Under Construction
***
News
- Working on a new book with Berggruen Press.
- Joined the Royal College of Art as Tutor (Research) in Contemporary Art Practice.
- Leading a working group for Organismo @ TBA21 Academy on climate resilience and intervention in the Western Mediterranean, with BC3 and EEAS (part one, 2026).
- Advisor for the 2026 Hyundai Artlab Writing Fellowship
- 2026
- novteachingstarted as tutor (research) in MA Contemporary Art Practice at RCA
- octexhibitionPUSS, a new performance work with Klara Kofen and Cameron Graham, for Somerset House 3 Evenings during Frieze week
- octexhibitionnew simulation work for The Mall at Powerhouse Parramatta x OMA AMO
- junresearchI'm an advisor for Serpentine's Future Art Ecosystems Art x Convergence fellowship
- maywritingInterview with net.art legends Eva & Franco Mattes
- janresearchOngoing: Leading a working group on climate resilience in coastal Valencia with Basque Centre for Climate Change and European External Action Service, Organismo at TBA21-Academy
- janresearchI'm an mentor this year for Hyundai's ArtLab writing fellowship, working with fellow Travis Jeppesen.
- 2025
- novwriting"The Shoggoth and the Skeuomorph" in New Museum: New Humans (Phaidon).
- octtalklectures at Goldsmiths MFA ("Planetarity") and Asymmetry ("Psychedelic Reason").
- octresearch100pp report on art and technology in mainland China for the British Council. Thanks to Eva Jaeger and Milia Xin Bi for peer review.
- septresearchco-curated The Weather In-Between: Monsoons, Markets and Other Derivative Atmospheres at Para Site, Hong Kong, with Billy Tang and Stefan Luk; also keynote lecture.
- septtalk"Multipolar Technoculture" at Het Nieuwe Instituut (online).
- septteachingAssociate Tutor in BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art
- septteachingAssociate lecturer in MA Fine Art, Goldsmith's
- augtalkFriday Lates panel at V&A x Eastern Margins with Clara and Lorenzo.
- julresearchjoint contribution with Iris Long in the British Council position paper Why Technology Needs Artists: 40 International Perspectives.
- julwritingzine and performance, On Signification, made at La Becque.
- apr-julresearchresidency at La Becque <3.
- junteachingAssociate Lecturer in MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art
- aprwritingchapter "Between the Planet and the Market", on the climate financial complex, in Incomputable Earth: Technology and the Anthropocene Hypothesis (Bloomsbury).
- aprexhibitiongroup show: Metamers at Moving on Asia, Domoheon Busan.
- aprtalkGlobal Art Forum talk with Halle Frost and a very good crew.
- aprexhibitionexhibition with Madde Andersson at Zentrum für Kreativ Wirtschaft, Kassel.
- aprtalkMoMA R&D Salon on scams (fav topic).
- martalk"AIs, Egregores and the UX of personhood" at NYU Shanghai IMA.
- martalk"Technology and Belief" artist talk at China Academy of Art.
- febwritingessay on multipolarity in the new Serpentine Reader.
- janwritingThe Critical Legacy of Chinese Cybernetics in Combinations Mag.
- jantalkContemporary Art Lecture Series at Ruskin College of Art, Oxford.
- 2024
- novexhibitionbiennial: The Tourist at the 9th Asian Art Biennial, Taichung.
- octexhibitionDead Cat Bounce on tour with Waste Paper Opera to Eastside Projects, Nottingham Contemporary and Arts Catalyst.
- septwriting"China's Hinterland Becomes a Critical Datascape" — big data infrastructure, castles and sovereignty in Guizhou — for Noema / e-flux Architecture.
- augwriting"Searching for the Revolutionary Ali Sultan Issa" — on the making of The Tourist — in Frieze #243.
- augteachingPAF University with Flora Weil
- junexhibitiongroup show: 小节线内的抽屉 at Power Station of Art, Shanghai.
- junresearchSenior Researcher @ Antikythera Cognitive Infrastructures Studio.
- marwritingco-authored Future Art Ecosystems 4: Art x Public AI with Serpentine R&D.
- febexhibitionsolo: METAMERS at EPFL Pavilions, Lausanne.
- febtalkartist talk at ICA London with the Conditions programme.
- 2023
- octresearchOcean Briefings, public artwork at Sea Art Festival, Busan.
- septexhibitionco-curated AlienVILLAGE with Sahjan Kooner at Eastside Projects, with collaborators Sophie Chapman and Manjit Kooner.
- augwriting"Unravelling the World in the Polycrisis Era" for Frieze #235.
- exhibitionThe Tourist, film commission for the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto.
- maywritingCatastrophe Time!, an edited book of fictions, essays and interviews about finance and time (Strange Attractor Press).
- maytalkArt & Economy @ documenta Institute.
- aprexhibitiongroup exhibition: Katabasis, or Cartographer in the Underworld @ totalab Shanghai, curated by Julian Junyuan Feng.
- aprtalkEarth Day conversation with Sougwen Chung and Asad Raza for Gaia Art Foundation and Ignota Press.
