Artist Statement

I am an interdisciplinary artist with an international background in live performance, opera, collaborative large-scale multi-arts productions, and more recently, gallery installations. My art practice includes and combines musical composition, voice, live performance, electronic sound design, video (including chroma key), hand-built ceramics, pastel drawing and screen printing. My projects are inspired and motivated by focused studies of literature, non-fiction, historical and and current events, examining topics such as cultural migration, altruism, evolutionary science, dissociative behavior, myths, and religious fundamentalism.

I frequently collaborate with visual and performing artists on my own works, as well as theirs. My long-term interests lie in exploring physically dynamic approaches to digital software, opening conceptual portals into what I call “warm technology”. I approach technology as a tangible, hands-on practice, aiming to enhance and emphasize, rather than obscure, the human condition in the digital age. I am also a visiting artist, professor and educator, lecturing on topics such as the theory of Hauntology, Cross-Cultural Perspectives, multi-art Installation and interdisciplinary art practice.

Awards include multiple CEC ArtsLink Project Grants, Greenwall Foundation grants, Arts International Festival Fund grants and various Meet The Composer awards, as well as grants from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Jerome Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund, Rockefeller NY State Music Fund, NYSCA Electronic Media and Film, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and the Sari Dienes Foundation. I hold an MFA in Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice from The City College of New York.

3 views from Chen Zhen: Drum As Doorway Between Worlds