Red Dolls
THE MAP SERIES
THE MAP SERIES
THE MAP SERIES
Ran Zhou
Statement
Plays of power found in ageing, disease, sex, body, and desire drive my artistic inquiries through the trajectories and intersections of biopoli-
tics. From a broader context, my practice is shaped by my cultural migration across different continents. In recent years, art is my way to voice my personal experience of post-Covid family trauma, as a form of counter attack, self-therapy and reconciliation. I hope to question the meaning of health and functioning within a geopolitical framework, observe the otheringness of individuals deemed “not well-functioned” by society, and examine the dialectical imbalance created by excessive interventions of technology in the human body.
Another aspect of my work angles on posthumanist strategies, yet I remain critical of the results. I struggle with the notion of body and its relationship with desire. I am intersted in the ambiguity of desire - how it is defined, regulated, channeled, and utilized through pharmaceuticals, publications, fashion, and more. To what extent do we keep the control of what a body is and how it is used? I care about how the pharmaceutical industry, the pornography industry, and late capitalism are integrated in the cycles of social control through the regulation of bodies. In my work I play with poetic absurdity and black humour, considering such explorations as an antecedent to a deeper examination of cultural hybridity and resilience.
Aging skins and absurd sex, naked manifestos and ambiguous traditions, quiet sorrow and black humour... these dualities lie within my body and I want to reveal them. I hope to make things that embody both restraint and power.
I like to employ permanent and solid materials to narrate fragility and impermanence, while using fluid mediums to convey strength. I have been deliberately using anti-smoothness in my practice to challenge the contemporary pursuit of immediate pleasure, as well as the illusion of cleanliness and unwavering positivity in society. Why do we find what is smooth beautiful? Why is beauty only found in smoothness? What does this do things that are not smooth? Why are we obsessed with cleanness and hygiene? These questions are important for me to consider as they speak to what is allowed, what is not allowed, what is acceptable and by whom and for what purpose, referring to gesture, shame, privacy, and more.
Education
2021-2023 June
MA Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2014-2019
BFA Honours, Visual Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
BFA Honours, Art History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Residency
2023 Conditions, London, UK
2019 Artist in Residence, Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, New York.
Solo + Duo Exhibitions
2023 ”Rigid | Ran Zhou” curated by Zinnia Wang, Copeland Gallery, London
2021. “Subhuman: a feminist contemplation of body" duo curated by Yubing Guo, Canton-Sardine, Vancouver, BC, CA
2020 “Ran Zhou: A Winter Solstice Prayer” Metropolitan West, Volta Art Fair, New York, USA
2020 “Ran Zhou: Free Fall” Z Gallery Arts, Vancouver, BC, CA.
2019 “Free Fall” Hatch Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, CA
2018-2019 “The Diary of Destroying a Map” Z Gallery Arts, Vancouver, BC, CA
2018 “Ran Zhou: The Diary of Destroying a Map” Yia_Young International Art Fair, Le Carreau Du Temple, Paris, France
2018 “The Diary of Destroying a Map” Hatch Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, CA
Grant
2024 Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Round 19
Selected Film Awards/screenings
2023 Ros Film Festival V Edition Award 2nd Prize, Alicante, Spain
2023 Screening of 'The Porn' at Tate Modern Lates, London
2022 YOUKI International Youth Media Festival (Main Award 23-27), Wels, Austria
2022 Animaze Montreal International Animation Film Festival
2022 Global University Film Award (Best Animation Shortlist), Hong Kong
2022 SUPERNOVA International Film Festival, Manchester, UK
2022 Korea NoWHere Film Festival (Now Here Award)
2022 ZUBROFFKA International Short Film Festival, Poland
2022 Malatesta Short Film Festival, Italy
2022 Animax Screen (Nominee), UK
2022 AntiMatter [Media Art], Victoria, Canada
2022 AniMate Australia Animation Film Festival (Semi-finalist)
2022 London Darkroom Film Festival
Guest Tutor
2023 Fine Art Mixed Media, University of Westminster
Artist Talk / Panel Discussions
2023 Sept "Haptic Tendencies" at Critical Symposium (online)
2023 July "Choreography" at Critical Symposium (online)
2023 April Artist Talk at the University of Westminster
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 “suspend - matter” Brompton Cemetary, the Chapel, curated by Rachel Goodison, London
2021 "Art Spaceship" virtual show curated by Anna Shvet, in collaboration with V-Art digital and TAtcher's Art Management
2019 “Reclamation” Compere Collective, curated by Anna Cahn, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2019 “The Lind Prize 2019” The Polygon Art Gallery, North Vancouver, BC. CA
2019 “Weird Flux” Audain Art Center, Vancouver, BC. CA
2018 “Emerging Vision” Z Gallery Arts, curated by Zohra Bonnis, Vancouver, BC. CA
2018 “Into the Dark” Hatch Art Gallery, curated by Maxim Greer, Vancouver, BC. CA
2018 “Together We Built” Robert Lee Alumni Center, Vancouver, BC. CA
2017 “HENN Show” Hatch Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC. CA
Selected Press + Publications