b. 1990, Guangdong, China; lives and works between Berlin, Germany and Hong Kong.

Isaac Chong Wai incorporates an interdisciplinary approach to making that speaks to ideas and representations of the body, powerlessness, violence, collectivism, and mourning. In works that manifest across a range of media such as performance, sculpture, video, painting, and photography, we see modes of address challenged in poetic yet critical terms. The conceptual, political, and performative qualities of Isaac Chong Wai’s practice reflect on societal shifts and global phenomena in a way that invites viewers to re-examine their own perceptions of history and world events. The works frequently upend biases and preconceptions, by a process of editing and reframing otherwise stable notions of storytelling.

Recent solo exhibitions include Isaac Chong Wai: Falling Carefully, Zilberman, Berlin (2024): Isaac Chong Wai in dialogue with Joseph Beuys: The End of Growth, Museum Schloss Moyland, Moyland (2023); Breath by Breath, Liste Art Fair Basel (presentation with Blindspot Gallery) (2023); Post-Mythical Accidents, Una Boccata d’Arte, Fondazione Elpis, and Galleria Continua, Castiglione di Sicilia (2022); If we keep crying, we will go blind., Zilberman Selected, Istanbul (2022); Leaderless, Bilsart, Istanbul (2021); Is the World Your Friend?, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong (2019). His works have also been featured in group exhibitions including Forgive Us Our Trespasses / Vergib uns unsere Schuld, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2024); 60th Venice Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, Venice (2024); The Nationalgalerie: The Collection of the 21st Century, Hamburger Bahnhof–Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart Museum, Berlin (2023); Practice Till We Meet, esea contemporary, Manchester (2023); Bodily Reaction: Vitalizing the Bare Life, Taikang Space, Beijing (2023); Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2022); Forming Communities: Berliner Wege, Kindl Museum, Berlin (2022); Identity Not Proven, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn (2022); MIT DER TÜR INS HAUS FALLEN Neuerwerbungen der Sammlung des Bundes, Neues Museum Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design Nürnberg, Nürnberg (2022); Looking For Another Family, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2020); Ordinary Heroes: Made in Hong Kong, IFFR International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam (2020); Living Sound—Expanding the extramusical, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2019), and M+ Live Art Audience As Performer, M+, Hong Kong (2018).

For further information about this artist please click here.

For Isaac Chong Wai's entry on Asia Art Archive's website please click here.