Born in 1967 in Xi’an, a town of the Shaanxi province in central China, Wang Bing first studied photography in Shenyang, at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, before taking cinema classes in Beijing, at the Cinema Institute (1995). Besides feature documentary as Three Sisters and Madness, he is also active in video installation as Crude Oil, a 14 hours film. He also started a noteworthy work in photography.
His work has been selected for presentation and competition in many film festivals where he won a great number of awards. Acclaimed by critics and recognized as one of the most important Chinese artists, documentary makers and film directors of his time, he has been honored by retrospectives of his entire work in major museum, as Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique.
Born in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China, 1989
1995 Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Photography Department, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
1996 Film Academy, Photography Department, Beijing, China
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Wang Bing à la trace, curator: Antony Fiant, Galerie Art et Essai Université Rennes 2, Rennes, France
2021
The Walking Eye, LE BAL, Paris, France
2020
Wang Bing à la trace, Galerie Art et Essai, Université Rennes 2, Rennes, France
2019
Wang Bing, Take Ninagawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Rassenge Immagini segrete dalla Cina. Omaggio a Wang Bing, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy
2018
Wang Bing, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich, Germany
Wang Bing, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Dispossessed Lives. Resilient Lives. – Wang Bing’s complete film restrospective, co-organized by Museo Reina Sofía and Filmoteca, Madrid, Spain
Traces, Tate Modern Weekend Film Series, Tate Modern, London, UK
Solo Exhibition of Video works, Eye Museum, Amsterdam
2017
Experience and Poverty, Magician Space, Beijing, China
2016
Wang Bing: Three Portraits, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, USA
Special Focus at Kerala Film Festival, India
Special focus at Hambourg Filmwoche, Germany
2015
Film Retrospective at Geneva Black Movies Film Festival, Switzerland
2014
Fathers and Sons, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, France
Fathers and Sons, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Brussels, Belgium
Wang Bing Retrospective, Royal Belgian Film Archive, Brussels, Belgium
Wang Bing/Jaime Rosales, Cinéastes en correspondance, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Film Retrospective at Pacific Meridian Film Festival, Russia
Special Focus at AV Film Festival, UK
2013
Wang Bing, Institut de l’Image, Aix-en-Provence, France
2011
Special Focus at Cinema South Festival, Israel
2010
Film Retrospective at Milano Filmmaker Film Festival, Italy
2009
Solo Exhibition, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
China – Africa : Crossing the world color line, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2019
Circular Flow, Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart, Basel, Germany
Fast Fashion/Slow Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick; George Washington
University Museum and Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., USA
2018
Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India
Hito Steyerl, Ben Rivers, Wang Bing, EYE Art & Film Prize, EYE Filmmusuem, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2017
Learning from documenta, Centre Culturel de Strombeek, Brussels, Belgium
Documenta 14, Kassel: Retrospective, Gloria Kino, Kassel, Germany
Documenta 14, Athens, EMST – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens
2016
Chinese Video Art since the 1980s, Time Test: International Video Art Research Exhibition, Beijing CAFA Museum, Beijing, China
2015
Video Retrospective and Photography Exhibition, Jeonju International Film Festival, Jeonju, Korea
2014
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China
HONOURS
2004
Residency at Ciné-fondation of Cannes Film Festival
2006
Awarded the French National Order of Merit (Légion d’honneur)
2007
Jury member at Hong Kong Film Festival
2010
Jury member at Doc Madrid
2012
Honorary doctorate degrees from University of Paris 8, France
2012
Jury member at Digital Seoul Film Festival
2014
President of Jury at Marseille International Film Festival, France
2015
Jury member at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
2016
Invited to join the Oscar Masterclass
2016
Jury member at International Competition of Locarno International Film Festival
2017
Winner of Eye Art & Film Prize, Netherland
MEDIA
2004
West of the Tracks rated one of the 10 best films of 2004 by Cahiers du Cinéma
2010
West of the Tracks rated one of the 10 best films made between 2001 and 2010, by Cahiers du Cinéma
2012
West of the Tracks rated as one of the Top 250 greatest films of all time by Sight and Sound Magazine
2014
West of the Tracks rated as one of the Top 50 greatest documentary films of all time by Sight and Sound Magazine, the only Chinese film in the Top 50
2014
Three Sisters selected as one of Top 10 Foreign Movies by Kinema Junpo 2013, Japan
PUBLICATIONS
2010
“Wang Bing”, publication (in Italian) by Milano Film Makers Film Festival
2012
“Epilogue de l’homme sans nom” : article by Georges Didi-Huberman, in « Peuples exposés, peuples figurants », published by Les Éditions de Minuit, France (in French)
2014
“Alors, la Chine” (Interviews with Wang Bing), Published by Les Prairies Ordinaires, France (in French)
2014
“Wang Bing : Un cinéaste en Chine aujourd’hui“, Monograph, Published by Publications de l’Université de Provence, France (French version)
2015
“Wang Bing A Filmmaker in China Today“, Monograph, Published by Publications de l’Université de Provence, France (English version)
A CONVERSATION WITH WANG BING