Mario Merz Prize

He Xiangyu

He Xiangyu (China 1986) lives and works in Berlin and Beijing.

From the Cola Project, 2009-2011, the Lemon Project, 2014-2019 to the ongoing Palate Project since 2012, He Xiangyu’s conceptual practice manifests in multi-year projects that span sculpture, drawing, installation, video, feature-length documentary, and publication. Emerging as part of a generation of artists who have experienced the post-socialist state of China, He’s work looks to shift the perception of cultural signifiers through an examination and manipulation of a diversity of materials. Divergent in aesthetic and forms, He’s projects aim to investigate personal, social, and political themes, addressing the institutionalized status of contemporary art, the archeological aspect of the everyday and various post-human conditions.
He Xiangyu lives and works in Beijing and Berlin. He’s recent solo exhibitions include: “Soft Dilemma”, Andrew Kreps Gallery, 2021; “Hard Palate”, White Space Beijing, Beijing, 2020;“Who Are Interested in Us”, SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo, 2019; “Evidence”, White Cube, London, 2018, and “New Directions: He Xiangyu”, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2015.