Curator Name: Zhiheng Ashely Zhang
Residency Dates: September – October 2024
Hometown: Beijing, China
Lives & Works: New York and Beijing
URL: zzh.art | Instagram: @zzh.art
Education:
2023 | MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University (NYU)
2022 | MA in URBART Aesthetics, Art, and New Visual & Audio Studies from the University of Barcelona
2020 | BA in Art History from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in China
Bio/Statement:
Zhang began her career with internships at institutions such as CAFAM and Beijing Today Museum in China. She later worked part-time with CAFAM’s Digital Center for Learning, where she created scripts for documentaries featuring artists, curators, art theorists, and critics. Simultaneously, she joined an exhibition design studio, collaborating on projects initiated by China Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited. Notably, she co-designed the Promotional Commercial Exhibition presented in Panama, which was featured on CCTV-1. She also contributed to the design of The 8th Beijing International Art Biennale at the National Art Museum of China, an exhibition showcasing 642 pieces of art.
After graduating from CAFA in 2020, Zhang worked independently with artists as a curator and executive curator. She curated “Empty House” for emerging artist Zhang Yu at Mountain Space Beijing and served as the Executive Curator for “Amulet For Faith – Hongjun Jia Presale Exhibition” at Beijing Time Museum (Poly Auction). She also curated the NFT exhibition Virtual Niche – Have You Ever Seen Memes in the Mirror with a Crypto Art Company in China, held at Beijing UCCA Lab and Shanghai Jinghua Art.
Zhang continued her studies under the mentorship of renowned Asian female curator Victoria Yung-Chih Lu through hybrid courses at the University of Barcelona due to COVID-19. After completing her studies at NYU in 2023, she moved to New York and worked as an independent curator and writer. Her projects include co-curating with Chunchun Tao Where Aphrodite Bleeds, Red Roses Bloom at Spatium Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, and serving as guest curator for Sojourner Gallery’s interactive exhibition Attention! Please Scan! and pop-up exhibition The Ephemeral Urban Enigmas. She also curated But to Bestow Meanings Upon Flowers, an exhibition on wearable art at Accent Sister.
In addition to her curatorial work, Zhang writes bilingually for galleries and art media. She authored the bilingual press release for Xinyan Wang’s solo exhibition Metamorphosis at Nicodim Gallery and contributed articles to Art China on the 2024 Armory Show, IDEAT China on artist Dongrong Xu, and Beijing Youth Net on Tutu Gallery in Brooklyn. Her articles have been reposted by various media outlets.
Zhang also has experience in art education, working with a private art education institution. She has taught family groups in galleries and museums, as well as high school senior students in curatorial courses and book design courses using InDesign.
