Curriculum Vitae
Mu Yuming
木玉明
Born March 23, 1971 — Kunming, Yunnan, China
Based: Lijiang, Yunnan / Chiang Mai, Thailand
Naxi — Descendant of the Mu Royal Family of Lijiang
muyuming.com
Art Names & Identities
桩子 Zhuangzi · 老木 Lao Mu · 丽江农民 Farmer Mu · 闲木观念 Xian Mu Guannian · 梦春山 Meng Chunshan · 黑球恩 Hei Qiu’en
Six names corresponding to six phases of practice — Lao Mu (the wanderer, folk practitioner), Farmer Mu (2008 rural identity), Xian Mu Guannian (pre-Jingdezhen conceptual phase), Meng Chunshan (2014–2019 Jingdezhen retreat), Zhuangzi (2017–2019 ChuangTzu / Zhuangzi Project), Hei Qiu’en (2023–present international public welfare phase).
Education
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam — Artist-in-Residence · Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Rijksakademie Joint Scholarship
Norwegian Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo — BFA, Department of Experimental Art · Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Scholarship
Central Academy of Art & Design, Beijing — Course
Residencies
Zongtong Temple (宗通寺) Meditation Residency — Chiang Mai, Thailand
Guirensi Temple (皈仁寺) Residency — Taining, China
Huaniao Island (花鸟岛) Island Residency — Zhejiang, China
MACL Contemporary Art Museum — Quebec, Canada
Jingdezhen Five-Year Retreat (planned as three) — Jingdezhen, China
Yunnan Buddhist Academy Residency — Kunming, China
Artist Residency — Philadelphia, USA
Major Projects
She Nian Fo — Pa Pae Meditation Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Human Paradise — Yunnan, Zhejiang, Fujian, China · Thailand
Tea Dana — Lashihai, Lijiang & Chiang Mai
OUR CHILDREN — Chiang Mai, Thailand
My Flesh —
Five Hundred Arhats — Global — online premiere
My Second Face — Kunming, Yunnan, China
In Search of a Soul Mate — Kunming, Yunnan
ChuangTzu → Zhuangzi Project — Bajie, Anning, Yunnan, China
Jingdezhen Five-Year Retreat — Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China
Landscape Dream (Shanshui Meng) — China & Thailand
Ten Years of Silence — Myanmar, China, Thailand, Hungary
Life as Game — Worldwide
Give Myself Away for a Year — Yunnan, China
Genealogy — New Zealand & China · Official collaboration with the New Zealand Government
Farmer Station — Rural Yunnan, China
An Illusory Character Made in China — Amsterdam, Netherlands
Solo Exhibitions
Human Paradise · Chiang Mai, Zongtong Temple (宗通寺), Chiang Mai, Thailand
Human Paradise · Guirensi Temple, Guirensi Temple (皈仁寺), Taining, China
My Father, Huaniao Island (花鸟岛), Zhejiang, China
Sleeping Temple, Beijing, Beijing, China
Genealogy (Family Portrait), In official collaboration with the New Zealand Government, New Zealand
Solo Exhibition, Red Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mu Yuming's World, 140sqm Gallery, Shanghai, China
Solo Exhibition, Ines De Seroux, LLC Gallery, New York, USA
The Time of the Great Revolution, Fine Art School, Marseille, France
The Time of the Great Revolution, Fine Art School, Aix-en-Provence, France
Family Portrait, Lijiang Studio Haidong, Lijiang, China
A Virtual Person Made in China, Agentur, Amsterdam, Netherlands
20 Days Project, L'Estran, Binic, France
20 Days Project, Hoseman, Oslo, Norway
20 Days Project, Loft (Kunming Creative Warehouse), Kunming, China
My Hometown, ArbliArt Space, Oslo, Norway
Group Exhibitions
Another China, Galerie Nord, Berlin, Germany
Li, Eidos Art Space, Bassano Romano, Italy
Hiscox Art Award, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rijksakademie at Parts, Parts, Xiamen, China
Open Ateliers, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jiang Hu, Jiang Hu Movement, Kunming & Lijiang, China
Single Screen Video Art from Asia, Nikolaj Copenhagen Art Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Group Exhibition, Earl Lu Gallery / College of the Arts, Singapore
Group Exhibition, SKA Stenersen Museet (Norwegian Museum of Contemporary Art), Oslo, Norway
Ink & Painting
Human Paradise · Zongtong Temple — Wat Jong Thong (Zongtong Temple), Chiang Mai, Thailand
Human Paradise · Kunming — Kunming, Yunnan
Human Paradise · Chiang Dao — Qing Dao Mountains, Thailand
Human Paradise · Guirensi Temple — Guirensi Temple, Taining, Fujian
Heaven on Earth — Guirensi Temple, Taining / Zongtong Temple, Chiang Mai
Human Paradise · Lijiang — Lashihai, Lijiang, Yunnan
Human Paradise · Hua Niao Dao — Huaniao Island, Shengsi, Zhejiang
Human Paradise · Shambhala — Chiang Dao, Northern Thailand
Human Paradise · Krabi — Krabi, Southern Thailand
Human Paradise · Renunciation Mind — On the Road
