Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal profile
Zhonghao Chen is an award-winning artist, curator, scholar, and ludic designer whose work spans and merges boundaries across art, culture, technology, and the environment. Residing between China and New Zealand, Chen’s research and practice create a dynamic interplay that enquiries and reframes the intersections of image phenomena, curatorial intentions, narrative forms, materiality, technology and worlding. His explorations into ludic design, virtual extensions like VR media, and creative machinery continually probe the frontiers of “hyper-humanity,” animal cruelty, nonhuman agency, technodiversity, intelligence diversity, transmediation, and hyper-nature, framing these themes within a world increasingly shaped by digital and virtual spaces.
With over two decades of cross-cultural experience, Chen’s contributions as an artist, curator, and educator have been widely recognized. His work has been showcased at premier international venues, including Ars Electronica, Christchurch Art Museum, The Physics Room, Hanshan Museum, and Jonathan Smart Gallery, among others. His projects are housed in major public and private collections worldwide, marking his impact on the global stage. Chen’s academic service reflects his dedication to advancing knowledge in digital and experimental media: he has been instrumental in organizing events such as the Chinese Digital Games Research Association Conference and the Cumulus Regional Seminar in China, and he reviews for high-profile conferences like ArtsIT/DLI and ISEA, as well as for The MIT Press.
In New Zealand, Chen has directed the ABC Art Collective, represented by leading galleries, where he curates projects that fuse art with industrial media, creating new dialogues between the physical and digital realms.
Currently, he is an assistant professor, Programme Director of BA Art Technology and Entertainment with Contemporary Entrepreneurialism and the Professional Development Program (PDP) director at the Academy of Film and Creative Technology at XJTLU in Suzhou. His academic search and creative approach to bridging the arts and technology continue to foster a critical understanding of how creativity and technological happening intersect in today’s cultural and creative landscape.
Research interests
Environmental Aesthetic
VR Art
Digital and Analogical Drawing
Narrative Exploration
Digital and Analogical Materiality
Painting and expanded painting
Moving Image
Sci-fi Literature
Expanded Curation
Sound Art
Simulation and Ludic Design
Body and embodiment
Non-Human Agency
Technology Philosophy
Experience
Assistant professor, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2020-present
Practicing Artist, 2010-present
Curator, ABC Art Initiative, 2010-present
Teaching
CAT002 Essentials of Arts Culture and TechnologyCAT107TC
CAT003 Exploring Cultural Events
CAT102TC Form, Innovation and Culture
CAT103TC Introduction to Storytelling
CAT107TC Minor Project Design and Delivery
CAT201TC Form, Innovation and Audience
CAT207TC Immersion and Virtual Worlds
CAT209TC Image Design, Creation, Manipulation and World Building
CAT301TC Commercial Project Design and Realisation
CAT302TC Final Year Project: Moving Image
Awards and honours
Industrial Engagement Excellence Award, XJTLU 2024.
Teaching Innovation Award, XJTLU 2023.
Innovation and Knowledge Award, XJTLU 2023.
Award of Outstanding Contribution to the Development of the Organization, XJTLU 2021.
Sawtell Turner Prize
Harry van der Lecq Scholarship
The Ethel Rose Overton Scholarship
College of Arts Honours Scholarship, University of Canterbury
The Master’s Scholarship, University of Canterbury
Selected Finalist. James Wallace Award
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Master’s of Fine Art with Distinction, Painting Major University of Canterbury 2009-2010
Bachelor of Fine Art with First Class Honours, Painting Major University of Canterbury 2008
Bachelor of Fine Art, Painting Major University of Canterbury 2004-2007
Person Types
- Staff
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Echoes in Space: Reimagining Chinese Traditional Instruments through Immersive Audio
Vasquez Gomez, J. C. & Chen, Z.
1/01/25 → 31/12/26
Project: Internal Research Project
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CoESE: AIGC, XR and Embodiment: A trans-cohort, trans-campus and trans-disciplinary syntegrative methodology via worldbuilding
Lau, K., Chen, Z., Qian, Q. & Xun, J.
1/12/24 → 31/12/27
Project: Internal Research Project
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Demonstrative Creation: Material Studies in Curatorial Practice & Creative Spatial Design
Project: Internal Research Project
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Research output
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2024南京紫金奖 - 西交利物浦大学展区展陈设计
Lo, C-H., Xiang, Y. & Chen, Z., 7 Jun 2024Translated title of the contribution :2024 Nanjing Zijin Award - XJTLU Sector Research output: Practice-based research output › Exhibition/ Event/ Festival › Curated works: Physical Exhibition/ Event/ Festival
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Agential Soundscape at the Hanshan Museum
Chen, Z. & Vasquez, J. C., 23 Jun 2024Research output: Practice-based research output › Exhibition/ Event/ Festival › Curated works: Physical Exhibition/ Event/ Festival
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Agential Soundscape at the Zijing Award, Nanjing
Chen, Z. & Vasquez, J. C., 23 Jun 2024Research output: Practice-based research output › Exhibition/ Event/ Festival › Curated works: Physical Exhibition/ Event/ Festival
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Interwoven Existence/交织存在: 交织存在
Chen, Z., 7 May 2024Translated title of the contribution :Interwoven Existence Research output: Practice-based research output › Exhibition/ Event/ Festival › Curated works: Physical Exhibition/ Event/ Festival
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"Interwoven Existence" at Ars Electronica 2024 Festival
Vasquez, J. C., Chen, Z., Zubillaga, L., Petrauskas, I., Santini, G., O'Dowd, A. & Collar, A., 4 Sept 2024Research output: Practice-based research output › Exhibition/ Event/ Festival › Curated works: Physical Exhibition/ Event/ Festival
Open Access
Activities
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Tongue-Tied: Navigating the Gray Areas of Language and Its Impact on Bodies and Identities
Isadora Petrauskas (Speaker) & Zhonghao Chen (Speaker)
7 Feb 2025 → 8 Feb 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation at conference/workshop/seminar
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Old Norms: Tradition at the Intersection of New Technology
Zhonghao Chen (Speaker)
28 Nov 2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Cumulus Regional Seminar 2024 “Design for Intercultural Innova:on” | ProgramDutch Workshop Days
Zhonghao Chen (Participant)
28 Nov 2024 → 29 Nov 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organising an event e.g. a conference, workshop, …
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Future Body
Zhonghao Chen (Speaker)
9 Nov 2024 → 18 Nov 2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk