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Xiaowen Zhu (b. Shanghai) is a Manchester- and Berlin-based institutional leader, curator, artist, and author. Named by Apollo magazine as a 40 Under 40 Asia Pacific Thinker, she is recognised as a changemaker in the cultural sector. Since assuming leadership at esea contemporary, Zhu has led a pivotal transformation grounded in community engagement and cross-cultural dialogue, strengthening the organisation’s partnerships and repositioning it as a leading platform for art practices informed by East and Southeast Asian perspectives in the UK and internationally. She is a member of the British Council’s Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group.
Under Zhu’s direction, esea contemporary has developed a dynamic, multifaceted programme encompassing exhibitions, residencies, performances, talks, workshops, digital commissions, and long-term community initiatives. Based in Manchester and increasingly international in outlook, the organisation has expanded its reach through collaborations and project-based support from partners including Liverpool Biennial, ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Fondazione Torino Musei, the Bagri Foundation, Henry Moore Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, and The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global. Academic partners include the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Salford.
Zhu has worked internationally in Shanghai, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin as a director, author, and lecturer. She previously served as Assistant Director at Times Art Center Berlin, the first overseas parallel institution established by the Guangdong Times Museum. She has organised and conceived numerous contemporary art exhibitions, collaborating closely with established and emerging artists from around the world.
Zhu is the author of the artist book Oriental Silk (Hatje Cantz, 2020) and the short story collection Encounters (Shanghai Educational Publishing House, 2022). Her writing, interviews, and reviews have appeared in Art Review, e-flux, Kaleidoscope, Asian Review of Books, Crown Magazine, Arts of the Working Class, It’s Nice That, and elsewhere. She has delivered lectures and talks at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Goldsmiths, University of London, Heidelberg University, Lund University, University of Westminster, Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, Syracuse University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Kyoto City University of the Arts, Kyushu University, among others.
Recent
Marcos Kueh: Smooth Sailing
25 October 2025–11 January 2026
esea contemporary is pleased to present ‘Smooth Sailing, 一路順風', the first institutional solo exhibition by Marcos Kueh—a Netherlands-based artist whose richly layered textile works are gaining increasing recognition on the international stage. This exhibition marks a significant evolution in Kueh’s practice, introducing new materials and processes while deepening his ongoing exploration of cross-cultural histories, diasporic identity, and collective memory.
Slavs and Tatars: The Contest of the Fruits
14 June–14 September 2025
esea contemporary is pleased to present The Contest of the Fruits, the first UK institutional solo exhibition by the internationally acclaimed art collective Slavs and Tatars. Running from 14 June to 14 September 2025, the exhibition is an exploration of language, politics, religion, and humour through the lens of a 19th-century Uighur poem, reimagined as a vibrant animated film and rap battle.
Shadow and Void: Buddha¹⁰
January 18–April 20, 2025
esea contemporary and MAO (Museum of Asian Art), Turin, are pleased to present ‘Shadow and Void: Buddha10’, an innovative collaboration between the UK’s only non-profit gallery dedicated to East and Southeast Asian contemporary art and one of Europe’s foremost institutional collections of Asian art. Curated by Xiaowen Zhu, Director of esea contemporary, and Davide Quadrio, Director of MAO, this exhibition intertwines scientific studies, contemporary art, and spirituality by showcasing recently restored Buddhist sculptures from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries CE, on loan from MAO, alongside contemporary works by Shigeru Ishihara, Lee Mingwei, LuYang, Sun Xun, Sinta Tantra, Wu Chi-Tsung, and Zheng Bo, including three new commissions created specifically for ‘Buddha10’.
Amplifying Women's Voices: Leadership, Mentorship, and Global-Majority Perspectives in Contemporary Art
16 November 2024, 15:15–16:30
esea contemporary and Manchester Contemporary are pleased to present Amplifying Women's Voices: Leadership, Mentorship, and Global-Majority Perspectives in Contemporary Art, an insightful panel discussion celebrating the vital contributions of women in the contemporary art world at this year's Manchester Contemporary Art Fair.
Chaired by esea contemporary Director Xiaowen Zhu, the event features Petra van den Houten, Director of Development, Marketing, and Communications at Liverpool Biennial; Helena Lee, acting deputy editor of Harper’s Bazaar; artist Sinta Tantra; Rehana Mughal, Director of Creative Economy at the British Council; and Thanh Sinden, Director and Head Coach at Hoa Lotus
From (Counter-)Archives to Activation
May–August 2024, convened by Xiaowen Zhu
While archives embody power, the act of counter-archiving aims to destabilise their projected authority. Who holds the right to speak, to be documented, to exist not solely as statistics but as lived human experiences? What influences, supports, and undermines archival strategies and models within our society? What is the meaning of authenticity, subjectivity, and hegemony in this context? Can oral history facilitate intertextuality and counter-archiving to re-evaluate the narratives entrenched within institutional structures?
Jane Jin Kaisen: Halmang
January 20–April 21, 2024
esea contemporary presents the inaugural UK solo exhibition of internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker Jane Jin Kaisen, featuring polyphonic moving-image works, archive and reference materials. By weaving together oceanic cosmology and gendered histories, the exhibition is an in-depth inquiry into narratives of subjective and collective loss, resilience, and the formation of alternative communities.
In Conversation: Xiaowen Zhu, Davide Quadrio and You Mi on Cross-cultural Curation in & beyond Asia
Read on
Director's Letter
It is with great pleasure that we relaunch esea contemporary, previously known as the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art
Interweaving 交织
A hybrid of fiction, non-fiction, memoir, archive,
and script that explores what silk meant to Asian migrants
Oriental Silk 乡绸
An English-Chinese bilingual book exploring the complex relationship
between people and object in migrants' worlds (also a documentary film)
1/10
Contact
mail@zhuxiaowen.com
You can also find me on Instagram.
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