A Chinese Artist Survival Guide

Learn from Tongyu Toni Zhao how to survive as an artist in China today outside the mainstream. Toni’s practice moves fluidly across galleries, museums, hotels, shopping malls, and streets. Join her for a “walk” that opens a window into another side of the Chinese art scene, one that unfolds not only within formal institutions and markets, but within everyday life.

In this immersive experience, participants will "move" through the city alongside the artist, encountering spaces that echo the conditions of her practice: transient, layered, and often overlooked. Rather than focusing solely on exhibition venues, the "walk" invites attention to the subtle traces of artistic intervention embedded in urban environments, commercial spaces, in-between sites, and the mundane infrastructures that shape daily experience. Through Toni’s perspective, the city becomes a living archive of gestures, materials, and encounters that blur the boundaries between art and life. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how contemporary Chinese artists negotiate visibility, craftsmanship, and space within rapidly shifting social and urban contexts.

Selected Works by Toni Tongyu Zhao

Toni Tongyu Zhao (b. 1993. Hubei, China) currently lives and works in Shanghai. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. Her practice persistently examines the interplay between material traces and individual experience, employing multimedia approaches to explore the uncanny and absurdities embedded in the mundane.

Selected exhibitions: 33ml offspace (Shanghai, 2026); The Fillet Space (London, 2025); Hong Art Museum (Suzhou, 2023); East Gallery (Nanjing, 2023); Liu-Haisu Art Museum (Shanghai, 2022); Afternoon Projects Gallery (Vancouver, 2021); The Shouter (Shanghai, 2020); Banyan Commune Space at Guangdong Times Museum (Guangzhou, 2018); Centre A Gallery (Vancouver, 2016). Artist residencies: Fei-Cai Residency (Ningde, 2025); Duke Kunshan University & Goethe-Institut (Shanghai, 2023); Railing Projects Residency (Shanghai, 2021); Banyan Commune Residency (Guangzhou, 2018). Toni has participated in various talks and workshops including: Space M (Shanghai); The Po Spring Gathering (Ningbo); Ming Contemporary Art Museum (Shanghai); Big Fish Community Building (Shanghai); Duke Kunshan University & Goethe-Institut China (Shanghai); OCAT Youth Hub (Shenzhen); TOP Art Space (Guangzhou).

Morning Asia is a program series by the Heritage Museum of Asian Art that introduces artist residency programs across Asia to Chicago audiences. Through artist talks and online presentations by residency organizations, Morning Asia highlights how artists live, work, research, and create within international residency contexts. The series fosters cross-cultural exchange, supports global artistic networks, and lays the groundwork for future artist exchange opportunities between Asia and Chicago.