Zexuan Zeng - Artist / Photographer / Designer
Collaborative self-published zine.
*2024
The project uses "Marginalia"--an online multi-threaded writing tool currently in the testing phase, to explore the possibilities of multi-threaded writing. Artists and theorists conduct research and discussions on network practices related to the internet, either rooted in their own backgrounds or related to the theme of their work. I was responsible for writing, photography, design and production in this project.
Art Direction, Branding, Poster & Social Media Design.
*2023-2024
The project is a newly founded reading series by KHM students of Literary Writing. The aim is to step out of the institution of the Academy and into the city--to create a shared stage, foster exchange, and come together to share texts, read, listen, and discuss.
For each event, "Auswärtslesungen" invites three KHM students and one additional author from the Cologne area for a reading and conversation.
Poster & Social Media Design.
*2022-2025
"Case" is a project space run by Beate Gütschow and Andreas Langfeld at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln). It hosts solo exhibitions by students, as well as lectures and seminars.
Logotype, Poster Design.
*2024
Design for the short film directed by Mohamad Moe Sabbah. Co-produced by Bastian Klügel.
Editorial & Book Design.
*2023
The project is an anthology of literary writing published annually since 2018 at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln). It focuses primarily on short forms: poems, short stories, and essays.
For this year's 6th edition, the editors have decided to focus on political texts and to explore how various identities and power structures influence writing.
Logo, Poster Design.
*2018
Design for the nightclub SPACE Ganzhou.
Poster, Catalog Design.
*2022
Photographic Utopia features student works from seminar of the same name by Alex Grein at KHM.
It focuses on the following questions:
- How could a photographic utopia or utopian photography look like?
- Will the cameras of the future be operated by humans at all?
- How will motifs, social concerns, documentary approaches, or materials change?
Branding, Visual Identity.
*2022-2023
"706" is an international youth organization that has been active for over ten years. It has established a variety of spaces in more than a dozen cities worldwide.
It is not just a co-living space—it is also an ongoing experiment in creating "urban living rooms," offering young people the opportunity for offline social interaction through immersive, meaningful, and non-routine ways of communication.
Poster, Editorial & Book Design.
*2020
A boy with extraordinary talents but a flawed personality has gradually transformed from the youngest mathematics PhD in the United States to a serial bomber. After 16 bombs were manufactured and distributed, 3 people were killed, 4 were maimed, 19 were injured and a civilian aircraft was damaged. Even after more than a decade of investigation, the FBI still has no clue and can only meet its requirements. It published an "anti-tech" manifesto "Industrial society and its future" in the "New York Times" and "Washington Post."
Book Design, Illustration, Installation, Video.
*2019
Imagine completely demolishing the interior of a design school building and then stuffing a cathedral within it...
Double presence
*2023
Book Design, Illustration.
*2018
"Rebellion" is the concept that the project focuses on implementation. Any story of the era that seems unusual at the moment needs an equally unusual and appropriate carrier.
the Autumn Carnival / COOLER
Branding, Poster, Editorial & Book Design.
*2018
A new brand image, a new network information platform, a large-scale carnival, a semi-annual magazine, and a bunch of gadgets. When the volume of information is overloaded, the importance of editing in the project process becomes more and more obvious. Only the information after being sorted closely logically can achieve high work efficiency and accuracy in the design, and the editor always precedes the communication.
Döner mit Alles
Branding, Poster & Social Media Design.
*2022-ongoing
The project is a podcast produced by four Chinese students based in Germany. It aims to turn experiences, emotions, and possible reflections into words, conveying them through sound to the Chinese community in Germany.
Chrysanthemum
*2024
Master of Fine Arts Shanghai Annual Conference
*2023
[More..]*2020
Korea National Design Standard
*2023
The reality of HER.
*2023
SDCM
*2022
The End of Chinese in Germany
*2020
VcP NRW
*2022
!
*2022
My dear, when can we get together again?
*2020
*2025
The strength of the propagation of these ideologies nurtured and embraced by those in the centers of power; the sinister nature of their political aspirations in molding the imagined community; and the entrenchment of the privileged classes that maintain their positions are all evidently to all of you, my fellow comrades. These are what we have to face and deal with. As artists, we often perceive our influence, or the resources available to us, as too insignificant in comparison to those of authoritarians. Our creativity is frequently thwarted by this disparity in power; our ideas are regularly dismissed as heretical by those interested parties. In such circumstances, we are in a war of unequivocal force - unable to remain silent, yet equally impotent in orchestrating a cohesive response against such "Lieux de mémoire" - the land of memory...
