Shen Xin creates moving image installations and performances that imagine new ways of belonging and connection between individuals and nation-states. Their practice centers on cultivating affirmative spaces that welcome multiple voices, perspectives, and identities—embracing the complexity of polyphonic narratives.

Their recent work, Brine Lake (A New Body), premiered at the 13th Gwangju Biennale: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning (2021) and had its North American debut in Shen’s first U.S. museum solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center the same year.

Solo presentations of Shen’s exhibitions, performances, and screenings include the Swiss Institute, New York (2022); Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2019); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2019); MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai (2019); ICA London (2018); Serpentine Galleries, London (2017); and Surplus Space, Wuhan (2016).

Their group exhibitions include Language is a River (MUMA, Melbourne, 2021); An Impulse to Turn (Inside Out Museum, Beijing, 2020); Sigg Prize (M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2019); Afterimage (Lisson Gallery, London, 2019); and Songs for Sabotage (New Museum Triennial, New York, 2018).

Shen Xin received the BALTIC Artists’ Award (2017) and completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2018–2019). They currently live and work on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the land of the Dakhóta Oyáte, as well as in London, UK.