Biography
Born in 1957 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Xu Tan studied fine arts at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts where he received a master’s degree in 1989. In the early 1990s, he joined the Guangzhou-based artist collective “Big Tail Elephant Group.” He currently lives in Zhuhai.
Born in the late 1950s, Xu Tan has experienced the different social transformations of Chinese society and has never stopped questioning the boundary of art. In his work he constantly asks what “contemporary art” means, and where lies the relationship between “contemporary art practices” and “Chinese life systems in the global context.” Since 2005, Xu Tan has been developing the Keywords Project, exploring linguistic activities, collective research, public space and knowledge production through a variety of working methods, that reflect his evolving approach to social investigations, research and aesthetic activities.
Xu Tan’s recent solo exhibitions include San Francisco Chinatown Keywords School, 41 Ross Alley, San Francisco, 2014; Xu Tan: Question, Soil and “Socio-Botanic”, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, 2013; Possible Vocabulary Games: Xu Tan Language Workshop, OCAT, Shenzhen, 2011.
His Keywords Project has emerged in three stages: Searching Keywords (2005-2008), Keywords School (2008-2012) and Keywords Lab (2011-present), and has been presented in various locations including: Justina M. Barnicke (JMB) Gallery, Toronto; OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen; Asia Art Archive (AAA), Hong Kong; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), San Francisco; Cowin Global, Qingdao; Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm; Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou; Kunsthaus Graz, Graz; Location 1 Art Center, New York.
Xu Tan has participated in numerous international exhibitions and biennials, including: The Island of the Colorblind, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, 2019; How to talk with birds, trees, fish, shells, snakes, bulls and lions, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, 2018; Yinchuan Biennale 2: Starting from the Desert – Ecologies on the Edge, Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan, 2018; Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/ /Architecture 7: Cities, Grow in Difference, Guangzhou / Shenzhen, 2017; Sharjah Biennial 12: The past, the present, the possible, Sharjah, 2015; Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015, Kyoto, 2015; “Social Factory” - 10th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2014; 8th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, 2014; Making Worlds, 53rd International Art Exhibition / La Biennale di Venezia, Venice.
