Lin Tianmiao

Born in 1961 in Taiyuan, China.

Living and working in Beijing. Part of the “apartment art” generation, Lin Tianmiao is one of the first contemporary Chinese artists to achieve international recognition. In the early 1990s, Lin Tianmiao returned to Beijing after several years in New York and established herself within the experimental scene of the capital.

Her work mostly employs mixed media installation in large-scale installations, but also works in sculpture, photography, and video. With the use of threads, textiles and stereotypically ‘female’ crafts, she challenges normative ideas of womanhood, beauty and motherhood. Lin’s work studies her own social role and the relationship between identity and social context, questioning the identity of women and the conventional idea of the social role of women as mothers. Part of the “apartment art” generation, Lin Tianmiao is one of the first contemporary Chinese artists to achieve international recognition. In the early 1990s, Lin Tianmiao returned to Beijing after several years in New York and established herself within the experimental scene of the capital.

PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

2025

Lin Tianmiao: there’s no fun in it!, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China

2018
Lin Tianmiao: Systems, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2017
Lin Tianmiao: Protruding Patterns, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA

2015
1.62M: Lin Tianmiao Solo Exhibition, How Art Museum, Wenzhou, China

2013
Lin Tianmiao: Est-ce permis ? (Est-ce possible ?), Galerie Lelong, Paris, France

2012
Badges, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Bound – Unbound: Lin Tianmiao, Asia Society Museum, New York, USA

2011
The Same, Beijing Center for the Arts, Beijing, China

2009
Gazing Back: The Art of Lin Tianmiao, Shanghai Pujiang OCT Ten Years Public Art Project, Shanghai, China

2008
Mother’s !!!, Long March Space, Beijing, China
Focus – Works on Paper, Long March Space, Beijing, China
JGM Gallery, Paris, France

2007
Focus – Works on Paper, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
Seeing Shadow, Art and Public Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
Lin Tianmiao’s Solo Show, Loft Gallery, Paris, France

2004
Non Zero – Tokyo Art Project, Beijing, China

2002
Focus – Works on Paper, The Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China

1997
Bound – Unbound, Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)

2025

Summer Reads, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York

Half the Sky, Ethan Cohen Gallery, The KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York

Everything Just As You Left It, Nunu Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2024

The Writings of Today are a Promise for Tomorrow, Saudi Arabia Museum of

Contemporary Art at Jax, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia

2023

Half the Sky: Women in Chinese Art, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

21 years: A Story in Multiple Parts, STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, Singapore

Slide / Show: Light Images in Chinese Contemporary Art, UCCA Beijing, Beijing, China Trace – Formations of Likeness. Photography and Video from The Walther Collection, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany

2022

Empowerment, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Allemagne

A Window Suddenly Opens: 30 Years of Experimental Photography in China,

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

2021

The Lines Fall Where They May, STPI – Singapore Tyler Print Institute,  Singapore

Rhe: everything flows, Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, USA

Works from the Clouds, Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai, Chine

2020

2020+ Red Brick Art Museum, Pékin, Chine

2019

After image: Dangdai Yishu, Lisson Gallery, Londre, UK

The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Californie (+ d’autres venues aux USA).

2018

Annealing Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai, Chine

2017

All that is solid, TarraWarra International 2017, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Australie

Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

2016
SHE: International Women Artists, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Setouchi Triennale 2016, Ogijima, Seto Inland Sea Region, Japan
Plastic Garden – Chinese and Korean Contemporary Art, Total Museum, Seoul, Korea
Linguistic Pavilion, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2015
Plastic Garden – Chinese and Korean Contemporary Art, 798 Art Factory, Beijing, China
ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China
Now Then, China’s Avant-garde Twenty Years Later, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
FANTasia, SeMA, Seoul, Korea
The Civil Power, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
Chinese Sculpture Long March (1990-2015), Pôle Muséal, Mons, Belgium
China 8 Exhibition, Bonn, Germany
Go East: The Gene and Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
In Search of Meaning, the Human Figure in a Changing World, Museum De Fundatie Zwolle, Zwolle, The Netherlands

2014
M Home: Living in Space, RedStar Macalline Art Project, UCCA, Beijing, China
Beyong the Grid, STPI, Singapore
Ichihara Art Mix 2014, Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Ichihara, Japan
Threads, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, Netherlands

2013
Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2013, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
Material World, Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
Esprit Dior, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Animate/Inanimate, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria, Australia
2013 California-Pacific Triennial, Orange County Museum of Art, California, USA

2011
The Couple Show, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
Louise Bourgeois and A Tribute to Louise Bourgeois: Lin Tianmiao, James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, China
On Stage: The Art of Beijing Opera, Basel Museum of Cultures, Basel, Switzerland

