Hu Xiaoyuan: A Leading Contemporary Chinese Artist and M+ Sigg Prize Finalist Born in 1977 in Harbin, China, Hu Xiaoyuan graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2002 and is currently based in Beijing. Her diverse practice spans installation, video, painting, and photography. She was the first Chinese female artist to participate in the Documenta exhibition in Kassel, Germany, and was a finalist for the inaugural M+ Sigg Prize in 2019. Hu’s works emerge from a deeply personal and philosophical exploration of human nature. She merges traces of everyday and organic materials with traditional artistic media, sensitively investigating the inherent contradictions within materials. Through installation, video, sculpture, and painting, she constructs a distinct aesthetic detached from conventional experience, addressing complex themes of time, space, reality, and migration. Recent major exhibitions include Veering (Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, 2025), Paths in the Sand (West Bund Museum, Shanghai, 2022), M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation (M+, Hong Kong, 2021-2023), UPHEAVAL (Kunsthalle Mannheim, 2020), and The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019). Her works have been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm, Kunsthaus Graz in Austria, the Tampa Museum of Art in the U.S., and many other international institutions. Hu’s work is also held in major public collections, including M+ (Hong Kong), the Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai), the Hammer Museum (U.S.), and the Power Station of Art (Shanghai).