Robert Zhao Renhui

Biography

"What I aim to do is to have a conversation with people about what their ideals and idea of nature is. We should always question everything that is given to us."

RZR

Zhao is one the most prominent artists in Singapore, having exhibited widely in his country and abroad in high-profile exhibitions and events. Renhui received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Photography from Camberwell College of Arts and the London College of Communication respectively. His most relevant exhibitions include the Singapore Biennale 2013, President’s Young Talents 2013, The Institute of Critical Zoologists at Chapter Arts Centre (UK), Photoquai 2013, International Festival of Photography at Mineiro Museum (BR), and Engaging Perspectives at CCA (SG).

Zhao works mainly in photography, but often adopts a multi-disciplinary approach by presenting images together withdocuments and objects, in order to test the principles behind the dissemination of knowledge and to challenge the ways in which we commonly receive and accept information. He has created "A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World," which seeks to document and reflect on the myriad of ways in which human action and intervention are slowly altering the natural world. Based on the evolutionary premise that all the living things constantly change and adapt to cope with and respond to their changing environments (or risk extinction), Zhao’s Guide presents a catalogue of curious creatures and life-forms that have evolved in often unexpected ways to cope with the stresses and pressures of a changed world.

“..Zhao has created an installation titled A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World”, which seeks to document and reflect on the myriad ways in which human action and intervention are slowly altering the natural world.
Based on the evolutionary premise that all living things constantly change and adapt to cope with and respond to their changing environments (or risk extinction), Zhao’s Guide presents a catalogue of curious creatures and life-forms that have evolved in often unexpected ways to cope with the stresses and pressures of a changed world. Other organisms documented in the installation are the results of human intervention, mutations engineered to serve various interests and purposes ranging from scientific research to the desire for ornamentation.”

- Tan Siu Li, Curator, The Singapore Biennale 2013, If the World Changed

Exhibitions

Works

Set of Plates (#9, #10, #16, #17) from "A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World", 2013
Set of Plates (#18, #19, #20, #21, #22) from "A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World", 2013
[plate 50] Cat that can see in the dark, from “A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World”, 2013
[plate 41] “Bioluminescent Deer” from “A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World”, 2013
[plate 37] Glow in the dark Fish at Sunset, 2013

Solo & Group Show

Robert Zhao Renhui CV

Born in 1983 in Singapore (Singapore).

EXHIBITIONS

Solo Show

2025

The Divine in the Trash Stratum, ShanghART Singapore, Singapore 2024
Singapore Pavillion, 60th International Art Exhibition of La Bienna- le di Venezia, Italy
2023
Albizia, Esplanade, Singapore
Monuments in the Forest, ShanghART, Shangai
2022
The Forest Institute, Gillman Barracks, Singapore
2021
The Forest Institute, The Institute of Critical Zoologists, Singapore 2020
The Lines We Draw, ShanghART Gallery, Singapore
2019
Effect, Orange County Art Museum, California, USA
The Lines We Draw, Yalu River Art Museum, China
New Forest, Mindset Art Center, Taipei, Taiwa

2018

The Institute of Critical Zoologists Final Report of the Christmas Island Expert Working Group, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore

2017

The Nature Museum, By Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ) General,

2017

Singapore International Festival of Art, SIFA, Singapore

The Bizarre Honour, Chip Bee Gardens, Singapore

Singapore, Very Old Tree, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore

2016

The Natural History of an Island, DECK, Singapore

2015

A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World, Centre of Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia

2014

A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy

Flies Prefer Yellow, Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, U.S.A.

2012

The Institute of Critical Zoologists, Chapter Arts Centre, U.K.

