Born in 1975 in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, Ju Anqi graduated from the Directing Department of the Beijing Film Academy. As one of the most widely recognized directors from China’s “New Generation” of filmmakers and multi-media artists, his works involve experimental video and photography, narrative films, painting, and LED light boxes, making him a rarity among Chinese conceptual artists. Ju’s experimental films have been exhibited in the Centre Pompidou (Paris), MoMA (New York) and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York). Ju Anqi currently works and lives in Beijing.
Ju’s debut film was ‘There’s a Strong Wind in Beijing’, which was shot on films 8 years after their expiration date, was selected for the entry of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2000, and became the milestone for Chinese Experimental films. His film ‘Poet on a Business Trip’ premiered at the 44th edition of the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, which won the Netpac Award Winner, and the Grand Prize at the 16th Jeoju International Film Festival as well as three other international awards. In April 2016, Ju Anqi produced a new film ‘A Missing Policeman’ which co-starred over 20 contemporary artists from China. His film ‘Drill Man’ (2016) was selected by Draft project (Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council) and he has shot Almodovar’s Actor on September 2016 in Barcelona (Spain), featuring Jan Cornet, winner of the Goya Awards Best New Actor for La Piel.
Filmography
- In 1999, the first film There is a Strong Wind in Beijing participated in the 50th Berlin International Film Festival (2000).
- In 2002, filming Poet on a Business Trip.
- In 2003, Completed the documentary Quilts, premiered at the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival.
- In 2003, Jia Zhanke, Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye and other seven people were named as “Seven Gentlemen of Independent Film” by the State Administration of Film, China.
- In 2006, filmed the documentary Night in China, won the Jury Prize of 2007 Swiss Real Film Festival.
- In 2006, took three days to take the feature film Paris Party in Paris, France.
- In 2008, filmed and completed the feature film Happy Birthday, Mr. An (not shown).
- In 2013, the short drama Loser And Mao was completed and premiered at Fukuoka Asian Film Festival in Japan.
- In 2014, edited and completed the feature film Poet on a Business Trip of 2002.
- In 2015, Poet on a Business Trip premiered at the 44th Rotterdam International Film and won the Best Asian Film Awards. Also, it won the international awards at the five festivals, including 16th Jeonju International Film Festival and Barcelona Film Festival.
- In 2016, filmed A Missing Police co-starring by more than 20 Chinese contemporary artists.
- In 2016, directed the feature film Drill Man which was selected by Draft Project (Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council).
- In 2016, shot Almodovar’s Actor starring by Jan Cornet, who is the winner of the Goya Awards Best New Actor.
Recent Exhibitions:
2018
Go Live, AMNUA, Nanjing, China
Seminar on Painting, AMNUA, Nanjing, China
The Singing of Yida, One Way Art, Beijing, China
1.5~2ºC Lower than Body Temperature，de Art Center, Beijing, China
Ge Ziyi & Ju Anqi Double Exhibition, WOONG GALLERY, Seoul, Korea
Screen Refreshing／Labor: AMNUA Photography Exhibition, AMNUA, Nanjing,
China
Never Winter, EGG Gallery, Beijing, China
2017
The Unseen Movies Festival, The Pugnant Film Series, Athens, Greece
On Paper One, Zapbeijing, China
Amitabha, Boundless Duddha, Migrant Bird Space, Berlin, Germany
Art Is Much Splendid A Thing, Gallery 55, Shanghai, China
ART021 Contemporary Art Fair, J: Gallery, Shanghai, China
A Thousand Years’ Window, Asia Art Management Association, Naju, Korea
Paris Asian Art Fair: ASIA NOW, J:Gallery, Paris, France
Korea International Art Fair, WON ART SPACE, Seoul，Korea
What Makes Our Lives So Different?, N3 Gallery, Beijing, China
Spain Moving Images Festival 2017, Cineteca Matadero Madrid, Spain
Huan Zhong-Nature Follows Abstraction, KWM Art Center, Beijing, China
You Really Know Where You Are. For the First Time in History, Unicorn Centre for Art, Beijing, China
Ju Anqi: Poet and Police, G.ART, Nanjing, China
Inexplicable, PearlLam Galleries, Shanghai, China
Dance Aria, Being 3 Gallery, Beijing, China
7th Chinese Visual Festival, British Film Institute& King’s College London, Britain
Create Spaces, Luxelakes A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, Si Chuan, China
Grass Style, Mao Space, Shanghai, China
Intermediary: Video Art from China, The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, US
Tales of Our Time Film Program, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, US
The Vågestykke Project, National Public Art Organization, Bergen University College, Norway
China Independent 2017, Filmpodium Der Stadt, Zurich, Switzerland
Restricted: Gaze, de Sarthe Project Space, Beijing, China
2016
Go Live, Tong Gallery, Beijing, China
Art of the Real, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Cross Boundaries: Moving Images from China, Barcelona, Spain
DRAFT, Institute for Contemporary Art Research/Pro Helvetia, Zurich, Switzerland
Beijing Railway, Mo Shang Experiment, Beijing, China
Imagery and Imagination – Uneasy Trip to China, Curatorial Program at Arkipel, Jakarta, Indonesia
A Desire to Express in Cold Form, Mo Shang Gallery, Beijing, China
A Missing Policeman, The 10th Award of Art China (AAC) Special Art Project, Beijing, China
Our Future, Red Brick Museum, Beijing, China
Big Characters, Being 3 Gallery, Beijing, China
Hyper Text, Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing, China
2015
Covered Art of the Real, Lincoln Center, New York, US
Film, Art Basel HK, Hong Kong
New Newspeak, C-Space, Beijing, China
People’s Bathhouse, Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing, China
Ash, Blade, Frame, Ocean, Jimei x Arles: East West Encounters International Photo Festival, Xiamen, China
No Real Body: 3rd Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ural, Russia
VOID: there’s nothing more left, but a little trace from human beings, Gingko Space, Beijing, China
Action Triology: Ju Anqi’s Retrospective, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
Ju’ Anqi: Action Trilogy, UCCA, Beijing, China