House of Egorn

b. 1984 in Xi’an, Shaanxi, China; lives and works in Berlin and Shanghai.

Active online as a media artist, blogger, activist and programmer, aaajiao is the virtual persona of Xu Wenkai. Born in 1984 in one of China’s oldest cities, Xi’an, aaajiao’s art and works are marked by strong dystopian Orwellian awareness and modern, urban literati spirits. Many of his works speak to new thinkings, controversies and phenomenon around the Internet, with specific projects focusing on the processing of data, the blogsphere and China’s Great Fire Wall. His most recent projects have extended his practice to wider disciplines - including architecture, topography, and design - capturing the reality of the younger generations inhabiting a parallel reality on social media.

EXHIBITIONS

2019
Chinese Whispers - Neue Kunst aus der Sigg Collection, Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK),Vienna, Austria (group)


2018
bot, House of Egorn, Berlin (solo)
Gluttony, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu (solo)
Bad Code, Power Station of Art, Shanghai (group)
GLOBAL CONTROL AND CENSORSHIP, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen, Hungary; The National Library of Latvia, Riga, Latvia; The National Library of Technology, Prag, Czech Republic (group, travelling exhibition)
Brilliant City (Reprise), David Zwirner, Hong Kong (group)
Take Me (I'm yours), Villa Medici, Rome, Italy (group)
A World in a Grain of Sand: Mapping Shapes and Sites for Social Geometries - An Exhibition Drawn from the Fosun Foundation Collection, Atlantis Sanya (group)
Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People, and Practices, The Museum of Chinese in America, New York (group)
Nine Journeys Through Time, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy (group)
Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston (group)


2017
unREAL, Haus der elektronischen Künste, Basel, Switzerland Body Media II, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China (group)
All happens after sunset, MOCA Pavilion, Shanghai, China (group)
Create Spaces, A4 Art Museum, Luxelakes Arts Exhibition Centre, Chengdu, China (group)


2016
Temporal Turn: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas, USA Take (group)
Me (I’m Yours), curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jens Ho mann and Kelly Taxter, Jewish Museum, New York, USA (group)
Time Based / Non-places — 3rd Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale, OCT-Loft, Shenzhen, China (group)
Hack Space, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Amira Gad, chi K11 art museum, Shanghai, China (group)
Overpop, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China (group)
Inner Universe, Gallery Yang, Beijing, China (group)
Banana Banana, JNBY Foundation, Beijing, China (group)
Void - Special Project by aaajiao & Miao Ying, Modern of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China(group)
Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China Zero for Conduct, Tabula Rasa Gallery, Beijing, China (group)
Hack Space, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Amira Gad, K11 Art Foundation Pop-up Space, Hong Kong, China (group)
The Mud of Compound Experience, Mother ́s Tankstation & Leo Xu Projects, Hong Kong, China (group)
Heavy Artillery, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia (group)
ORG.A, ReformerArt, Shanghai, China (solo)
aaajiao: Remnants of an Electronic Past, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, UK (solo)
aaajiao: Remnants of an Electronic Past, OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal Xi’an, Xi’an, China (solo)

2015
aaajiao: Untitled, Gallery Yang, Beijing, China, Alias: aaajiao, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai, China (solo)


2014
The Screen Generation@9m2 Museum, 9m2 Museum (Goethe Open Space), Shanghai, China (solo)


2013
The Screen Generation, chi K11 art museum, Shanghai, China (solo)
The Screen Generation – Prequel, C-Space, Beijing, China 2011 Placebo, Other Gallery, Shanghai, China (solo)


2010
Cybernetics, V Arts Centre, Shanghai, China (solo)


AWARDS AND PRIZES

2014
Jury Prize, Art Sanya Awards
Nominated for the first edition of OCAT- Pierre Huber Art Prize