Sichong Xie is a multidisciplinary artist currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Her practice combines materiality, movement, and performance of memory through elemental media and site-specific installations. By placing traditional sculptural forms within new sites, materials, and social constructs, she investigates these forms and movements within global communities to re-consider and re-envision shared spaces and performative practices. Her practice raises questions about identity, politics, cross-culturalism, and the surreal characteristics of her body in the ever-changing environment. Xie is interested in the research of human populations, their geographical locations, and the resulting cultural movements, she strives to create work that reflects the importance of the spaces we find ourselves in and their impact on our lives.
Xie holds an MFA from CalArts and is a 2022 MAP Fund and 2021 Artadia Los Angeles Award recipient. In her recent durational performance/installation, Trampoline House: Memory Drawing Series, at the Armory Center for the Arts, she transforms a playground into a stage of temporal disintegration. Drawing from children’s games and the rawness of construction site materials, this durational performance collapses the boundaries between play and labor. A trampoline becomes the platform for a living drawing, where a large chalk piece is layered over original architectural blueprints from Xie's grandfather in the 1960s. Every memory is an empty theater—a space that once held meaning, now gradually fading into oblivion. As the durational performance slowly dissolves the chalk drawing, the ephemeral nature of memory takes form in every movement. Xie's commitment to durational performance extends across her practice, including her 2017 project Walking With The Disappeared during the Hauser & Wirth Somerset exchange residency in the U.K. She has been a fellow at MacDowell, the Studios at MASS MoCA, Yaddo, the Watermill Center, the Fine Arts Work Center, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. Her practice has been supported by grants from Artadia, The MAP Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Marciano Art Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.
EDUCATION
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (June 2018-August 2018)
Fellowship Award Skowhegan, MA
MFA in Photography and Media + Integrated Media (2015-2017)
California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA
BFA in Fine Arts Graduated on May 2014
Columbus College of Art & Design Columbus, OH
Bachelor of Fine Arts (equivalent) May 2012
Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts Xi’an, China
ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS/RESIDENCIES
2025
I-Park Foundation - East Haddam, CT
2024
Lucid Art Foundation - Inverness, CA, USA
Joshua Tree Highland Artist Residency - Joshua Tree, CA, USA
2023
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts - Omaha, NE, USA
Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship - Provincetown, MA, USA
The Watermill Center Alumni Retreat Residency - Long Island, NY
2022
MacDowell Colony - Peterborough, NH, USA
Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik - Berlin, Germany
Vermont Studio Center Fellowship - Johnson, VT, USA
Marble House Project - Dorset, VT, USA
2021
Camera Obscura Art Lab Residency - Santa Monica, CA, USA
McColl Center for Art + Innovation - Charlotte, NC, USA
2020
Automata Arts Residency - Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
The Corporation of Yaddo Artist Residency - Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
The Studios at MASS MoCA Residency - North Adams, MA, USA
Salmon Creek Farm Artist Residency - Albion, CA, USA
2018
Armory Center for the Arts Teaching Fellowship - Los Angeles, USA (2018-2019)
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture - Madison, ME, USA
The Reef Artist Residency - Los Angeles, USA
2017
Hauser & Wirth Somerset Exchange Residency - Bath, U.K.
The Watermill Center Summer Residency - Long Island, NY
Venice Biennale CalArts "The Pavilions" Residency - Venice, Italy; Kassel, Germany; Munster, Germany
2016
The Watermill Center Summer Residency – Long Island, NY
2015
Da Li International Photography and Film Festival Visiting Artist in Residence - Da Li, China
2014
Mildred's Lane Summer Fellowship Residency, HumanYingWork Styles Session Participant - Narrowsburg, NY
2013
New York Studio Residency Program/AICAD – New York, NY
AWARDS/CONTESTS
2025 The Center for Ethnographic Media Arts Fellowship Award, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2024 The Center for Ethnographic Media Arts Fellowship Award, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2023 The Sinatra Award, University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA August 2023
2022 MAP Fund Award, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Foundation, and Mellon Foundation, NYC December 2022
2021 Artadia Los Angeles Award, Marciano Art Foundation Award, ARTADIA, Brooklyn, NY March 2021
Visual Artist Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA May 2020
United States Artists Fellowship Award Nomination, Chicago, IL January 2021
Visual Artist Grants Award, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York, NY January 2020
2nd Place at the Chiquita Canyon Awards, Held at California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA March 2016
Dean’s Grant, California Institute of the Arts, 2015 - 2017
1st Place at the AOI Illustration Contest & Exhibition, Held at Rivet Gallery, Columbus, OH March 2013
Second Place, They Draw & Travel, Columbus, OH March 2012
SOLO EXHIBITION
2025
Trampoline House: Memory Drawing Series (Durational Performance), Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, USA
2023
Elephant In The Dark, Hudson D. Walker Gallery at Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA, USA
2021
Memory Structure, Scaffold Series, Wende Museum Garden, Culver City, CA, USA
