Hello, I’m Xiyu, a Dutch-born Austrian drawing artist with Chinese origins. I worked in the global development industry before becoming an artist, holding a MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BA from Heidelberg University as well as a BA from the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg.
I like pictures. Pictures that tell stories, about people and how we interact with each other, about animals and houses and structures that surround us. I like pictures that touch minds and hearts, pictures that are not always clear, but brim with riddles, inspire new ways of doing or thinking things, pictures that occupy, not instruct. Elegant, immediate, powerful pictures.
Besides making pictures, I also like to teach. Until now, I have lectured at Hochschule für Künste Bremen, Hochschule Weißensee Berlin and Akademie der Künste Wien. Feel free to reach out and say hi.
SELECTED AWARDS
_2024 Artist in Residence at Fondation de l’Allemagne Maison Heinrich Heine
_2023 Artist in Residence of Upper Austria, Atelierhaus Salzamt (AT)
_2022 Raus! Einfach Raus!-Stipendium awarded by BKM Hamburg & Literaturhaus Hamburg
_2022 Artist in Residence
ART OMI New York (USA)
_2022 Artist in Residence Atelierhaus Salzamt (AT)
_2022 Contemporary Art Selection, Gabrovo Biennial (BG)
_2021 Drawing Prize, Runner-up, Bronzolo (IT)
_2021 Hamburger Zukunftsstipendium
_2021 Mentorship The Centre for the Less Good Idea (with Sabine Theunissen)
_2021 Shortlist Hamburger Bilderbuchpreis
_2021 stART.up Weiterförderungsstipendium awarded by Claussen-Simon-Stiftung
_2020 stART.up Stipendium awarded by Claussen-Simon-Stiftung
_2020 Lion Feuchtwanger Stipendium awarded by Stiftung Kommunikationsaufbau
_2019 Artist in Residence
A4 Museum Chengdu & Goethe Institut China (CN)
_2016 Travel Grant to Brazil awarded by Bayerischer Presseverband der evangelischen Kirche e.V.
_2016 Top 10 Ravensburger Picture Book Competition
_2016 Shortlist Poster Competition Deutsches Studierendenwerk e.V.
_2016 Winner Picture This! International Picture Book Competition
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
_2024 Maison Heinrich Heine, Paris*
_2023 Dublin Art Book Fair
_2023 GRAFIXX Festival, Belgium
_2023 The F* Word, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
_2023 TAKE AWAY, Atelierhaus Salzamt, with Si-Ying Fung
_2022 Contemporary Art, Gabrovo Biennial
_2022 TraditiNOen, Hinterconti, Hamburg
_2022 OUT OF OFFICE, Atelierhaus Salzamt Frisiersalon*
_2022 Anonymous Drawings, Galerie im Körnerpark Berlin
_2022 12 Months x 12 Zines, MOM Art Space Hamburg*
_2022 Ikonografie der Trauer, Ohlsdorf Cemetary
_2022 ADONIS, Galerie 21 Hamburg
_2021 Thinking in Cardboard, The Centre for the Less Good Idea
_2021 Somethingtogoto, Lübeck
_2021 fluctoplasma
_2021 Colonial Heritage Revisited, Freiraum, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
_2021 Get_Together, Galerie Wassermühle Trittau
_2020 Inside Draftswomen,Galerie 21 Hamburg
_2020 OUT FOR ART
_2019 Body as Archive,
A4 Museum Chengdu
_2019 Deichtorhallen Hamburg KDK
_2019 Formation Now Festival
_2019 Bürgerhaus Eidelstedt
_2019 Casa Tinta, Bogotá
_2019 Fabrik der Künste Hamburg
_2017 Zentralbibliothek Hamburg
_2017 Rellinger Lesewochen
_2017 Künstlerhaus Lauenburg
_2016 Kellertheater Hamburg
_2016 Frappant e.V. Hamburg
_2016 TASTE Festival Hamburg
* solo
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
_2023 HfK dekolonial with guest Beatrace Angut Lorika Oola, co-editors Cornelia Lund and Mara Recklies
_2022 Bella TRISTE #62
_2021 12 Months x 12 Zines (self-published artist book series)
_2021 Literarische Diverse
Magazin #4
_2021 FORWARD FESTIVAL What makes you happy?
_2020 FUKT magazine #19 for contemporary drawing
_2020 Bella TRISTE
_2019 KUTI #51 Finnish Comic Magazine
_2019 Chengdu Drawings
(self-published artist book)
_2019 modern love – matchmakig in Chengdu’s People’s Park (self-published artist book)
_2019 ich dachte, die dinge werden mit der zeit einfacher (self-published artist book)
_2018 Schick #10 German-French Comic Magazine
_2018 Inbetweenrooms
(self-published artist book)
_2018 Der Verlust oder das Finden von Dingen
(self-published artist book)
_2018 it’s a match
(self-published artist book)
_2017 Projekt Memory Cultures, Robert-Bosch-Stiftung
_2017 gewichtungen
(self-published artist book)
COLLECTIONS:
_Maison Heinrich Heine Paris, France
_National Irish Visual Arts Library, Ireland
_Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg, Germany
_Klingspor Museum, Germany
_A4 Museum Chengdu, China
_Museum for Humor & Satire, Bulgaria
_Private Collections
I am open for commissions and collaborations.
Drawings, Book & Publication Design, Artistic Research, Workshops, Conceptual Design, Visual Design, Visual Journalism, Graphic Recording & Live-Drawings.
My clients include, in no particular order:
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Robert-Bosch-Stiftung, Zentralbibliothek Hamburg, Lichtblick SE, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Stiftung Asienhaus, HausDREI.