Nini Yu

Yu Nini is a contemporary artist, filmmaker, and performer, born in Taiwan in 1980.

She alternates between filmmaking and performance. Through the body, she stages social narratives. After initially creating performances and short videos in Taiwan and France, she moved to France to continue her research in contemporary art. She graduated in Contemporary Art and New Media from Université Paris 8. Deeply engaged with social issues, she creates human atmospheres by subtly observing people and situations in urban environments. She translates these observations into images, developing projects focused on the body and the violence embedded in society. Alongside this, she pursues a graphic even cartographic practice.

Artistic approach

“Drawing is at the foundation of all my creations. What I seek is a definition of drawing today. It is also an exploration through performance. I use performance to approach the limits of the body and to produce drawings. The body leaves traces—actions of life. What interests me is how these traces accumulate and layer over time. There are many images of bodies and gestures in my video works; I want to play with the drawings established within the language of the body.”

Selected Exhibitions

2022 You Will Always Leave Traces, solo exhibition, Chapelle Saint-Jean, Mulhouse, France

2021 Ligne rouge, performance cycle, FECIT Toolbox, Val-de-Vesle, France
Group Show, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Un sur mille, book publication, Éditions Clair, France

2020 This Is the Way the World Ends, Utopia Residency, Corsica, France

2019 Regionale 20, exhibition, Fabrikculture, Basel, Switzerland
Bienvenue, performance, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre booth, Cité des Arts, Paris, France
2 ou 3 chaises, que je sais d’elle, performance, Museum Night, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, France

2018 DO DISTURB, performance cycle, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Nuit d’hiver impitoyable, performance, Espace des Arts sans Frontières, Paris, France

2017 93 Rue Montgallet, solo exhibition, Village Huangpu, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
8 jours 2 nuits et 10 artistes by River Lin, performance cycle, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan

2015 Fête de naissance et obsèques des animaux, performance, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France