[More..]
*2025
Photography is a preparation for revolution rather than an initiation of any kind. The image's inherent indifference may melt under the searing gaze of observers and viewers, yet it still struggles to resist the petty-bourgeois tendency toward flattery. Photographs stir emotions and shape collective visual experiences, but the profound structural shifts - laws, policies, redistribution of wealth - never originate in the image itself. The photographer may be among the first to awaken before an inevitable "approaching twilight" - his role being to present his subtle observations to the public. But he is not necessarily among the brave rushing into that twilight - for as long as he watches, he cannot act; unless he puts down his camera, with it, he relinquishes his illusions...
*2025
He walked into one such room in the village of Banyou in Songpan Grassland. The owner had made it cave-like, with the walls all painted white, the bed and sofa covered in translucent disposable sheets, and the plastic-like texture showing wavy shadows in the slanting afternoon sun. He placed the statue he carried on a red pillow by the window. Occasionally, he fantasized about how he had fallen asleep on those nights after all those bloody battles. Lying in the jungle under the stars, perhaps able to feel the cool wetness coming from the ground, what would he dream about? At the end of it all, he wrote about how the expedition was such a victory and gave it the epic name of the "Long March," whether he really believed in his own words without a shadow of a doubt. Naturally, while taking this photograph, he also thought of another sleeping "statue" of him thousands of miles away. He had not yet seen it when he pressed the shutter...
*2025
He held the flyswatter in one hand, and the other hung in the air for balance. The flying insect traced an eerie curve under the ceiling and came to rest on the arm of the wooden sofa by the wall, and he moved his feet forward gently lest he startle the butterfly. Just as it was about to come within range of his attack, the butterfly fluttered its wings and dodged his weapon to fly onto the chandelier...
*2025
Before the journey began, he shared a dream with his friend - wandering through a village in his hometown, where he stumbled upon a Mao statue from the Cultural Revolution and placed it in the passenger seat. His friend suggested turning the dream into reality. After searching, he found one in an antique dealer's warehouse. However, the dealer insisted that he buy it rather than rent or borrow it, and faced with an exorbitant price, he had no choice but to give up the idea. Later, he purchased a sketching practice figure online. Upon receiving the package, he placed it beside the coffin of his grandmother and took this photo as if fate had guided him to find it here...
*2024
Today, the Leader no longer needs to forcibly interrupt prime-time television and radio or rewrite elementary school textbooks to convey his ideas (even though he still reserves the right to exercise these measures [18]). All of this has been replaced by mobiles with constant glowing screens on a bar table, in the corner of the living room couch, on the nightstand, or beside the basketball court. This barely accepted information shapes a pattern of behavior, and soon, even if people don't approve of the content, they are highly likely to change their attitudes, or at least self-evacuate the dissatisfaction of the compulsion, because without changing their attitudes, people will be embarrassed and uncomfortable by the need to defending their daily browsing behavior. And the whole process will be nearly unconscious. Perhaps even worse would be for people to accept this travesty and understand it as a smoothly functional system. Meanwhile, what other choice do you really have? Perhaps no one but a close relative would be willing - or dare - to tell you how they actually feel about this compulsion. And how can you fight it alone? Standards are being rewritten, and captivity is the new routine. As our Deputy Secretary above did, even though no one in that "Luxury box" was receiving the content of the platform, he still endorsed the justification of the whole act...
*2023
"I'm already old and my kids have grown up. I don't know how, I don't know whether they grew up pretty or not, and there's no way I'll ever know. But now it's up to them to talk about their future and to learn how to live their life."
His eyes softened a little, but only a little and he felt that he had once again gotten the victory he wanted.
"You're getting old, too." She looked up at him slowly and he recognized that look, it was familiar, but the coldness of her tone surprised him, "If you don't realize that, sooner or later you'll flash your back with this belt, and they'll tug on your tie and step on your back so you'll never get up again...
