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
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
Tea Dana — Lashihai, Lijiang & Chiang Mai
OUR CHILDREN — Chiang Mai, Thailand
My Flesh — Ongoing
Five Hundred Arhats — Global — online premiere
Searching for a Soulmate — China · Bao Mei (包梅)
My Second Face — Kunming, Yunnan, China
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 — Ongoing — 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
Himalaya — Multiple locations, France · Official collaboration with the French Government
20 Days Project — Kunming — Oslo — Amsterdam — Brittany, France
Lijiang Studio — Lijiang, Yunnan, China · Co-founded with Jay Brown (American curator)
Jiang Hu — Kunming & Lijiang, Yunnan, China
Killing — Oslo, Norway — Asia Tour
Identity — S Ar era Public Art Space, Oslo, Norway
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
Classic of Mountains and Seas · Heart Sutra — Jingdezhen, Jiangxi
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
Yutian Pit Firing — Yutian Lake, Jingdezhen
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 — official artist-in-residence archive (Mu Yuming / Farmer Mu)
Norwegian Royal Academy of Fine Arts — alumni archive, experimental film Killing
IberLibro international art book platform — Lijiang China Studio/Residence (2004)
23rd Hungary MEDIAWAVE Festival — on-site works collected
Cultural departments of France, New Zealand, Canada, Hungary, Norway, Netherlands — cooperative project archives
Selected Press & Media
2005Libération (France) — "A Binic, travers de porcs à la chinoise. Mu Yuming expose un 'Himalaya de lisier' dans un centre culturel breton," by Edouard Launet
中国文旅头条 — ChuangTzu Project and Lijiang Studio
云南网 (Yunnan Net) — ChuangTzu Project
春城晚报 (Chuncheng Evening News) — ChuangTzu Project
Contact
muyuming.com
WeChat: 老木参游