Azure Zhang B.1990, China
Artist, Technical Curator, Indie Game Developer, Freelance Writer, Interpreter
Azure Zhang is an artist, technical curator, indie game developer, freelance writer and interpreter, currently pursuing a Ph.D. at HKUST-GZ. She holds master’s degrees from the Royal College of Art and University College London. Working across computer science and material-based practices, her research is situated at the intersection of art, technology and scientific inquiry. Her current work explores two interconnected trajectories: the anthropomorphic assumptions embedded in both scientific research and artistic practice – particularly in relation to geological contexts – and the emerging challenges of collecting and preserving Chinese digital art within global institutional frameworks. Her research addresses the technical conditions of digital media while also examining how artists shaped by Chinese socio-technical environments navigate issues of identity, access and validation in the international art world. Azure has exhibited internationally, including IEEEVR XR Gallery 2026 (Korea), Museu Nacional da República (Brazil), Munich Jewellery Week, the Wellcome Collection (London) and venues across Shanghai such as M50 Art Zone, K11 and the Bund. She is a featured speaker in the Leonardo LASER Talk series, and her master’s thesis was invited for presentation at a symposium at FIT New York.
As a technical curator, Azure has been well known for her virtual online exhibition curatorial practice – Earth Core Gazing. It was invited by several big group exhibitions in China and Italy in 2022.
EDUCATION
2024.09 -2027 HKUST-GZ, PhD Student Computational Media and Arts2015.09 – 2017.07 Royal College of Art, MA Jewellery and Metal Research
2012.09 – 2013.09 University College London, MSc Human Computer Interaction with Ergonomics
Exhibitions & Projects
2025.09 Thermal Pareidolia, Museu Nacional Da República, Brazil
2024.12 Co-Curator of Sixth Amid Mountains and Seas Art Festival, China
2022.12 BI-CITY BIENNALE OF URBANISM\ARCHITECTURE, “EARTH CORE GAZING”, ShenZhen, China
2022.04 Curatorial Practice “EARTH CORE GAZING 1.0″，virtual exhibition
2021.12 SOLO, “UNFOLD YOUR BODY 2.0”609 SPACE, Shanghai, China
2021.04 SOLO, “UNFOLD YOUR BODY 1.0”NEOBRIDGE Art Hotel, Shanghai
2019.03-05 3cm Museum，K11 chi Art Space, China
2018.10 Contemporary Objects, Spectrum Art Space M50 Art Zone, Shanghai
2018.03 Nothing to Declare, Amber Trip, Vilnius, Lithuania
2018.03 Perfect Strangers, Munich Jewellery Week 2018
2017.11 Not Only Decoration Vienna Jewellery Days, Alja & friends, Vienna, Austria
2017.04-06 Holownia exhibition, Gallery of Art, Legnica, Poland
2017.06 ShowRCA2017, RCA Battersea Campus, London
2016.03 Installation Charmed So Not Harmed, Wellcome Collection reading room, London
Work Experience
2020.06-Now Artist, Curatorial Practitioner, Brand AZURE Q ZHANG founder
2023.05- 10 Virtual Online Exhibition for a social engagement art project
This is a commissioned project by the initiator who curated this photography group exhibition with the remarks from internationally known artist Xu Bing and curator Feng Boyi.
2023.06 – 07 Guest Lecturer – summer school lecturer in China Academy of Art
2018.03-Now Lecturer – giving lectures, workshops in multiple universities, art and culture related institutes, sharing interactive art, jewellery art and personal experience as artist and curator.
2022.04-Now FANPUCC Virtual Online Exhibition – EARTHCORE GAZING I
Curator, Space design and technical “construction”.
First stop- earth core, it physically exists actually, but with no direct visual till now;Built with UNITY, and published online, allowing visitors to interact.
Version 1.0 and 2.0; are already launched and 2.0 was invited to Shenzhen Hongkong Biennale, Shanghai Design Week, Venice Biennale Metaverse, etc.
2021.05 – 08 New brand incubation Consultant
Multi-product lines development, from 0 to 1 phase.Collaborate with international design team for branding;
Creative input including experience design both for product and space.
2020.02 Interpretation of “THE BASES OF DESIGN” by WALTER CRANE (《设计基础》，100k words)
2018.03-Now Freelance Writer and Interpreter – FROOTS GALLERY, etc
2016.10 AcrossRCA workshop (Jewellery in Performance) leader, RCA, London
Initiate the workshop exploring how the application of video in presenting the performativity of jewellery or objects while they are interacting with body or just by themselves.Personal website link https://azurezhang.com/portfolio/acrossrca-2016/
Publication/Symposium/Conference/Seminar
2026.03 IEEEVR XR Gallery, Daegu, Korea proceeding
2025.09 #24.ART EMMEIO#17 Encontro Arte e Tecnologia, Brazil
2025.09 Seminar invited by LabFront, UEMG, Brazil
2025.09 Leonardo Laser Talk at University of São Paulo, Brazil
2025.05 JCCA Special Edition on Chinese Contemporary Art Collection, Taikang Art Museum Beijing, external event of Beijing Dangdai Art Fair, hosted by CCVA director and JCCA chief Editor Professor JIANG Jiehong, guest editor M+ Sigg Collection Curator Dr. WU Mo, IVAE co-founder Sebastian Liang
2018.05 “ALGORITHMS AND HANDS” accepted by International Symposium “Digital Meets Handmade: Jewelry in the 21st Centrury”, by The Fashion Institute of Technology, NY, with collaboration of Politecnico di Milano.