Wang Tuo interweaves Chinese modern history, cultural archives, fiction and mythology into speculative narratives. Equating his practice to novel writing, he stages an intervention in historical literary texts and cultural archives to formulate stories that blur the boundaries of time and space, reality and imagination. His work spans across film, painting and drawing, to construct multidimensional chronologies. Embracing a uniquely Chinese hauntology, Wang proposes “pan-shamanization” as an entry point to unravel the suppressed and untreated memories of 20th century China. Through historical inquiry, Wang’s works disentangle collective unconsciousness and historical traumas.
His solo exhibitions were held at K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf, 2024), Blindspot Gallery (Hong Kong, 2023), UCCA Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing, 2021) and Taikang Space (Beijing, 2016), among others. He has also exhibited in institutions and biennales internationally, including Times Museum (Guangzhou, 2025 & 2019), Canadian Center for Architecture (Montreal, 2025), Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai, 2025), the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, 2024), M+ (Hong Kong, 2023), Incheon Art Platform (Incheon, 2021), National Museum of Singapore (Singapore, 2021), Power Station of Art (Shanghai, 2021), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, 2020), Kino Der Kunst 2020 (Munich), Serpentine Gallery (London, 2020), Today Art Museum (Beijing, 2019), Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (Baden-Baden, 2019), Julia Stoschek Collection (Düsseldorf, 2018), Zarya Center for Contemporary Art (Vladivostok, 2018), and Queens Museum (New York, 2017), among others.
Wang was the winner of the K21 Global Art Award 2024, the Sigg Prize 2023 and the 10th Three Shadows Photography Award in 2018. He is selected for the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program 2026. He previously participated in the OCAT x KADIST Emerging Media Artist Residency Program in 2020 and was an Artist In Residence at Queens Museum in New York from 2015 to 2017.
Wang currently lives and works in Beijing.
