A dark gallery room features a wide bench facing a large, horizontal video projection on the wall, displaying colourful surrealist art with landscapes and shadowy figures.

Open Studio: Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun

1 August–3 August 2025

Artists-in-residence Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun will present works-in-progress reflecting on their two-month residency in London at Studio Voltaire.

Through their residency, the artists are bringing their long term project Water System Project to the UK for the first time. Minghao and Jianjun have been exploring the UK’s waterways and urban landscapes, connecting their past research in China together with their new experiences in the UK. 

Water System Project is a long-term interdisciplinary collaboration that combines art and ecology to drive community engagement and explore the relationship between people and water systems. 

Since 2015, Cao and Chen have been researching and working closely with communities to understand how water shapes landscapes, climates and human experiences. Their work focuses on overlooked environmental and social issues, using creative and participatory methods to highlight the deep connections between people and their surroundings.

This residency is supported by the British Council's Connections Through Culture Programme with kind assistance from Schoeni Projects.

  1. Cao Minghao (b. 1982, China) and Chen Jianjun (b. 1981, China) are artists and transdisciplinary researchers based in Chengdu. Their practice is research-driven and process-oriented, emphasising reciprocal collaboration between the artists and their partners.

    Their projects have been featured in exhibitions and screenings across Asia and Europe, including Green Snake: Women-centred Ecologies at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong (2023–2024), documenta fifteen in Kassel (2022), Rethinking Nature at Madre Museum (2021–2022), the 13th Shanghai Biennale (2020–2021), COSMOPOLIS #2.0: Repenser l’Humain at Centre Pompidou in Paris (2019), and COSMOPOLIS #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence in Chengdu (2018).

    They have received various awards including Food Action Awards 2024 (Honourable Mention), Jonathan KS Choi Foundation Contemporary Art Award 2022, and undertaken a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2020. In 2023, they were invited as UBC Distinguished Visual Artists in Residence. Their works are also part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai.

    Their film and video works have been screened at institutions such as La Casa Encendida, CA2M Museum, Hanart TZ Gallery, West Bund Museum, Centre Pompidou, CC Strombeek, Ateneo Art Gallery at Ateneo de Manila University, Lumbung Film at Gloria-Kino, OCAT Institute, and the Taipei Biennale Film Screening Section, among others.

    1. Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun, Back to Mu Villages Fairy. Installation view at Aranya Art Center North, 2024. Image courtesy of the artists. Credits Sun Shi.
    2. Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun, Habitat Geology and Energy Basis. Installation view at documenta 15, 2022. Image courtesy of the artists. Credit Wan Wan.

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