2020
Lake Lonely, Elephant Art Space, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
With The Notes Of Far-Away Song Floating From The Other Shore, Automata Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2018
When The Peaks Of Our Washing Sound Come Together, My Tree House Will Have A Roof (Durational Performance), Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Washing Day: Losing and Recollecting Memories (Site-Specific Performance/Installation), AR Projects, Los Angeles, USA
2017
Walking With The Disappeared (Durational Performance), Hauser & Wirth Somerset Gallery, Bruton, UK
We Know We Could Go To Jail, D300 Gallery, Valencia, CA, USA
Do Donkeys Know Politics & A Story (Film Screening), Bijou Theater, Valencia, CA, USA
2016
You Can't Take That Away From Me, L Shape Gallery, Valencia, CA, USA
2015
Do Birds Know Politics, Beaton Gallery, Columbus, OH
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2025
Collective Memory, Camera Obscure Art Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Film Screening, USC School of Cinematic Arts, SCI 106 Theater, Los Angeles, CA, USA
iMAPPING, Soundstage Four, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2024
Irrational Exhibit 13: Juxtaposing Terrains, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA, USA
David Hammons during Frize LA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Beyond Personal, Cypress College, Cypress, CA, USA
iMAPPING, Soundstage Four, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2023
The Sail From The Red Sea, 2023 MexiCali Biennale, Calexico, CA, USA and Mexicali, Mexico
Fine Arts Work Center Visual Arts Fellows Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA, USA
Collective Memory Installation, The Grand Park, Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Irrational Exhibits 12: Body, Materiality and Systems, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Windows and Blinds, SCA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Skowhegan Alumni Group Exhibition, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, CA, USA
2022
Renew - A Recent Survey in Chinese Contemporary Photography, Eli Klein Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Sail From The Red Sea, Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany
The 1st Chengdu International Photography Festival, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China
2021
Conflict Point, McColl Center, Charlotte, NC, USA
The Drawing Center Viewing Program, The Drawing Center, New York, NY, USA
Poetic Research Bureau, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Memory Walk, Automata Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2020
Inverse Performance Art Festival, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and The Momentary, Bentonville, AR, USA
We Are Here, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Distant Future, Vermont Studio Center, Gallery II, VT, USA
Opera Povera, Open Form Opera: The Pink Moon, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
The Medea Insurrection, Wende Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Irrational Exhibits 11: Placemaking and Social Memory, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Becoming - Experimental Video Works, Eli Klein Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Limited Access 8 Festival, Tehran, Iran
The 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
4TH WALL: HER.E I SEE LOTUS, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
The Boat Has Sailed, Hasn't It?, Coaxial Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2018
Mapping the City: A Vision of History and City, OCAT Museum in Chengdu, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Noctem Diaboli, The Living Gallery Outpost, New York, NY, USA
Skowhegan Book Meet, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculptures NY Space, New York, NY, USA
Mapping the City: A Vision of History and Xi’An, OCAT Art Museum, Xi’An, China
5-Nine Variations, The Reef Artist Residency, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The 2018 New Genre Arts Festival, Living Arts of Tulsa Gallery, Tulsa, OK, USA
2017
See What You Mean, Getty Museum (Harry Gamboa Jr.'s Performance Group "Slipping Into Something More"), Los Angeles, CA, USA
Tracing Memory With The Disappeared, Automata Arts Gallery (Two Artists Exhibition), Los Angeles, CA, USA
Clothing Optional, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Discovering Watermill Day, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
Irrational Exhibits 10th Anniversary: Mapping the Divide, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, CA, USA
The 2nd Changjiang Photo & Video Biennale Exhibition, Changjiang Art Museum, Chongqing, China
Sounds of Central Valley, Bijou Theater, Valencia, CA, USA
Far Bazaar, Alternative Art Fair and Art Collective Festival, Cerritos College Fine Arts Galleries, Norwalk, CA, USA
GLAMFA Exhibition, Cal State Long Beach Art Galleries, Long Beach, CA, USA
2016
The Watermill Center for Performance GALA: House of Madness, Long Island, NY, USA
Discovering Watermill Day, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
Photo LA, The Reef Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The 3rd Photo Independent Art Fair, Raleigh Studios Hollywood, Hollywood, CA, USA
Always A Body, Glass Box Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Ecologies, Photo LA Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Nothing To See, D300 Gallery, Valencia, CA, USA
2015
HumanUfactory Workstyles, Sullivan Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Dancing Tables, Mildred's Lane, Narrowsburg, NY, USA
2014
Young Hearts, Sean Christopher Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
En Massse, or sameness, Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
2013
Curate NYC 2013, Chashama Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Contemporary Art Fair, New York Convention Center, New York, NY, USA
