Wei Zhou
Artist | Filmmaker | Researcher
About
Wei Zhou creates durational artworks that span moving-image, performance, and interactive installation. Her practice explores the gaps within collective memory and the incoherence of plural narratives—particularly those shaped by conventional history, heritage landscapes, film archives, and familial records.
Rooted in research and grounded in poetic visuality, Zhou's current filmmaking investigates emotional displacement experienced by diasporic communities, ethnographic representation, and the politics of identity across East and Southeast Asian contexts in both the UK and the US. Her work embraces the psychological intensity of the uncanny, employing cinematic imagery, poetry, and visual allegory to evoke a layered sense of care for the absent past—one that continues to resonate in haunting, persistent ways.
By foregrounding marginalized anthropological experiences, Zhou challenges hegemonic narratives within global politics and cultural prejudice. Her art practice invites spontaneous autonomy and participatory reflection, fostering intersubjective connections and a deeper understanding of diverse lived realities.
Born: 1993, Hubei, China
Based: USA
Education
PhD in Fine Art | 2019–2025
University of Reading, UK
Thesis: The Uncanny at the Site of Displacement: A Study of Post-Migratory Photography and Film Artworks (accepted)
MA in Contemporary Art Practice (Public Sphere) | 2017–2019
Royal College of Art (RCA), London, UK
Thesis: A Voice from the Background: Ventriloquism of Culture (RCA Distinction Archive)
Exchange Programme, Jewellery Design | Spring 2015
HDK, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
BA in Jewellery Design | 2012–2016
Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, China
Selected Exhibitions
2024
Circle 2024
CICA Museum, South Korea | August 21 – September 8
NAE Open 2024
New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK | May 24 – September 21
Fresh Legs: International Exhibition
Galleri Heike Arndt DK and Inselgalerie Berlin, Germany | June 5 – September 28
VIDEO SOUND ARCHIVE – S9
Online, US
2023
The Great Sublime
Fox Yard Studio, UK | September
2022
H Is for Hostile Environment (Collective Film Project)
London, UK
Commissioned to create two short films, Mr. Lin and Xiao Qiang
Facilitated by Satellite Film under the direction of project lead Edwin Mingward and researcher Keren Weitzberg. Presented by Chisenhale Gallery and screened at multiple cinema and art venues.
2021–2023
Carbon Copy (AI-Powered Poetry Generator)
In collaboration with software engineer Aleksander Sekowski
An AI-powered poetry generator sourcing from daily news, exploring language, media saturation, and algorithmic creativity.
2019
MA Degree Show
Royal College of Art, London, UK | July
FTHoTV
Flat-Time House, London, UK | March
2018
Cooked and Raw
The Independents Biennial, Liverpool, UK | July 14–20
States of Public
FACT, Liverpool, UK | April 13
WIP Show
Royal College of Art, London, UK | January 19–21
Triple Parade Contemporary Art
Tianjin and Beijing, China | November 10, 2018 – January 16, 2019
2016
Mazee Graduate Show
Galerie Marzee, Netherlands | August
The Start of a Long Journey
Tai Miao Art Museum, Beijing, China | July
Topyoung 2016 Contemporary Exhibition
Ubi Gallery, Beijing, China | July
BA Degree Exhibition
Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China | June
Baggage – Coffee & Tea
Galerie Marzee, Netherlands | March
2015
Identity
The Danish Cultural Institute, Beijing, China | December
LOVE
Ubi Gallery, Beijing, China | May
Collections
Works held in the collections of:
- CODA Museum, Netherlands
- Marzee Galarie, Netherlands
- CAFA Art Museum, China
- Teng Fei Private Collection, China
- Video Sound Archive, United States
Writing & Publications
PhD Dissertation (2025)
The Uncanny at the Site of Displacement: A Study of Post-Migratory Photography and Film Artworks
University of Reading, UK
MA Thesis (2019)
A Voice from the Background: Ventriloquism of Culture
RCA Distinction Archive, Royal College of Art, UK
Artist Book (2016)
Hint (8 booklet collection)
Self-published | Collected by CODA Museum, Netherlands
Additional Publications
Exhibition texts, visual essays, and interpretive materials for group exhibitions and screenings