Dr. Jiaying Chen is an independent curator and interdisciplinary scholar whose practice explores the intersections of philosophy of technology, feminist new materialism, and transnational contemporary art. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from East China Normal University and has conducted postdoctoral research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Through curatorial practice, she approaches the exhibition as a space where philosophical inquiry, sensory perception, and knowledge production converge.

Her research framework, Somatic Topologies, examines how embodied forms of experience are shaped by digital technologies, social transformations, and shifting structures of power. Working as a translator of contexts, Chen traces the circulation of ideas, artistic practices, and modes of knowledge across East Asian and global contemporary art discourses. She is the recipient of the Hyundai Blue Prize (2019) and has collaborated with international cultural institutions including the Goethe-Institut, Pro Helvetia, and Longlati Foundation. Her scholarly and critical writings have appeared in academic journals, art publications, and edited volumes, including Literature Compass and Springer publications.

She is currently translating Elaine Scarry’s influential work The Body in Pain into Chinese and hosts the podcast Share the Fire. Across curating, writing, and research, Chen investigates how perception, memory, and knowledge are formed through embodied encounters with contemporary technological conditions.

Curatorial & Projects 

Being Alone: Artistic Perspectives from Central and East Asia and Beyond, A project within “Solitude: Loneliness & Freedom”, an initiative of the Goethe-Institutes in East and Central Asia in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer, 2026

Lost at Home: Conversations with Returnee Cultural Practitioners, Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General, 2025

“Tschabalala Self: The Illusion of the Self“, Longlati Foundation, 2025

Curated “Speaking into the Mirror” screening event, Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General, Shanghai, 15 Nov. 2024

Academic support for “Li Weiyi: Three in One”, Fotografiska, Shanghai, Oct. 2024

“Zhang Yibei: Please No Helmet”, Longlati Foundation, 2024

“Wilhelm Sasnal: Under the Asphalt,” Longlati Foundation, 2023

“Let 100 Reading Groups Bloom Season II: Meeting Others Halfway“, Supported by Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council @Special edition Project, Shanghai; By Art Matter, Hangzhou; Chizi Space, Quanzhou; Topred Center for Contemporary Art (TCCA), 2022

“USB Multi-Port connect Exhibition”, MadeIn Gallery & Gallery Func & Qiao Space, Shanghai, 2021

“AI: Love and Artificial Intelligence”, Hyundai Motorstudio, Beijing, 2020  

“Copernicus”, E.M.Bannister Gallery of Rhode Island College, Providence, U.S, 2019         

Shanghai Curators Lab, Shang Academy of Fine Arts, 2018

“Remote Sensing”, Slime Engine Virtual Space, 2018  

“Pixel Park”, Jingan Sculpture Park, Shanghai, 2016

Writing & Research

“Brush as Touch: The Situation, Materiality, and Otherness of Female Imagery“, Canvas as Theatre: 40 Figures in Contemporary Art Painting, Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, Chinese / English, 2026 Jun

Crip-Diasporic Cartographies: Non-Normative Geographies in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictée (1982), Literature Compass: Volume 23, Issue 1, 2026 Jan/Mar

Exhibition review of He An, ArtForum China, 2025 Nov

ARC Interview | Cici Wu: Unreturned Objects, ArtReview China, 2025 Aug

Silence Amidst the Clamor: The Enigmatic He Muqun (Hoo Mojong), The Art-Journal, 2025 Jun

Zhi Wei: Hands-On, Hong Kong Basel Balice Hertling Solo Booth, 2025 Mar

Diasporic Aesthetics: The Path of Deliberation Between Self and History, The Art-Journal, Issue 118, 2024 Sep

Lost at Home: Han Qian’s Memory Medium and Homeland Phantom Pain, The Art-Journal, 2024 Jun

Review of “Shanghai Palimpsest: Restaging the R.A.S. Library”, Art Review China, 2024 Fall Issue

Silence and Noise, Art Review, 2024 Feb

The Sustainability Dilemma of Reproduction, Beijing Evening News, 2024 Apr

Co-writing Chapter “Augmented Galatea for Physical Pygmalion: A Phenomenological Approach to Intimacy in VTubers in the East Asia Region”, in Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence, published by Springer, 2023

Becoming others: Playing the virtual identity and intimacy, Prometeica NºESPECIAL Invierno 2022

Preliminaries to “Digital Intimacy”, co-writing with Prof. Nicola Liberati, BAU 18

Editing artist’s writings, Heichi Magazine, 2020

Co-editing Shanghai Contemporary Art Archival Project after 1998 – 2012, MOUSSE Publishing, 2018

Conference Presentations

“Bodies in Digital Transition: Transcultural Dialogues on Digital Intimacies and Artistic Practices”, Goldsmiths, University of London, Sep. 2025

12th ISSCO International Conference 2025: Chinese Overseas in a Changing World: Global Networks, Local Realities, Universiti Malaya, Nov. 2025

The Fifth Forum on the Frontiers of Art Theory: Art and Memory, Southeast University, Sep. 2024 

The 23rd Annual Conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Media (SPM2022): Being Together in the Digital Age, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Mar. 2022

LINE 2021: Living in the New Era, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nov. 2021           

The International Conference on Arts, Culture and Education 2020, 12           

(ICACE): Home and Unhome, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, 2020

Honour & Awards         

“Excellent Graduation Thesis” of the Philosophy Department of East China Normal University, 2023    

Winner of “Hyundai Blue Prize 2019”, Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing

Shortlisted for the “Emerging Curators Project 2018” hosted by Power Station of Art (PSA), Shanghai

International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC) 3 Finalist, 2016