Born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1965
Now lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan
A pioneer of video art in Taiwan, Yuan Goang-Ming has worked with video since 1984, and is now one of the foremost Taiwanese artists active in the international media art circle. He received a master’s degree in media art from the Academy of Design, Karlsruhe Germany (1997), and currently holds a post as professor of the new media art department of the Taipei National University of the Arts.
Combining symbolic metaphor with technological media, his work expresses the state of contemporary existence, while exploring the human mind and consciousness. He received the 13th Hsiung-Shih Art Award for the Best New Artist for his video and sculptural work Out of Position (1987) when he was still in art school in 1988. In 1992, his work Fish on a Dish garnered acclaim in the Taiwanese art circle, and received the First Prize of the Taipei County Arts Award, while The Reason for Insomnia (1998) received the Jury Prize of the 1st Digital Art Festival. His “City Disqualified” series (2002) holds an important place in the history of Taiwanese contemporary media art.
Disappearing Landscape (2007) heralded a new approach to the moving image, combining video art and cinema, displaying the fascinating, theatrical everyday in the three-channel video installation. The 2011 exhibition Before Memory continues his exploration of the idea of home, and expands such exploration into ruins and nature, in a diverse array of large-scale installations about time and memory, the body and perception. His 2014 solo exhibition An Uncanny Tomorrow questions the environment we inhabit in a globalized context, pondering the anxieties and apprehensions of modern people. This exhibition received the Exhibition of the Year of the 13th Taishin Arts Award. The 2018 solo exhibition Tomorrowland pivots on the idea that home in the future is no longer solid. The works are centered on the normalization and everydayness of warfare, embodying modern-day existence and human despair. The exhibition traveled to the Hayward Gallery in London in 2018.
Yuan has exhibited internationally across Asia, Europe, and America, including: Venice Biennale, Italy (2024), Videoex Experimental Film & Video Festival, Zurich, Switzerland (2023), L'œil du cyclone, Le Lieu Unique, Nantes, France (2022), MAM Digital, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2021); OzAsia Festival, Adelaide, Australia (2021); Short Waves Festival, Poznan, Poland (2020); Aichi Triennale (2019); Beyond Bliss: Bangkok Art Biennale (2018); Biennale de Lyon: La Vie Moderne, France (2015); Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Japan (2014); the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Australia (2012); Singapore Biennale (2008); Liverpool Biennial, U.K. (2004); Auckland Triennial, New Zealand (2004); Taiwan Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale, Italy (2003); the 2nd Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Korea (2002); 010101: Art in Technological Times, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, U.S. (2001); ICC Biennial, Japan (1997), and Taipei Biennial, Taiwan (2002,1998, 1996).
He has been on the Collections Committee of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and a juror of the Taipei Art Awards, Taipei County Arts Exhibition, Public Art, Venice Biennale (Taiwan Pavilion), and Asia Society Arts Award in the United States. His work is housed in the collections of M+ Museum in Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum and NTT InterCommunication Center in Japan; Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Australia; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Art Bank Taiwan, and Jut Art Museum in Taiwan.