Isaac Chong Wai (b. 1990) is a Berlin-Hong Kong artist using performance, video, installation, photography, and drawing as mediators to investigate contemporary global phenomena. His work transforms the emotions, tensions, and memories from human interactions into performative materiality and immersive experiences. Treading the line between the individual and the collective, he examines the vulnerability of the body and the inherent violence within social systems and historical traumas and imagines alternative microcosms of human relationality.
Chong is the participating artist for the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, curated by Adriano Pedrosa. His works have gained recognition at prominent venues including the 22nd Biennale of Videobrasil, São Paulo; Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin; Bundeskunsthalle Bonn; MMCA, Seoul; IFFR, Rotterdam; MOCA Taipei; and M+, Hong Kong.
His works are featured in notable collections including Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin; Kadist, Paris and San Francisco; and Burger Collection, Hong Kong.
Portrait of Isaac Chong Wai. © Innsbruck International/ Mia Maria Knoll
BIENNIALS (SELECTED)
2024
The 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, curated by Adriano Pedrosa
2023
22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, artistic direction by Solange Farkas and is curated by Raphael Fonseca and Renée Akitelek Mboya, Associação Cultural Videobrasil and Sesc, Brazil
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
2023
“Isaac Chong Wai: Breath by Breath,” presented by Blindspot Gallery, Liste Art Fair Basel
“Isaac Chong Wai in dialogue with Joseph Beuys: The End of Growth,” Museum Schloss Moyland, Moyland
2022
“Post-Mythical Accidents,” Una Boccata d'Arte, Fondazione Elpis and Galleria Continua, Castiglione di Sicily
“If we keep crying, we will go blind.,” Zilberman Selected, Istanbul
2021
“Leaderless,” Bilsart, Istanbul
2019
“What is the future in the past? And what is the past in the future?,” Zilberman, Berlin
“Is the World Your Friend?,” Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong
“I Made a Boat in Prison–A Journey to the Shore,” Zilberman Project Space, Istanbul
2018
“An Artistic Archive of Borders” curated by Nina Holm, Kunstraum München, Munich
“Future of the Past—Past of the Future,” Goethe Institut Hong Kong
“The Rehearsal of the Futures” curated by Nina Holm, Apartment der Kunst, Munich
“Transcultural Transience: Is the World Your Friend?” curated by Karma Ltd. Extended, ACUD Galerie, Berlin
2016
“What is the future in the past? And what is the past in the future?,” Bauhaus Museum, Weimar, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
2023
“The Nationalgalerie: The Collection of the 21st Century” curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, and Catherine Nichols, Hamburger Bahnhof–Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart Museum, Berlin
“If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag. Art and Internationalism Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall” curated by Nóra Lukács and Melanie Roumiguière, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, Berlin
“The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time.,” curated by Katya Inozemtseva, co-curated by Lisa Marei Schmidt and Nina Pohl, Brücke-Museum and Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin
“Practice Till We Meet” curated by Hanlu Zhang, esea contemporary, Manchester
“Bodily Reaction: Vitalizing the Bare Life,” Taikang Space, Beijing
2022
“Spheres of Interest” and “Chains of Interest” curated by Inka Gressel and Susanne Weiß, ifa-Galerie, Berlin
“Forming Communities: Berliner Wege” curated by Thomas Eller and Li Zhenhua, Kindl Museum, Berlin
“Identity Not Proven,” New Acquisitions for the Federal Art Collection, curated by Susanne Klein, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn
"MIT DER TÜR INS HAUS FALLEN Neuerwerbungen der Sammlung des Bundes," Neues Museum Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design Nürnberg, Nürnberg
“Difference/Indifference” curated by Angelika Li, Kunsttages Basel
”Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III,” curated by Inti Guerrero and Chantal Wong, Tai Kwun Contemporary Museum, Hong Kong
2021
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Louvre Museum Auditorium, Paris
Studio Bosporus. Festival for the 10th Anniversary of Tarabya Cultural Academy curated by Stéphane Bauer (Director of the Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien), Pia Entenmann (Curatorial director of the Tarabya Cultural Academy), Çağla İlk (Director of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden) and Susanne Weiß (Curator, Director of the ifa gallery), Kunstraum Kreuzberg/ Bethanien
”Videotage - Digital Birth: Zooming in on NFT,” Art Basel Hong Kong
2020
“Looking For Another Family” curated by Joowon Park, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul
“Next Act,” Asia Society, Hong Kong
“Human Capital,” Innsbruck International Biennial of the Arts, Innsbruck
“Ordinary Heroes: Made in Hong Kong,” IFFR International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam
“Viral Self-Portraits,” Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (+MSUM), Ljubljana
Homo Novus Festival, curated by Gundega Laiviņa, Riga
2019
“The Racing Will Continue, The Dancing Will Stay” curated by Leo Chen Li, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou
“Living Sound—Expanding the extramusical” curated by Nicole Lai Yi-Hsin, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei
“The D-Tale:Video Art from the Pearl River Delta” co-curated by Hou Hanru and Xi Bei, Times Art Center, Berlin
2018
“M+ Live Art Audience As Performer” curated by Alice Teng, M+ Museum, Hong Kong
“KOTODAMA” curated by André Chan, Para Site, Hong Kong
“Transcultural Transience,” Duo exhibition with Rachel Monosov, curated by Pauline Doutreluingne, and Petra Poelzl, ACUD Galerie, Berlin
2017
“TOY Award—BERLIN MASTERS,” Stiftung Brandenburger Tor am Max Liebermann Haus with Arndt Art Agency, Berlin
