Since 2018, Ran Zhang has developed her eye floater motifs as an exploration of incremental change. She created the first generation by observing her own eye floaters through a microscope, noting how they merged with her subjects and caused distortion. Over time, each floater evolved into new configurations, adapting to its environment. These floaters are both biological debris and artistic material; their worm-like distortions become collaborators, merging scientific observation with bodily precarity. Their shifting size, thickness, and traits reflect a Darwinian pragmatism, adapting to the evolving ecosystem of her practice.
Ran Zhang, born 1981, Tianjin, China, lives and works in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Berlin, Germany. She was selected twice for the artist residency program at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam from 2011 to 2013. In 2008, Zhang received the Gold and Bronze Prizes from the Danfoss Art Award. In 2014, she was awarded the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst Ontwikkelbudget and the Mondriaan Fonds Werkbijdrage Jong Talent.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Eventsight, CLC Gallery, Beijing (2026); Dark Romance, Plan B, Berlin (2025); Jiggly Motions, FRAC Occitanie Montpellier (2022); Enantiomers and traces, Galeria Plan B, Berlin (2021); Resolution of Traits, L’ahah, Paris (2021); Natritine Gaze 2, M4 Gastatelier, Amsterdam (2016).
Recent group exhibitions include: Weirder, Taller, Uglier, Louder – Feral Possible, Bärenzwinger, Berlin, (2026); I Know This Script By Heart, transmediale, Berlin (2026); Am Seegarten, Kirchmöser, Brandeburg (2023); Atlas of Affinities: Vol. 2, Scores for Movement, HUA International, Berlin (2023); Aliens are temporary – eine mutierende Erzählung, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin (2022); Convidados, Galería Vilaseco, A Coruña (2022); WIE ES EUCH GEFÄLLT UND WAS WIR SIND, Knust Kunz, Munich (2021); Werethings, Galeria Plan B, Berlin (2019); Home Sequence, Amsterdam (2019); The Hazenstraat Biennale, Galerie Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam (2018); I Ikigai, Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam (2017); My Respects to Madame Bernard, Momart, Amsterdam (2015); Double Vision-Culture China, Hexiangning Museum, Shengzhen (2014).
Courtesy Galeria Plan B
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