Qiong Zhang

Qiong Zhang is a poet and artist-researcher based in Helsinki, Finland. Currently a doctoral candidate at the Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki, her research project explores how national identity might be constructed through individual and collective fantasies and imagination. She investigates the entanglement of surveillance, witchcraft, social imaginary, and technological ghosts in everyday lives through performative practices and writing.

Born and raised in a multi-ethnic area on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in Gansu, China, Zhang's artistic practice intertwines performative gestures and choreographed images to reveal hidden political issues, dismantling ubiquitous surveillance and patriarchal narratives in various socio-cultural contexts.

Zhang initiated the performance artist collective Hijack打劫 in Shanghai (2016) and GA Physical Theatre in Dali (2015). She holds an MA in Performance Research from the University of Bristol (2014) and a BA in Chinese Literature from Peking University (2010). After receiving the Weiming Poetry Prize, one of the highest awards for young contemporary Chinese poets, in 2010, along with other prestigious awards in the Chinese contemporary poetry world, Zhang shifted her focus to performance art for greater challenge.



EDUCATION 

2021-   Doctoral studies of Artistic Research in Performing Arts,
University of Arts Helsinki, Finland

2014     MA in Performance Research,
University of Bristol, UK

2010     BA in Chinese Literature,
Peking University, Beijing, China


AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS

2024    Finnish Cultural Foundation Grant, Finland
2023    Tutke Production Grant, Theatre Academy, Uniarts Helsinki, Finland
2019    Performing Arts in the Digital Age Fellowship, Goethe-Institut Korea
2010    Weiming Poetry Prize, Peking University, China
2009   Qingxiang Literature Prize, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
2009   Sakura Poetry Competition Prize, Wuhan University, China
2009   Academic Committee Scholarship, Peking University, China