Cang Xin

Cang Xin (born 1967) is an artist based in Beijing working in performance art and photography.
Cang Xin was born in Heilongjiang Province, China.

He holds the belief that all things have spirit — both animate and inanimate objects — and approaches his work as a means to promote harmonious communication with nature. His works have included bathing with lizards, adorning the clothing of strangers, and prostrating himself on icy glaciers: each act represents a ritual of becoming the other. Cang xin takes the dynamic energy found in nature (Gold, Water, Wood, Fire, and Soil) and combines it with humanist and universal values to create his work. He bases this off of hunters, the original combination of humans and nature. Every use of material is a metaphorCang Xin Started with a different type of art, music. While in Music School he gained an interest in art but never got any formal training in art. To Cang Xin he believes art is more of a lifestyle than techniques. Most of his works are performance art. He was made famous by his Communication piece, a performance series where he licked various objects to become closer to them. These objects varied from bugs to posters to buildings and roads to the Great Wall of China. In Another Series he would swap closes with strangers. This Exhibition was called Existence in Translation and These exhibitions ties in with his shamanic beliefs that all life forms are linked by the endless transmigration of souls.

In 1997, he did Program for the patient: Auto-write, a solo performance art show in Beijing China. In 1996, he did a solo performance art show in Beijing China about communication. In 1994, he had a solo performance art show called Virus: Trample the Face in Beijing China. In 1993, he performed his series of his Virus performance art. He participated in exhibitions in Spain with the Espace Ample Gallery. 2008: Mythology at the Chai Wan annex, 10 Chancery Lance Gallery, Hong Kong. "Hanging in Sky Drifting on Surface", Linda Gallery contemporary art, Beijing China. 2006: Cang Xin: Existence in Translation 10, Chancery Lane Gallery, Beijing China. 3rd annual International Gallery Exposition of china, Hong Kong, 10 Chancery Lane. International Art Expo Bologna, Italy.

2005: "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China", Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA. "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China", the David and Alfred Smart Museum, Chicago, USA. "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China", Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, USA.

2004: Thinking hands, performance art in the 798 district, Beijing China. "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China" International Center of photography, New York, USA. Photography and performance art from china-Performing the Body, Alexander Ochs Galleries Berlin, Beijing China, Germany. Contemporary Chinese Photography, visual Gallery Photkina, koln, Germany. 2004 International Photography Festival in Pingyao, China. Dislocation re-launce, Lee, Ka-sing gallery, Toronto, Canada. Relaunch of Dislocation, Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong. Spellbound Aura: Chinese Contemporary Photograph, Museum of Contemporary Art,Taipei, Taiwan.

2003: A Strange Heaven - Photo, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France. A Strange Heaven - Contemporary Chinese Photography, Galerie Rudolfinum, Praha, Tchek Rep. Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China. The World May Be (Fantastic), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia.

2002: The First Guangzhou Triennale, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, China. Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China. New Photography from China, CourtYard Gallery, Beijing, China. N Identity, Nanjing, China.Biennale of Sydney: The World May be Fantastic, Sydney, Australia. Mask vs Face, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China.

2001: August Group Exhibition CourtYard Gallery, Beijing, China. Contemporary Chinese Photography, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France. Nice Chinese Photography Festival, Nice, France. Dialogue, Mantova, Italy. Chinese Contemporary Performance Photography Exhibition, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong. Dialogue - Others, Chiesa Santa Teresa dei Baschi, Bari, Italy. Knowledge is Power, Beijing, China. Uprising, Singapore ; Kuala Lumpur ; Taiwan ; China ; Macau. Annual Exhibition of Chinese Photography, Shandong, China. Charming China, Bangkok, Thailand. The 8th International Performance Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan. Hot Pot: Chinese Contemporary Art, Norway. Virtual Future, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, China. Hong Kong Chinese Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong.

2000: Every attitude, Kunming, China. Fuck Off, Shanghai, China. Portraits, Figures, Couples and Groups- from the MCAF collection, BizArt, Shanghai, China. Pictures from the Dragon's Garden - Aarhus Festival 2000, Denmark. Charming China - A Conceptual Image Show Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China. Unusual & Usual - Contemporary Art Exhibition Yuangong Art Museum,Shanghai, China. Xieyang Island Performance Art Festival, Guangxi, China. Image and Net Art Exhibition, Changchun, China. Home? Contemporary Art Project, Shanghai, China. Man and Animals performance exhibition, Beijing, China. International Contemporary Art Interflow Exhibition, Nanjing, China. Photographs of Four Artists, London, UK. International Performance Art Festival, Beijing, China. Asian Art Festival: Performance and Photography Exhibition, Paris, France. Documentation of Chinese Avant-Garde Art in the 90's, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan. China's Human Landscapes, Land Art Exhibition, Guilin, China.

1999: The Traditional Visual Image, Fine Art Academy of Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.

1998: 0431 Video and Computer Art, Changchun, China. Unusual Way of Writing, Art Gallery of the Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China. Out of Control, Beijing Design Museum, China. Modern Photography of Four Artist, Q Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.

1997: Program for the Patient: Auto-writing, Performance, Beijing, China.

1996: Cage, Installation and Performance, Beijing, China.

1995: Original Sound - Ten artists' performances, Dong Bianmen, Beijing, China. To Add a Meter to an Anonymous Mountain, Performance, Beijing, China.

1994: Virus Series: Trample the Face, East Village, Beijing, China. Asia Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Osaka, Japan. Post Eleven, Zhaoyao Gallery, Beijing, China.

1993: Virus Series: No.1, Performance, Beijing, China.

He is represented by Xin Dong Cheng in Beijing, by galerie Paris-Beijing in Paris and 10 Chancery Lane in Hong Kong.

Xin, Cang. "Beijing's 798 Art District | ArtZineChina.com". Retrieved 23 April 2012.