Chen Zhen Chinese-French, b. 1955
Chen Zhen (1955–2000) was a Shanghai-born transcultural artist who lived and worked in Paris. Raised in a French-speaking family of medical doctors during the Cultural Revolution, Chen studied stage design at the Shanghai Theatre Academy before relocating to France in 1986 to pursue advanced studies at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques. Diagnosed at age 25 with an incurable blood disease, his acute awareness of mortality and temporal scarcity became the driving force behind his artistic philosophy.
Abandoning painting in favor of site-specific installation art, Chen pioneered the concept of "Transexperience"—a methodology exploring the complex friction between Eastern philosophy, Western consumerism, and human nature. In his final years, he integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine principles into his practice, conceiving art as a diagnostic instrument for bodily and societal healing. His monumental masterpieces—such as Joffre Yard (1995), Daily Incantations (1996), and Fifty Strokes Each (1998)—gained immediate international acclaim, leading to multiple presentations at the Venice Biennale (1999, 2007, 2009), Lyon Biennial, and Gwangju Biennale. Since his passing, his legacy has been honored through landmark retrospectives at premier institutions, including the Serpentine Galleries, Palais de Tokyo, MoMA PS1, Rockbund Art Museum, and Pirelli HangarBicocca.