“Tale of the Wonderland” curated by Mimi Chun, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong
2016
The 5th Large-Scale Public Media Arts Exhibition—“Human Vibrations” curated by Caroline Ha Thuc organized by HKADC, with Gwangju Cultural Foundation and K11, Hong Kong, Gwangju and Wuhan
2015
Imaginary Bauhaus Museum, the second Berliner Herbstsalon “Flucht,” Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin
Acting Space—Bauhaus Goes Kunstfest ’15, Kunstfest Weimar, Germany
2014
Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, “A Time for Dreams” curated by David Elliott, National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) and Museum of Moscow, Moscow
2012
“Discordia,” 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong
COLLECTIONS (SELECTED)
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin
Kadist, Paris and San Francisco
Bundeskunstsammlung (Federal Collection of Contemporary Art), Bonn
ifa collection (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen/ International Cultural Relations), Berlin and Stuttgart
Burger Collection, Hong Kong
Sunpride Foundation, Hong Kong
Akeroyd Collection, UK
GRANTS & AWARDS (SELECTED)
2023 NEUSTARTplus-Stipendium für freiberufliche bildende Künstler:innen, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn
2022 Scholarship, INITIAL 2 Special Grant–New Cooperations together with Dagmar Aigner, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
2020/2021 Fellowship Awardee at Kulturakademie Tarabya, Germany Embassy and Goethe Institut, Istanbul
2021 Research Stipends Awardee, Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin
2021 Scholarship Awardee at AArtist in Residence by German Federal Foreign Office and Galleries Association of Berlin (LVBG), Berlin
2020 Talent Award Winner at Jutta Cuny-Franz Memorial Award, Kunstpalast Museum, Düsseldorf
2019 Scholarship Awardee at Saari Residency, KONE Foundation, Helsinki
2018 Finalist of the Han Nefkens Foundation—Loop Barcelona Video Art Award 2018, Barcelona
COMMISSIONED WORKS
2023
“Two-Legged Stool,” glass and mirror installation, esea contemporary
“The End of Growth,” photographs, Museum Schloss Moyland, Moyland
2022
“Post-Mythical Accidents,” solo exhibition commission in public space including sculptures and installations, Fondazione Elpis and Galleria Continua, Castiglione di Sicilia
“Seeing/Unseeing,” participatory performance at Hamburger Kunsthalle, Âme Nue, Hamburg
“Breath Marks: Mother with Her Dead Son,” glass sculpture and photograph in reference to Käthe Kollwitz, ifa-Galerie, Berlin
“Die Mütter,” video and performance in reference to Käthe Kollwitz, ifa-Galerie, Berlin
“If we keep crying, we will go blind.,” solo exhibition commission including sculpture, serigraphy, video, Zilberman Selected, Istanbul
2021
“Falling Reversely,” large-scale video projection on the facade of the Federal Foreign Office, Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
“Leaderless,” solo exhibition commission including sculpture, video, photo, installation and performance, Kulturakademie Tarabya, Istanbul
2020
“Where are the orders from above?,” performance in public space, co-created with Krišjānis Elviks, Homo Novus Festival, Riga
“Disguised Camouflage,” photo series, curated by Jens Cheung, Post Territory Ujeongguk, South Korea
“Falling Carefully,” sculpture, drawing, installation, Asia Society, Hong Kong
2019
“Aware-of-Vacuity,” performance and installation, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou
“One Sound of the Futures,” participatory performance in public space, curated by Nicole Lai Yi-Hsin, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
2018
“The Collective Individual Exercises,” participatory performance in public space, curated by Rainer Hoffmann, SPRING Festival, Urban Heat, Festivals in Transition, Utrecht, Holland
“Rehearsal of the Futures: Police Training Exercises,” performance, curated by Alice Teng, M+ Museum, Hong Kong
“Rehearsal of the Futures: Is the World Your Friend,” performance, curated by Pauline Doutreluingne and Petra Poelzl, ACUD Galerie, Berlin
2016
“One Sound of the Futures,” participatory performance in public space, live streaming and video installation, curated by Caroline Ha Thuc, Kai Tak Runway Park in Hong Kong, May 18 Democracy Square in Gwangju and K11 Artist Village in Wuhan, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2016
2015
“One Sound of the Histories,” participatory performance in Weimarplatz, Kunstfest, Weimar, Germany, 2015
EDUCATION
2013–2016 Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Master of Fine Arts in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies
2009–2012 Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Visual Arts
PUBLIC TALKS
Berlin Art Week at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2023
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK), Zurich, 2023
Asia Society Switzerland, Zurich, 2023
Slade School of Fine Art, London, 2023
Museum Schloss Moyland, 2023
Kindl Museum, Berlin 2022
ifa-Galerie Berlin, 2022
Chinese University of Hong Kong, moderated by Yongwoo Lee, Hong Kong, 2022
Northwestern University, moderated by Hayana Kim, IL, United States, 2021
Federal Foreign Office with Christine Nippe, Berlin, 2021
Theaterhaus G7 with Petra Ramsauer, moderated by Dandan Liu, Mannheim, 2021
Asia Society with Nick Yu, Switzerland, 2020
Goethe Institut, Hong Kong, 2020
Royal Institut of Art (Workshop and Seminar) with Ming Wong, Stockolm, 2019
Guangdong Times Museum with Leo Chen Li, Li Ren and Wang Bo, Guangzhou, China, 2019
Museum of Contemporary Art with Hong-Kai Wang, Hsin-Wen Hsu and Samson Young, Taipei, 2019
Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, 2019
Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Weimar, 2019
Kunstraum München, with Heinz Norbert Jocks, Munich, 2019
M+ Museum with Alice Teng and Wen Yau, Hong Kong, 2018
Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlin, 2018
Goethe Institut, Hong Kong, 2018
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 2017
Bauhaus Museum (Workshop and Seminar), Weimar, 2016
K11 with Caroline Ha Thuc, Hong Kong, 2016
National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow, 2014