2010
Self – Image: Woman Art in China (1920 – 2010), CAFA Art Museum of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Light from Light, MAAP, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Light from Light, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China
The Constructed Dimension – 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Audi Art and Design Award Opening, ‘Popcorn’, Beijing, China
The State of Things – Beijing/Brussels, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2009
JUNGLE – A Close-up Focus on Chinese Contemporary Art Trends, Platform China, Beijing, China
Over Six Hundred Choices, Arrow Factory, Beijing, China
Art In Use: Sculptural Objects, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China
Metropolis Now! A Selection of Chinese Contemporary Art, Meridian International Center, Washington DC, USA
The State of Things – Brussels/Beijing, Centre for Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium

2008
Four Seasons Group Exhibition, Zhejiang Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
Half Life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection Group, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Where are We?, Tian An Time Art Center, Beijing, China.
Beijing – Athens: Contemporary Art from China, Grace National Contemporary Art Center, Grace
Our Future – The Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation Collection, UCCA, Beijing, China

2007
Multiplex: Directions in Art,1970 to Now, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Global Feminism, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA

2006
Asian Contemporary Art In Print in Celebration of Asia Society’s 50th Anniversary, Asia Society Museum, New York, USA
Asian Contemporary Art In Print, The Gallery of Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), Singapore
Martell Artist Of The Year 2006, National Gallery of China, Beijing, China

2005
Rapt: Austral-Asia Zero Five, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia
About Beauty, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Shanghai Cool – Creative Reproduction, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
The New Works of Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao, Courtyard Gallery Annex, Beijing, China
Mahiong, Museum of Fine Arts, Bern, Switzerland
Xianfeng! Chinese Avant-garde Sculpture, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, The Netherlands
Fairy Tales Forever, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

2004
Between Past and Future, ICP & Museum of Asia Society, New York, USA
Between Past and Future, MoMa, Chicago, USA
Between Past and Future, MoMa, Seattle, USA
Concrete Horizons, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Officina Asia, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
Gwang Ju Biennale 2004, Gwang Ju, Korea
Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, Samek Art Galler / Bucknell University / Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, USA

2003
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Niigata, Japan
Arles Photograph Art Festival, Arles, France
New Zone Chinese Art, Zacheta National Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2002
2nd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2002, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
Gwang Ju Biennale 2002, Gwang Ju , Korea
Ireland Biennale 2002, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Guangzhou Triennale 2002, Guang Zhou Art Museum, China
Shanghai Biennale 2002, Shanghai Art Museum, China

2001
Threads of Vision: Toward A New Feminine Poetics, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Ohio, USA
Floating Chimeras, Edsvik Konsthall, Edsviken, Sweden
Translated Acts, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Translated Acts, Queens Museum of art, New York, USA
Translated Acts, Modern Art Museum of Mexico, Mexico
Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao’ s New Works, The Loft New Media Art Space, Beijing, China
The Digital Art Festival 2001, The Loft New Media Art Space, Beijing, China
Shout on the Face, Earl Lu Gallery, Singapore
The New-Media Art Festival: Non-Linear Narrative, The Gallery of National Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China

2000
At The New Century 1979-1999, China Contemporary Art, Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu, China
Inside/Out New Chinese Art, National Gallery of Australia, Sydney, Australia
Inside/Out New Chinese Art, The Hong Kong Museum of Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
Home?, Contemporary Art Project, Shanghai, China
Bed/Chair, Xuxian Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

1999
Beijing in London, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, London, USA
The Second Yearlong Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, He Xiang Ning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Inside/Out New Chinese Art, SFMOMA, San Francisco, USA
Inside/Out New Chinese Art, The Mexico Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico City, Mexico
Magnetie Writing/Marxhing Ideas, Works on Paper, It Park Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
Cologne-Beijing/Beijing-Cologne: Exchange Exhibition, Gothaer Kunstforum, Cologne, Germany
Food for Thought: An Insight in Chinese Contemporary Art, Mu Art Foundation, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

1998
Mark of Existence: Art Workshop in Process, The Experimental Studio of the Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Woman – Century, National Gallery of China, Beijing, China
Life: Contemporary Chinese Art, Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing, China
Neo Lagoon: Contemporary Art of North East Asia, The Niigata Prefectural Museum, Japan
Inside/Out: New Chinese Art, Asia Society, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA

1997
Crack in the Continent – Chinese Contemporary Art, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
The Fifth International Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, Turkey
Between Ego and Society, Artermesia Gallery, Chicago, USA
Another Long March, Chasse Kazerme, Breda, The Netherlands
Against the Tide, Bronx Museum of the Art, New York, USA
Demonstration of Video Art, The Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China

1995
File No.1 – Conceptual Documents for impossible Art, SoHo Biennial, New York, USA
Woman’s Approach to Contemporary Art, Beijing Art Museum, Beijing, China
Chinese Women’s Artists Invitation Show, National Gallery of China, Beijing, China
Ground Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
City Gallery, Coutland, New York, USA
Beijing Youth Painting Exhibition, National Gallery of China, Beijing, China
Youth Artist Association Show, National Gallery of China, Beijing, China
Beijing Youth Painting Exhibition, Liulichang, Beijing, China