Isaac Chong Wai

Isaac Chong Wai’s (b.1990; works in Berlin and Hong Kong) artistic practice integrates conceptual, political, and performative elements through an interdisciplinary approach, engaging with the urgency of societal changes and global phenomena. Chong transforms the emotions, tensions, and memories from human interactions into performative materiality and immersive experiences.

In his broad spectrum of works, the artist delves into power relations by exploring both the physical and theoretical boundaries of the body. Navigating the struggles between the individual and the collective, he examines the vulnerability of the body and the inherent violence within social systems and historical traumas. His subtle, poetic, yet critical works infiltrate the systems of meaning, inviting viewers to reexamine their perceptions of power, violence, and fragility.

Chong graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University with a BA in Visual Arts and Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar, Germany, with a MFA in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies. His selected solo exhibitions include: Isaac Chong Wai: Breath by Breath, (Blindspot Gallery, Liste Art Fair Basel, 2023)
Isaac Chong Wai in dialogue with Joseph Beuys: The End of Growth (Museum Schloss Moyland, Moyland, 2023), Post-Mythical Accidents, (Una Boccata d'Arte, Fondazione Elpis and Galleria Continua, Castiglione di Sicily, 2022)
If we keep crying, we will go blind,  (Zilberman Selected, Istanbul 2022), Leaderless (Bilsart, Istanbul, 2021), What is the future in the past? And what is the past in the future? (Zilberman, Berlin, 2019), I Made a Boat in Prison (Zilberman Projects, Istanbul, 2019), Is the World Your Friend? (Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019), An Artistic Archive of Borders (Kunstraum München, Munich, Germany, 2018), Future of the Past – Past of the Future (Goethe Institut Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2018), What is the future in the past? And what is the past in the future? (Bauhaus Museum, Weimar, Germany, 2016). 

His selected group exhibitions include: 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, (Associação Cultural Videobrasil and Sesc, Brazil, 2023), The Nationalgalerie: The Collection of the 21st Century (Hamburger Bahnhof–Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart Museum, Berlin, 2023), If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag. Art and Internationalism Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall (Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, Berlin, 2023), The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time.,(Brücke-Museum and Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, 2023), Practice Till We Meet (esea contemporary, Manchester, 2023), Bodily Reaction: Vitalizing the Bare Life, (Taikang Space, Beijing, 2023), Spheres of Interest and Chains of Interest (ifa-Galerie, Berlin, 2022), Forming Communities: Berliner Wege”(Kindl Museum, Berlin, 2022), Identity Not Proven, New Acquisitions for the Federal Art Collection (Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn, Germany, 2022), Studio Bosphorus, 10th Anniversary of Kulturakademie Tarabya (Kunstraum Kreuzberg/ Bethanien, Berlin, Germany, 2021), Looking for Another Family (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2020), HUMAN CAPITAL (Innsbruck Biennial, Innsbruck, 2020), Ordinary Heroes: Made in Hong Kong (IFFR, Rotterdam, 2020), Living Sound—Expanding the extramusical (Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei, Taiwan, 2019), The Racing Will Continue, The Dancing Will Stay (Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China, 2019), M+ Live Art Audience As Performer (M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2018), The D-Tale: Video Art from the Pearl River Delta (Times Art Center, Berlin, Germany, 2018), KOTODAMA (Para Site, Hong Kong, 2018), Forecast Forum (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany, 2017), Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, A Time for Dreams (National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) and Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia, 2014).


> CV
> EXHIBITIONS
  - Instances of Erasure
  - 2019
  - Settling into the Abyss
  - If we keep crying, we will go blind
  - By Proxy
  - Recurrence 2
  - Unlock
  - Recurrence
  - I Made a Boat in Prison-A Journey to the Shore
  - What is the future in the past? And what is the past in the future?