Ni Haifeng was born in 1964 in Zhoushan, China. In 1986, he graduated from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, now the China Academy of Art. He currently lives and works between Amsterdam and Beijing.
Read MoreNi Haifeng’s practice draws from an interest in cultural systems of exchange, return, language and production. Through photography, video and installation he explores the simultaneous creation and obliteration of meaning while drawing attention to the cyclical movements of people, products and goods that are often reflective of patterns of colonialism and globalization.
After graduating from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art in 1986, Ni joined RED 70%, BLACK 25%, WHITE 5%, a group of artists working with conceptual art and nonsense text. These early works focused on acts of writing, re-appropriations and deconstructed forms of language. Since the mid 1990s, after emigrating to Europe, his work has acquired additional layers referring to his new identity as a Chinese immigrant, and to issues of (post)colonialism and 'otherness'. Ni created a series of installations that featured objects and tableaux suspended from knotted ropes. Precariousness and instability are dominant factors in these works, as is the persistent sense of weight, balance and feeling of danger elicited in the viewer. In recent years, overt and covert references to manufacturing and production have formed recurring themes within Ni’s artistic practice.
Ni Haifeng’s work has been exhibited throughout Asia and Europe in selected solo exhibitions including Project for Ignatius (2012), St. Ignatius Gymnasium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Public work); Vive la Difference (2010), Gallery Lumen Travo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Of the Departure and the Arrival (2009), Teemtower, Guangzhou; Para-Production (2008), Joyart, Beijing; The Return of the Shreds (in collaboration with Kitty Zijlmans), Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Scheltema, Leiden; Ni Haifeng. Xeno-Writings (2004), Museum Het Domein, Sittard. Selected group shows include Dai Hanzi: 5000 artists (2014), Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Pays-Bas; Manifesta 9 – The Deep of the Modern (2012), Waterscai, Genk, Belgium; Silent Writings (2009), Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris; Begegnung mit den Anderen (1992), K18, Kassel. His works have been collected by the M+, West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, China; Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou, China; Museum Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Museum De Lakenhal in Lakenhal, The Netherland; Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia and other public collections.
