON, Guggenheim Museum, New York
1995Bowling Alley, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
1992Those Fluttering Objects of Desire, Exit Art, New York
1990Color Schemes, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Making News/Making History: Live From Tiananmen Square, International Center For Photography, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024Legacies: Asian American Art Movements in New York City (1969-2001), 80WSE Gallery, NYU, New York
Digital Reform, Scoletta Battioro e Tiraoro di Venezia, Venice
Sci-Fi New Queer Cinema: Shu Lea Cheang (1994—2023), Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York
EEN FABRIEK, Platform Voor Kunst & Industrie, Zeeland
Attention After Technology, State of Concept, Athens
2023Attention After Technology, Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway
HOPE Techno Humanities, MUSEION—Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano
Matter of Flux, Art Laboratory, Berlin
Sade - Freedom or Evil, CCCB, Barcelona
Think Tank: REPRODUCTIVE AGENTS, Museo Madre, Naples
2022Myth Makers — Spectrosynthesis III, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
Kingdom of the Ill, MUSEION—Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano
Lonely Vectors, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
FUTURE BODIES FROM A RECENT PAST - Sculpture, Technology and The Body since the 1950s, Museum Brandhorst, Munich
Post-Nature, Ulsan Art Museum, Korea
Reproduction Otherwise, MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven
2021Witch Hunt, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Phantasmapolis: 2021 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung
Protozone4 Extra Worldings, Shedhalle, Zurich
Digital Corporeality, C-LAB, Taiwan
2020GENDERS: SHAPING AND BREAKING THE BINARY, Science Gallery, London
CHRONIQUES, Marseille
2019The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics, Rhizome, New Museum, New York
Computer Grrrls, HMKV, Dortmund, Germany
Composting the Net, Machina Diva, Freies Atelierhaus Graz, Graz
2018Post-Nature — A Museum as an Ecosystem, Taipei Biennale, Taipei
(NOT) JUST A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT: Hong Kong - Taiwan Video Art 1980-1990s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
12th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju
I Was Raised on the Internet, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
Re-Base: When Experiments Become Attitude, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, Taipei
Open Source Body, La Gaite Lyrique, Paris
2017TOMORROWS, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens
Documenta 14, Kassel
2016Behind the Smart World, KunstRaum Goethestrasse, Linz
Seduction of a Cyborg, USC Roski School of Art and Design, Los Angeles
Monsters of the Machine, Laboral, Gijon
2014NET.ART PAINTERS AND POETS, City Art Gallery, Ljubljana
Infinite Challenge, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
2010Wealth of Nations, Spike Island, Bristol
2009Wealth of Nations, Cinema City Festival, Novi Sad
Move: New European Media Art, Werkleitz - Centre for Media Art, Halle
2008PAN, Palazzo delle Arti, Naples
Waves, HMKV Dortmund
Metamorphosing Female, Osage Gallery, Shanghai
2007Experimenta Playground, Blackbox Arts Centre, Melbourne
2005ART FORMERLY KNOWN AS NEW MEDIA, The Banff New Media Institute, Banff
RHIZOME ARTBASE 101, New Museum, New York
2003Z.O.U. (Zone of Urgency), The 58th Venice Biennale, Venice
HARDCORE, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
NEW MEDIA LOUNGE, The FACT Center, Liverpool
2002AIMll: LUNA PARK PROJECT, Museum of Contemporary Art, LA
Unplugged, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2000Dystopia and Identity in the Age of Global Communication, Tribe Gallery, New York
How To Use Women's Body, OTA Fine Arts, Tokyo
1997Biennale of Johannesburg, Johannesburg
ICC BIENNALE ’97, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo
1995Whitney Biennale, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Special Projects
202430 Years of Fresh Kill, Various Locations (US)
What the Heck: Shu Lea Cheang on Hacking Tactics, Virus Becoming, and Geek Farming, Guggenheim Museum, New York
2023Code Me, Love Me, Set Me Free: Queerdom in Other-Worlds, Festung Hohensalzburg, Salzburg
2021Hagay Dreaming, STWST 48x8, Linz
Open Source Body More than Living, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
Reproduction Otherwise, Mu Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven
2020LAB KILL LAB, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab), Taipei
2018SLEEP79, 79 Day Installation and Performance, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab), Taipei
NEO ULTRA PUNK, ICA, London
Post-Nature, A Museum as an Eco-System, Taipei
2016Workshop at Labomedia, Paris
2007MobiOpera, Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles
2004Tramjam at DEAF, Rotterdam
Selected Performances
2025Hagay Dreaming, Tate Modern, London
2023Sprouts for Queer Love, Poligonal-Constellations, Berlin
2022S.I.C.K (Sonic Intervention Compost Kitchen), HEAR, Strasbourg
2021UKI Virus Becoming, Shedhalle, Zurich
SLEEP5959, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö
2020Rape by Deception, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Make Bread Eat Pikcel, Stadtwerkstatt, Linz
2019SLEEP 1237, PERFORMA Biennale 19, New York
2017Location ID: Home, Agrikultura, Malmo, Sweden
2014UKI Enter the BioNet, Piksel, Norway
2013Composting the City | Composting the Net, Transmediale, Berlin
2010Milk+, Videotage, Hong Kong
2009UKI Viral Performance (2009 - 2016), Hangar Media Lab
2008Moving Forest (2008 -2012), Transmediale, Berlin
2002Drive By Dining, DasArts Dialogues and Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam
Selected Screenings
2024Fresh Kill, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus
Fresh Kill, Speed Art Museum, Louisville
Fresh Kill, Austin Film Society, Austin
Fresh Kill, Brain Dead Studios, Los Angeles
Fresh Kill, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara
Fresh Kill, FLUIDØ and UKI, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
LOVEME2030, Barbican Center, London
Fresh Kill, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York
Fresh Kill, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam
UKI, Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam
UKI, Fresh Kill, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Pylon Lab, HYBRID Biennale / EZK HELLERAU, Dresden
2023UKI, Institute of Contemporary Art, London
UKI, Museum of Modern Art, New York
UKI, Centre Pompidou, Paris
UKI, LAS Art Foundation, Berlin
UKI, Filmfest München, Munich
UKI, Cinematek, Brussels
Fresh Kill, The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm
Uplink, Kichijoji, Tokyo
UKI, Goethe Institute, Shanghai
UKI, Sinema Transtopia, Berlin
2022Fresh Kill, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York
(NO)wonderlands, Kurzfilm Festival, Hamburg
I.K.U., Hong Kong Pride, Hong Kong
Myth Makers - Spectrosynthesis III, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2021I.K.U. screenings at Phantasmapolis, Asian Art Biennial, Taipei
I.K.U. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Fresh Kill, Newfest, New York
Focus: Shu Lea Cheang, Fete du Slip, Lausanne
2020Fresh Kill, I.K.U. FLUIDØ, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Fresh Kill, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis
FLUIDØ, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
2019Asian American Film Festival, New York
FLUIDØ, METOOD, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö
Anthology Film Archives, New York
FLUIDØ, Uplink, Tokyo
FLUIDØ, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
2018Institute of Contemporary Art, London
FLUIDØ, Hallways Contemporary Art Centre, New York
FLUIDØ, Columbia University, New York
Sputnik Cinema, Geneva
2017FLUIDØ, Berlin Film Festival, Berlin
FLUIDØ, Documenta 14, Kassel
I.K.U., Post Porn Fem, Vaciador 34, Madrid
FLUIDØ, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, Buenos Aires
FLUIDØ, L’Étrange festival, Forum de images, Paris
Queer Lisboa - International Queer Film Festival, Lisbon
Wonders Wander, Taiwan International Queer Film Festival, Taipei
2016I.K.U., Auto Italia South East, London
2015Holy Fuck Film Festival, Filmhuis Cavia, Amsterdam
Hybrid Performance & New Media Festival at La MaMa, New York
2014Festival Ivham, Madrid
I’d Rather be a Goddess than a Cyborg, Coven, Berlin
2011Forum des images, Paris
2001I.K.U., MK2 Beaubourg, Paris
2000I.K.U., Sundance Film Festival, Utah
I.K.U., Fantasia Film Festival, Montreal
I.K.U., Asian CineVision Festival, New York
I.K.U., Institute of Contemporary Art, London
I.K.U., Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio
I.K.U., “Body as Byte”, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland
I.K.U., Independent Film Festival, Argentina
I.K.U., Electronic Art & New Technologies Festival, Seville
I.K.U., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
I.K.U., Tribe Gallery, NYC
1995Fresh Kill, Whitney Biennale, New York
1994Fresh Kill, Berlinale, Berlin Film Festival, Berlin
Public Collections
Fales Library and Special Collections, New York
KADIST, Paris
MUSEION, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano
Museum of Modern Art, New York
NTT [ICC] Inter Communication Center, Tokyo
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Scifi New Queer Cinema, 1994 - 2023
Project Native Informant, London