Dumbo Art Festival, Dumbo Art District, New York, NY, USA
Sweet Breads, New York Studio Residency / AICAD, New York, NY, USA
AOI Show, Rivet Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
Rotating Exhibit, Universal Green House Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
2012
Mapping the City, Beaton Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
You Can’t Take That Away From Me, The Canzani Center, Columbus, OH, USA
TEACHING
2023 fall, Visiting Lecturer, Sound and Vision in collaboration with Sharon Lockhart, Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, China
2021 spring, Instructor, Video Art, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2020 spring, Instructor, Video Art, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2019 summer, Instructor, Clay Studio, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2019 spring, Instructor, Dreamscape, Field Trip Classes, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2018 fall, Instructor, Dreamscape, Field Trip Classes, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2018 summer, Lecturer, Visiting Artist Lecture: Sichong Xie, Art Practice, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
2018 spring, Instructor, How To Trace Memory, Performance and Drawing Workshop, New Genre Arts Festival, Tulsa, OK
2017 spring, Teaching Assistant, Undergraduate Critique, Harry Gamboa Jr.’s class in Photography and Media Department, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
2016 fall, Teaching Assistant, Artist As Writer, Harry Gamboa Jr.’s class in Photography and Media Department, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
2016 summer, Lecturer, New Genre and Experimental Art, New Media Art Department, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
2016 summer, Lecturer, Time Based Media and Interdisciplinary Art, Fine Art Department, Xi’An Ouya College, Xi’An, China
2016 summer, Lecturer, New Genre and Experimental Art, Photography and New Media Department, Xi’An Ligong University, Xi’An, China
PRESENTATIONS, ARTIST TALKS, AND PANELS
04/2025 Artist Presenter, Reimagining Space, Identity, and Movement, University of Southern California Annenberg Symposium, Los Angeles, CA
02/2024 Visiting Artist Talk, CalArts School of Art, Valencia, CA, USA
03/2023 Artist Lecture on Zoom, Art Department at Smith College + Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, USA
02/2023 Artist Talk and Broadcast on Zoom, Memory Structure, Scaffold Series, Prospect Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
07/2022 Artist Talk, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany
11/2021 Panelist, The Arts: Dreaming of a Shared Humanity, Horasis Asia Meeting 2021, Singapore
10/2021 Visiting Artist, Approaches to Making, Parsons School of Art, The New School, New York, NY, USA
12/2020 Artist Talk and Panel Discussion, Art - Past - Present, Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, USA
11/2020 Artist Talk, Durational Performance, The Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, USA
07/2020 Artist Talk, Durational Performance: A Meditation on Time, The Inverse Summer Residency Laboratory Series, Cuesta College, Los Angeles, CA, USA
06/2020 Artist Talk on Zoom, Contrasting Body and Place, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, NC, USA
05/2020 Visiting Artist, Design Media Arts, MFA Program, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
04/2020 Artist Talk on Zoom, Do Donkeys Know Politics, Scaffold Series I, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
04/2020 Presenter on Zoom, Do Donkeys Know Politics, curated by Danny Greenberg, Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program, New York, NY, USA
02/2020 Artist Talk and Panel Discussion, History, Cultures, Identities, Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, USA
04/2019 Visiting Artist, Integrated Media, Art and Technology MFA Program, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
03/2019 Artist Talk, We Know We Could Go To Jail, The 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
11/2018 Presenter, The Boat Has Sailed, Hasn’t It, invited by Andrew Freeman, Photography and Media, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
08/2018 Guest Speaker, The Boat Has Sailed, Hasn’t It, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Xi’An Art Conversations, OCAT Art Musuem, Xi’An, China
08/2017 Artist Talk, Walking With The Disappeared, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
07/2016 Artist Talk, We Know We Could Go To Jail, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
06/2016 Visiting Artist Talk, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Summer Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
06/2016 Visiting Artist Talk, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, D.P. Art Space, Xi’An, China
07/2015 Panelist, Performance Art, Photography and New Media Department, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
PUBLICATIONS
Xie, Sichong. “L.A. (So) The Story Goes - LA Artists on Fiction, Identity, and Transformation“ Page #57-60, Prospect Art, (2025)
Xie, Sichong. “Lake Lonely“ Page #318-322, The Chengdu International Photography Festival Exhibition Catalog, (2023)
Xie, Sichong. “The Medea Insurrection at the Wende Museum“ Page #60-63, In Carla Magazine, Issue 19, (2020)
Xie, Sichong. “Becoming - Experimental Video Works“, Eli Klein Gallery Exhibition Catalog, (2019)
Xie, Sichong. "The Ship Has Sailed, Hasn’t It?", Self-Published Artist Book, (2018)
Xie, Sichong. "Leaning On", Self-Published Artist Book, (2018)
Xie, Sichong. "Dancing Tables", Page #18-20, The 2nd Changjiang Photo & Video Biennale Exhibition Catalog, (2018)
Xie, Sichong. "Minsheng's Photographs of People's Lives in Hong Kong" Page #36, Picturing Humanism, (2017)
Xie, Sichong. "You Can't Take That Away From Me" Page #28, In Whitefish Review Magazine, Issue "Change", (2016)