Human Paradise · Letting-Go Buddha — Pa Pae Meditation Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Our Children · Cambodia — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Our Children · Thailand — Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tea Giving — Global
Seed People — Jingdezhen, Jiangxi
Bodhidharma Crossing the River — Yunnan Buddhist Academy, Kunming
Splash-Ink Landscape — Kunming, Yunnan
Temple Paintings — Lijiang, Yunnan
Death Gaze — Kunming, Yunnan
500 Arhats Online — Global
In Search of a Soul Mate — Kunming, Yunnan
In Search of a Soul Mate · Deep Winter — Yunnan
In Search of a Soul Mate · Winter Solstice — Yunnan
In Search of a Soul Mate · Autumn — Yunnan
In Search of a Soul Mate · Summer — Yunnan
In Search of a Soul Mate · Spring — Yunnan
Lao Mu & Meng Chunsheng — Mr. Mu Solo Exhibition — The Pottery Workshop · Jingdezhen, Jiangxi
Zhuangzi Project / Chuang Tzu Project — Bajie Ancient Town, Anning, Yunnan, China
Zhuangzi Project / Chuang Tzu Project — Opening Day — Bajie Old Courthouse, Anning, Yunnan
Zhuangzi Project / Chuang Tzu Project — Year One Review — Bajie Old Courthouse, Anning, Yunnan
Conceptual Landscape — Jingdezhen / continuously moving
8 Hours — 798 Space Station Art Center, Beijing
Three Years Retreat — Kunming / Jingdezhen
Yutian Pit Firing — Yutian Lake, Jingdezhen
Xiamen Gathering · Art for Exchange — Xiamen, China
Zhaojian · Gathering — Jinghong, Xishuangbanna
Becoming a Monk — Myanmar
Mask Archaeology — Oslo · Jingdezhen · Kunming · in continuous movement
Shan Hai Jing · Classics of Mountains and Seas — Kunming / Jingdezhen
Suicide — Kunming
Sketch Champion — Kunming
My Grandfather — Kunming
She · First Love —
Mountain People — Shilin, Kunming
Norwegian Winter — Oslo, Norway
Masquerade — Oslo National Academy of Fine Arts
The Meaning Lies Within the Meaningless — Soria Moria Cultural Castle, Oslo
Identity — Oslo, Norway
He-Me — Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
Kill · Brothers —
Lijiang Studio — Kunming · Lijiang
My Fourth Uncle — Haidong Village, Lashihai, Lijiang
20 Days · China — Loft (Chuangku), Kunming
20 Days · Norway — Oslo, Norway
20 Days · Netherlands — Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
20 Days · France — Binic, Brittany, France
Jianghu — Kunming · Lijiang
365 Degrees — Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Hiscox Art Award Selection Exhibition — Amsterdam, the Netherlands
The Two-Legged Experiment —
She / He · The Lijiang Period — Lijiang, Yunnan
The Homeland Plan — Lijiang, Yunnan
Genealogy · New Zealand — New Zealand
She — Kunming, Yunnan
Farmer Station — Lijiang, China
Hetu Luoshu · Tea — Wuyi Mountain, Fujian
Donating the “Self” — Kunming, Yunnan
Seeking Immortals, Seeking the Way · Part One — Jizu Mountain, Yunnan · Nanhua Temple, Guangdong
Self-Portrait — Kunming · Dianchi Road Studio
Video & Performance
Searching for the East (《寻找东方》) — performance, Yunnan → North China
Give Myself Away for a Year (《将自己布施出去一年》) — performance
100 Minutes — video, Kunming
Encountering the West (《遇到西方》) — conceptual action
Four Yellow Sisters (《黄色四姐妹》) — experimental documentary, Philadelphia
No Idea Street Performance — Venice
Freedom (《自由》) — performance, Oslo
Blue Poles — installation, Oslo
Identity (《身份》) — public art, S Ar era Public Art Space, Oslo
Government Collaborations
Genealogy — Official collaboration with the New Zealand Government · Contributed to the formal apology to the Chinese community for the historical Poll Tax.
Himalaya — Official collaboration with the French Government
Institutional Collections & Records
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Amsterdam, Netherlands) — Artist-in-Residence archive
Norwegian Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KHiO) (Oslo, Norway) — Alumni archive
23rd Hungary MEDIAWAVE Light & Shadow Music Festival (Hungary) — Festival archive — on-site works
IberLibro and international art book platforms (International) — Bilingual catalogue — permanent collection
Cultural ministries of France, New Zealand, Canada, Hungary, Norway, Netherlands (Multi-national) — Government cooperative-project archives
Selected Press & Media
Chinese Cultural Tourism Headlines · Yunnan Net · Chuncheng Evening News (China) — “Coverage of the ChuangTzu Project and Lijiang Studio”
140 Square Meter Gallery (Shanghai, China) — “Mu Yu Ming · 木玉明”, Text by Liu Ying Mei
Libération (France) — “À Binic, travers de porcs à la chinoise. Mu Yuming expose un « Himalaya de lisier » dans un centre culturel breton”, by Edouard Launet
Chinesenewart.com (International online directory) — “Featured artist profile · Mu Yuming”
Contact
muyuming.com
WeChat — 老木参游