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Scifi New Queer Cinema, 1994 - 2023
Project Native Informant, London

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: UKI

2023
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: UKI

2023
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Red Pill in HOPE Techno Humanities
MUSEION—Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
UNBORN0X9 In Reproduction Otherwise, 2022
MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
3x3x6
Taiwanese Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
3x3x6
Taiwanese Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: UKI Virus Rising

2018
3-channel video installation
10 mins, 00 secs

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
UKI Virus Rising at Gwangju Biennale 2018
Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang, with Martin Howse, Taro, and Franz Xaver
Mycelium Network Society, 2018 in Taipei Biennial: PostNature: A Museum as an Ecosystem
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: FLUIDØ

2017
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: FLUIDØ

2017
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Mediterranean Touch Screen in TOMORROWS, 2017
Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Garlic=Rich Air, 2002
Creative Time, New York

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Baby Play, 2001
NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: I.K.U.

2000
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 30 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: I.K.U.

2000
Single-channel video
1 hour, 30 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: I.K.U.

2000
Single-channel video
1 hour, 30 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

BRANDON

1998-1999
Interactive networked code

Shu Lea Cheang

BRANDON

1998-1999
Interactive networked code

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
BUY ONE GET ONE in ICC BIENNALE ’97
NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
BUY ONE GET ONE in ICC BIENNALE ’97
NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo

Shu Lea Cheang

BUY ONE GET ONE

1997
Networked installation

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: FRESH KILL

1994
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: FRESH KILL

1994
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: FRESH KILL

1994
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: FRESH KILL

1994
Single-channel HD video
1 hour, 20 mins

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Bowling Alley, 1995
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Bowling Alley, 1995
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
THOSE FLUTTERING OBJECTS OF DESIRE in Whitney Biennial 1993
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: SEX BOWL

1994
Single-channel video
07 mins, 00 secs

Shu Lea Cheang

Still: SEX FISH

1993
Single-channel video
06 mins, 00 secs

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Color Schemes, 1990
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Installation View

Shu Lea Cheang
Making News/Making History: Live From Tiananmen Square, 1990
International Center For Photography, New York

Units 1 and 3
48 Three Colts Lane
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United Kingdom

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