‘aaajiao’ is the online identity, or alias, of the artist Xu Wenkai. In 1999, in the days of dial-up internet, he started to make websites, later establishing a sound art website and a blog, ‘Dorkbot’. In 2009 he co-founded a start-up, ‘Xindanwei’ (translated as ‘new work unit’) and ‘eventstructure’, an interdisciplinary centre for art, media technology and academic research based in Shanghai, intitiatives that pioneered these practices for a changing society. His work, focused on the use, transformation and display of digital data, has been shown in Shanghai, Beijing, Karlsruhe, and Berlin, as well as in Australia. His recent solo exhibitions include ‘a’a’a’jiao: an ID’, HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2019; ’bot,’ House of Egorn, Berlin, German, 2018; ‘Gluttony’, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu, China, 2018; ‘User, Love, High-frequency Trading’, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai, China, 2017; ‘Remnants of an Electronic Past’, CFCCA, Manchester, England, 2016; ‘Remnants of an Electronic Past’, OCAT, Xi’an, China, 2016. Selected group exhibitions in 2019 include ‘SYNCHRONICITY’, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, China, 2019; ’Mind the Deep: Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Creation’, Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2019; ‘The Return of Guests’, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2019; ‘The Kind Stranger’, UNArt Center, Shanghai, China, 2019; ‘Open Codes. Connected Bots‘, Chronus Art Center (CAC), Shanghai, China, 2019; ‘Singing the Body Electric’, David Zwirner, Hong Kong, China, 2019; ’Afterimage: Dangdai Yishu’, Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2019; ‘Nine Journeys Through Time’, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China, 2019; ’13th Cairo Biennale’, Cairo, Egypt, 2019; ‘China Landscape’, Taikang Space, Beijing, China, 2019; ‘The Evolution of Communication’, Design Society, Shenzhen, China, 2019; ‘Chinternet Ugly’, CFCCA Manchester, United Kingdom, 2019; ‘New Art History: 2000-2018 Chinese Contemporary Art’, MOCA Yinchuan, Yinchuan, China, 2019 and ‘Chinese Whispers — Neue Kunst aus der Sigg Collection’, Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, Austria, 2019; ‘LOVE: Intimate’. Aaajiao lives and works between Shanghai and Berlin.

The White Rabbit Collection is one of the world’s most extensive and significant collections of contemporary art from China. With a focus on works created since the year 2000, the Collection contains almost 3,000 works by over 750 artists and continues to expand. Note that when you click on the link below you will be forwarded to the White Rabbit Collection website.

Explore the work of aaajiao in the collection database