Analog Photography /
Graphic Design /
Chinese Cuisine
box203kiosk@gmail.com
Instagram
Zexuan Zeng (*1997) was born in eastern South China and began studying Visual Communication at Shanghai Normal University in 2015. A year later, he started working as a freelance artist and designer. In 2021, he moved to Germany to study at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where he completed his Diplom in 2025. Zeng has been actively engaged in photography, writing, video, and graphic art.
His artistic interest focuses on the control of emotional flow in photography, especially concerning the boundaries between documentary and fiction, and the self-referential nature of memory. His work has been exhibited in various countries, including China, Germany, and Japan.
Education:
2015-2019:
Bachelor's in Visual Communication, SHNU.
2021-2025:
Diplom in Media Art, KHM.
Publication:
"Kurze",
Vol.6.
"Der Greif",
issue 16.
"Networked Practice".
"photoED magazine",
issue #73 MEMORY.
Award:
"Carte Blanche 2025/
Paris Photo",
Shortlist.
"Critics' Choice 2025/
Lensculture",
Top Pick.
*Design:
the 33th Tokyo Type Directors Club.
the 4th Shanghai Biennale of Asia Graphic Design.
the 10th Trnava International Poster Triennial, Slovakia.
the 2nd edition of the Ecuador Poster Bienal.
...
Solo exhibition:
"Remember to call your Mother, Son",
09.01.-15.01.2023,
Case Projektraum.
Group exhibition:
"To Dwell in the Same Time and Space",
16.05.-14.06.2025,
Glasmoog / Photoszene Köln.
"GRINDING PRESENT GLITCHES",
30.06.-08.07.2023,
Galerie 52 / Folkwang Universität der Künste.
"Double Presence",
11.05.-21.05.2023,
Case Projektraum / Photoszene Köln.
"SPIELPLÄTZE",
24.06.-01.07.2022,
KHM.
"Photographic Utopia",
21.01.-05.02.2022,
KunstWerk Köln.
Curation:
"To Dwell in the Same Time and Space",
16.05.-14.06.2025,
Glasmoog / Photoszene Köln.
"Skin Hunger",
03.03.-05.03.2023,
Weyerstr.51.
"PRIVAT 私",
06.11.-22.11.2022,
Kurfürstliches Gärtnerhaus.
Press:
"The Guardian"
13.08.2025.
"Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln",
12.08.2025.
10.08.2025.
"Der Greif",
20.05.2025.
06.03.2024.
"PHROOM",
06.05.2024.
"United Designs Alliance",
28.11.2023.
Last Updated:
18.08.2025
Photobook, Photo-installation.
*2024-ongoing
In the summer of 2024, I undertook a two-month journey along the route, documenting the symbolic representations of the “Long March” and the people who live along it. We live in an illusion constructed by false tales, our intentions are revealed as some kind of task, and our experiences are hammered into certain struggles. The image of the god we worship is so blurred as to be weathered by the vulgar soul. This work is in response to these questions.
Photography.
*2023
It’s been months since I last spoke to my family. I need and desire to communicate with them, but I don’t know how to start. The conflict of generational differences seems to be piling up. Why does it get stuck in my throat whenever I want to say something? What was the problem? I’ve given up looking for the answer, or rather, looking at my own experience. I look around and listen to other people’s stories, from a friend or a passing stranger, entering their private space - maybe like me - their place to hide or to heal.
Photography.
*2023
The short series comes from a travel shoot with Ayham Khalifeh to East Germany in the summer of 2023. The magazine is in production and is expected to be released in the middle of next year.
Hybrid project developed for the assignment "POETICS OF ENCRYPTION" by KW Berlin with Übermorgen.
*2023
"The hybrid PMC Wagner Arts (PWA) corporation distinguishes itself by its remarkable ability to convert violence, war, and radical end-time capitalism into futurism and art. Their unique approach transforms all aspects of their activities into art, redesigning corporate structures according to aesthetic criteria. PWA meticulously devises and organizes its research methods, operational activities, and product pipelines to ensure that they are completely safeguarded by the principles of artistic and expressive freedom. This opens up a rich panorama of contradictions and opportunities."
—ÜBERMORGEN
Photography.
*2022
Stories of our life.
Commissioned or collaborated documentary works.
*2022-ongoing
I photograph film sets, exhibitions, performances, and anything I find interesting.