Person

Born in Tianshu, Gansu, in 1978, Cai Dongdong joined the People’s Liberation Army at a young age where he was given the role of portrait photographer for enlisted soldiers. This was his formal training in the medium, and when he left the army and returned to Beijing it became his career: he opened his own studio. Cai uses archival photographs, found photography, and installation – readymade materials with which he creates strange new realities. He pierces these photographs with mirrors, arrows, and other objects, forming what he calls 'photo-sculptures.' His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions worldwide, including ‘Photography Autocracy’, Klein Sun Gallery, New York, NY (2017); ‘Fountain 泉’, Klein Sun Gallery, New York, NY (2016); ‘Off Target: Cai Dongdong’, Charles Chu Reading Room, Connecticut College (2016); ‘Image Uterus Production Power’, Gallery 55, Shanghai, China (2013); ‘Draftsmanship’, Mattias Kuper Galleries, Stuttgart, Germany (2012); ‘Tea Garden’, UNIDEE Art Foundation, Biella, Italy (2011); and ‘51m2: 6# Cai Weidong’, Taikang Space, Beijing, China (2010). Recent group museum exhibitions include ‘Chinese Spring #4’, Markgravelei 95 POP UP, Antwerp, Belgium; ‘180 Years of Photography in China’, MOCA Yinchuan, Yinchuan, China (both 2019); ‘Emerging Dimensions: Works by Li Hongbo and Cai Dongdong’, Pauly Friedman Art Gallery at Misericordia University, Dallas, PA; ‘40 Years of Chinese Contemporary Photography’, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China (both 2018); ‘Working on History. Contemporary Chinese Photography and the Cultural Revolution’, Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany and ‘Évidences du réel: La photographie face à ses facunes’, Musée d'art de Pully, Pully, Switzerland (both 2017). Cai Dongdong lives and works in Beijing and Berlin.