San Francisco based artist Michael Zheng was born and grew up in China. He studied Computer Science at Tsinghua University and worked as a computer software designer for ten years. Later he quit his job to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied with Paul Kos, Tony Labat and John Roloff. His work is conceptually based and often takes the form of situational intervention, sculpture or performance. He often creates situations that challenge the established positions so that a new perspective becomes possible. His recent projects have taken on various forms of social intervention for which he considers himself as a medium, or an enabler for a certain experiences and perspectives. Michael has exhibited his work worldwide.

Education and experience

2003	Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine/USA
1999-2005	San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco/USA BFA, Sculpture; MFA, New Genres.
1989-1999	Computer Software Designer, Silicon Valley/USA
1989	Master of Science, Marquette University, Wisconsin/USA
1987	Bachelor of Science, Tshinghua University/CN

 
Awards and honours

2010	Emergency Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York/USA
2007	Artist Residency, Ateliers Hoeherweg e. V., Duesseldorf/DE Nominated for the SECA Award 2008, SFMOMA, San Francisco/USA Finalist for Artadia Award, San Francisco/USA
2006	Art for Sale! selected as No. 2 of the 10 Best Art Shows of 2005 by the Pravda Magazine/LIT
2005	Nominated for the SECA Award 2006, SFMOMA, San Francisco/USA Fellowship, Artists Residency at MacDowell Colony/USA Graduated from SFAI with Honor
2004	MFA Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute/USA Murphy Fellowship for the Fine Arts, San Francisco Foundation/USA Fellowship, Artists Residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture/USA

Solo exhibitions

2010	The Profession, Marina Abramovic Institute West, San Francisco/USA
2006	As the Butterfly Said to Chuang Tzu, MISSION 17, San Francisco/USA From Lithuania, Artists Television Access, San Francisco/USA
2005	Officially Unofficial: Art from the Baltic Triennial for Sale!, ARTima Gallery, Vilnius/LIT Art for Sale!  With the´9th Baltic Triennial of International Art´, ICA, London/GB

Group exhibitions

2010	The artist and the 40 thieves, Gallery Absence of Art, Berlin/DE Broken Lines (Mike Brodie, Lucinda Delvin, Nan Goldin, Michael Zheng), curated by Nadia Ismail, Gallery Anna Klinkhammer, Duesseldorf/DE Moves10: Framing Motion, The Bluecoat, Liverpool/UK You see, I paint, Program Gallery, Warsaw/PL
2009	Vancouver Sculpture Biennale, Vancouver/CA Christmas Palm, Freies Museum, Berlin/DE imPOSSIBLE!, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and MISSION 17, San Francisco/USA error:%/?/art, Warszawa Gallery and Galeria Beznadziejna, Warsaw/PL The whole place is dark and we see, Wroclaw/PL Cou-Huo, Beijing/CN Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art, Macao Art Museum, Macao/CN
2008	We Remember the Sun, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute Multiple Realities, F2 Gallery, Beijing/CN 55 Days of Chinese Art in Valencia, The Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia/ES
2007	Kunstfilmtag, Kuenstlerverein Malkasten, Duesseldorf/DE Reincarnation, Doris McCarthy Gallery/University of Toronto Scarborough/CA 4 Walls Art Festival, Duesseldorf/DE East-West Project, Espace 72, Dison, Verviers/BE
2006	Emerge 2006, GenArt, San Francisco/USA APAture, Kearny Street, San Francisco/USA Close Calls, Headland Center for the Arts, Sausalito/USA
2005	ISA Black Market Auction, Independent School of Art, San Francisco/USA ERNST Museum, Budapest/HU Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland/USA CREAM from the Top, Arts Benicia, Benicia/USA San Francisco Art Institute MFA Show, San Francisco/USA
2004	MAGMA, Tenerife/ES Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship Exhibition, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco/USA 21st National Juried Exhibition, Berkeley Art Center, Jocobson/USA Monumental, Southern Exposure, San Francisco/USA Topographies, with the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Secrets, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute/USA
2003	INPORT: International Video-Performance Festival, Tallinn/EST One Minute Film/Video Festival, Toronto/CA Which Way Out?, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco/USA
2002	Enlightenment Guaranteed, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco/USA

Projects and public performances

2010	LiVE WORK, continual curatorial project, San Francisco/USA
2009	Artist for Hire, continual performance project, sites variable Auction Painting, part of the Christmas Palm, Freies Museum, Berlin/DE
2008	Crosscut – Humane slaughter act performance festival, SlaughterHouseSpace, Healdsburg/USA The Source, part of the 100 Performances for the Hole, The Garage, San Francisco/USA
2007	Play with Food, public performance at the Ateliers Höherweg e.V., Duesseldorf/DE
2006	Four on One – Curators Create, Artist Curates, four curators each curates Stephanie Syjuco, The Garage Biennale, San Francisco /USA
2004	“How to go from here…”, Balatonfured/HU Center of Europe, performed at the Geographical Center of Europe, Vilnius/LIT
2003	Stare, performed at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine/USA

  
Publications
Hou Hanru, Michael Zheng, ‘Objectivity, Absurdity, and Social Critique: A Conversation with Hou Hanru’, Yishu Magazine, September/October, 2009
Alanna Lockward, “Michael Zheng: Remembering the Now”, 2009
Reyhan Harmanci, ‘imPOSSIBLE!’, Visual Arts Pick, San Francisco Chronicle, Feburary 12, 2009
Urllike Merten, “Die Szene bebt!”, NRZ, September 5, 2007, Germany
Pamela Broszat, “Kreativer Humus”, NRZ, September 10, 2007, Germany
Von Marie Fleischhauer, “ Düsseldorfer Kunst aus dem Off”, Rheinische Post, September 6, 2007, Germany
Terri Cohn, “Michael Zheng at Mission 17“, Sculpture Magazine, March, 2007
Reyhan Harmanci, "The Caretakers: ´Four on One´", San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 2006
Michael Leaverton, "Curator Vs. Curator", SF Weekly, August 1, 2006
Clark Buckner, “The artist, the sage and the butterfly“, catalog essay for exhibition “As the Butterfly Said to Chuang Tzu” at Mission 17, (also presented at the conference “Visual Intelligence and the Sense of Art” at Cal State Stanislaus and Mills College), 2006
Scott Oliver, “Michael Zheng at Mission 17“, Shotgun Review, June 27, 2006
Colin Berry, “Michael Zheng at Mission 17“, Artweek, September, 2006
Colin Berry, Artweek, p.13-14, October, 2005
Jolanta Proskute, Lietuvos Zinios , p.14, September 30, 2005, Lithuania
Milda Kuizinaite, Lietuvos Rytas, Sostine p.8, September 29, 2005, Lithuania
Maggie Knowles, “Home Videos – The 2005 Biennial”, The Portland Phoenix, Issue April 8 – 14, 2005
Lucy Martin, “Michael Zheng´s Banners", Inside San Francisco Art Institute, May 27, Vol. 1 No. 4., 2005
Yin-Ju Chen, Artists Magazine, June, 2005, Taiwan

Other activities
Guest lecturer, CCA, San Francisco, 2010
Juror, ANTI/SOCIAL, MISSION 17´s Third Annual Juried Exhibition, with Clark Buckner, Cheryl Meeker, and Elaine Santos, 2006
Panelist, “China´s Next Generation”, with Orville Schell (Dean of School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley) et al, moderated by Scott Shafer, Commonwealth Club, broadcast on NPR on September 23, San Francisco, 2005
Guest lecturer, San Francisco Art Institute, 2005

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