- aprteachingCybernetics and China with Mi You, The New Centre — session one here.
- febtalkSync or Swim @ Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art & Curating.
- febwriting"The Internet of Egregores" for Platforms, book by Singapore Biennial, on the invitation of Aarti Sunder.
- 2022
- novwritingco-authored Future Art Ecosystems 3: Art x Decentralised Tech with Victoria Ivanova (Serpentine).
- novtalksymposium "Cohesion was meant to hold. But reality started to slide." — a Diann Bauer appreciation.
- octexhibitiongroup exhibition: Liquid Ground @ UCCA Dune.
- julexhibitionDead Cat Bounce premiere with Waste Paper Opera at Somerset House.
- teachinglecturer @ Goldsmiths MFA, Fine Art Critical Studies.
- teachingAssociate Lecturer for "Scam Magic" workshops at Goldsmiths MFA.
- aprwriting"Anicka Yi: 'I'm Very, Very Squeamish With Culture'" — interview in ArtReview.
- febtalk"What is Financial Astrology?" podcast with Alannah Chance @ Somerset House Studios.
- 2021
- decexhibitiongroup exhibition: Death Ray on Coral Island @ Power Station of Art.
- novexhibitiongroup exhibition: Rehearsing the Future @ Alien Art Center.
- octwriting"Ponzi Scheme", Weird Economies glossary.
- octexhibitiongroup exhibition: The Principle of Hope @ Inside Out Art Museum.
- augexhibitiongroup exhibition: Liquid Ground @ Para Site.
- junexhibitionsolo exhibition: Cycle 25 @ Arts Catalyst & Bloc Projects.
- exhibitionThe First 10,000 Years, digital artwork with Agnes Cameron @ Arts Catalyst.
- writing"The Internet of Egregores" — essay on digital identity and cultic thoughtforms (PDF).
- aprwriting"Sinofuturism and its Uses", VERGE Journal of Global Asias.
- marwriting"Propositions", Harun Farocki Institute & Journal for Visual Culture.
- 2020
- febwriting"Avant-garde as a Service", ArtReview — on consultants, art and business.
- 2019
- julwriting"Systems Seduction: The Aesthetics of Decentralization" — brief history of ecology and cybernetics in the MIT Journal of Design and Science.
Bio
- Gary Zhexi Zhang's work explores systemic connections between cosmology, technology and economy. He operates individually, in collaboration and within organisational frameworks. He recently edited a book of fictions, essays and interviews about finance and time, Catastrophe Time! (Strange Attractor Press, 2023). Dead Cat Bounce, the opera he co-created with Waste Paper Opera, premiered at Somerset House in 2022 and toured in 2024. His projects investigate the production and mediation of geopolitical imagination, particularly through forms of arbitrage across time, cultural and technical systems.
He currently holds the position of Tutor (Research) at the Royal College of Art, London, having previously held positions at Goldsmith's, Chelsea and Parsons. In 2026, he leads part of the Organismo programme at TBA21-Academy researching climate politics, in collaboration with Basque Centre for Climate Change and the European External Action Service, and also serves as an Advisor for the Hyundai Artlab Editorial Fellowship.
Recent solo exhibitions and commissions include Metamers at EPFL Pavilions, Lausanne; the Asian Art Biennial, Taichung; Sea Art Festival, Busan; Art Gallery of York University, Toronto. His work has been shown in group exhibitions at Domoheon Busan; Zentrum für Kreativ Wirtschaft, Kassel; Power Station of Art, Shanghai; Powerhouse Parramatta, Sydney (upcoming); Somerset House, London (upcoming). His work has been supported by residencies and fellowships at La Becque, Rockbund Art Museum, EPFL, Sakiya, Delfina Foundation and Amant (upcoming). His articles have been published for Frieze, ArtReview, Verge Journal of Global Asias, Journal of Cultural Economy, MIT Journal of Design and Science, e-flux, Noema; catalogue essays for Jenna Sutela, Auckland Gallery of Art, Steve Bishop, Anicka Yi and the New Museum; and books including Against Reduction (MIT Press, 2021), Incomputable Earth (Bloomsbury, 2026), Platforms: Around, In Between and Through (Singapore Biennale, 2023); Future Art Ecosystems III & IV (co-author; Serpentine, 2022 & 2024). In 2025 he led a report on art and technology in China for the British Council. He is currently writing a book about multipolar technocultures.
Affiliations
- Tutor (Research), Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College of Art, London.
- Resident at Somerset House Studios, with support from Kyrin Chen.
- Co-founder of Foreign Objects (dormant).
- Ongoing relationships with Waste Paper Opera, Trust, Sakiya, O.W.L., Weird Economies, Serpentine Arts Technologies, Other Internet, AICA.
- Previously: lecturer @ Goldsmiths MFA, PhD ext. examiner @ RCA, resident @ NEW INC, p/t lecturer @ Parsons, Fellow @ Berggruen Institute, Delfina Foundation, Wysing, MIT ACT.