Living Proof, Bangkok University Gallery, Thailand

2011

The Land Archive, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore

2010

The Whiteness of a Whale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan

2009

If a Tree Falls in the Forest, Substation, Singapore

Group Show

2025

Materials and Objects, Tate Modern, London, U.K.
Luminosity Reborn: Inaugural Exhibition of Fudan Art Museum, Fudan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
First International Biennale of Environmental Art, Skin of the Earth, Mytny Market and Ermolaev Hotel, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2025, Hey, what brings you here?, Macao Museum of Art, Macao
The Natural Contract: Technology · Media · Human · Nature, Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, China
Aichi Triennale 2025, A Time Between Ashes and Roses, Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan
The Root System Knows the Direction better than a Compass, Five Year Anniversary Special Exhibition, HE Art Museum, Shunde
Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections on the Singapore Spirit, The Private Museum, Singapore
2024
Tree Management Agency, WarinLab Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand
2023
Soft and Weak like Water, Gwangju Biennale, Korea
2022
Ang Song Nian, Marvin Tang, Robert Zhao Renhui, Sarah Isabelle Tan, thesupersystem, Woong Soak Teng “Cuttings”, Mizuma Art Gallery Silent Spring, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany
The Natural History of an Island, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China
Free Jazz IV. Geomancers, NTU CCA, Singapore
Rediscovering Lost Connections, Silvana S Foundation, JADA Art Gallery, Singapore
Bukit Panjang Tourism Board, a project by Adeline Chia and Robert Zhao, Greenridge Shopping Centre, #02-13, Singapore
2021
Tonight The Air Is Warm, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery
Chengdu Biennale, Super Fusion, Tianfu Art Park, Chengdu
Posthuman Ensemble, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea
A Show About Nothing, BY ART MATTERS, Hangzhou, China
The New Cosmos of Photography Tokyo Exhibition 2021, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
What a caterpillar calls the end, the world calls a butterfly, Field Studies, Singapore
Tonight the Air is Warm, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Interspecies Futures, Center for Book Arts, New York, United States
ANTHROPOLOGY OF ICE, Fotograf Festival 11, Fotograf Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
The Gift, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2020
From the Mundane World, Launch Exhibition of He Art Museum, He Art Museum, Guangdong
In The Forest, Even The Air Breathes, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moder- na e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy
Busan Biennale: Words at an Exhibition, an exhibition in ten chapters and five poems, Musem of Contemporary Art Busan, Busan, South Korea
Meditations in an Emergency, UCCA
Ang Song Nian, Marvin Tang, Robert Zhao Renhui, Zen Teh “The Seeds We Sow”, Mizuma Art Gallery
2019
Winter Exhibition, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
2219: Futures Imagined, ArtScience Museum, Singapore Singapore Biennale 2019, Every Step in the Right Direction, Gillman Barracks, Singapore The Lines We Draw, Yalu River Art Museum, Dandong, China
Effect, Orange County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Observe, Experiment, Archive, Sunderland Museum and Winter Garden, London, U.K

2018

The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9), Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Australia

Taipei Biennial 2018, Post-Nature: A Museum as an Ecosystem, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Civilization: The Way We Live Now, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea

Fotofestiwal, Lodz, Poland

Starting from the Desert Ecologies on the Edge, The Second Yinchuan Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan

PhotoEspaña, Madrid, Spain

Fast Foward Festival 5, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece

A World in a Grain of Sand, Mapping Shapes and Sites for Social Geometries, Atlantis, Hainan Sanya

Civilization:The Way We Live Now, Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, U.S.A

2017

The Reason Why Classic Is, Artron Art Center, Shenzhen

JIWA: Jakarta Biennale 2017, Jakarta, Indonesia

Hugo Boss Asia Art 2017, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai

7th International Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Curated by Yuko Hasegawa, Moscow, Russia

The Modern Look, Part I, Modern Art Base, Shanghai

Chobi Mela IX, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2016

20th Biennale of Sydney, The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed, Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia

Prudential Eye Awards Exhibition

Art Science Museum, Singapore

2015

‘Next Door’, Curated by Tang Fu Kuen, The White Box @ Publika, Malaysia

Pause, PhotoBangkok, Bangkok Arts Cultural Centre, Thailand

2015

Biel-Bienne Festival of Photography, Switzerland

Les Rencontres d'Arles expositions, Arles Discovery Awards Exhibition,

2014

Bright S'pore(s), Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy

Landscape: the Virtual, the Actual, the Possible?, Times Museum, Guangdong

APB Foundation Signature Art Prize, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

The Origin of Beauty, Dramatic Nostalgia Busan Museum of Art, Korea

Ocean of Possibilities, Noorderlicht Festival of Photography, Amsterdam, Holand

Going, Going until I Meet the Tide, Busan Biennale, Korea

Origins Memories & Parodies, Daegu Photo Biennale, Korea

Mapping Asia, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong

Truths, Facts, Fictions, Lies, PhotoIreland, Ireland

A Time of Dreams, Moscow International Biennale of Young Art, Russia

Grandprix Fotofestiwal, Poland

Unearthed, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Ghost Nature, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, U.S.A.

Projections Animalieres, La Box, Bourges at The École Nationale Supérieure d'Art, France

The Land Archive, 24/7, Sculpture Square, Singapore

Do You Believe in Angels?, MO_Space, Philippines

2013

President’s Young Talents, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Singapore Biennale: If the World Changed, The Peranakan Museum, Singapore

Photoquai 4, Museum de Branly, France

Novel Ecologies, Cross Art Projects, Sydney, Australia

The Artist, the Book and the Crowd, Substation, Singapore

Living in the Ruins of the 20th Century, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

International Festival of Photography, Mineiro Museum, Brazil

The Realm in the Mirror, the Vision out of Image, Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou

Engaging Perspectives, New Art From Singapore, Centre of Contemporary Art, Singapore

President’s Young Talent Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Adapting to the Anthropocene, Unesco House, Paris, France

Encounter: The Royal Academy in Asia, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore

2012

Right Here, Right Now, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, U.K.

Terra Cognita, Noorderlitcht Festival of Photography, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

FutureMap, Zabludowicz Collection, London, U.K.

FutureProof, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Hijacked III, Contemporary Photography From the UK and Australia, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia

2011

We Who Saw Signs, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore

Territories of the Real and Unreal, Langgeng Arts Foundation, Indonesia

2010

A Touch of Violence, National Arts Gallery, Albania

Haven’t You Heard?, The Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong

When Species Meet : A Gaze That is Nonhuman, MOMA Warsaw, Poland

Emerging Wave, GoEun Museum of Photography, Korea

2009

Photocinema, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, U.K.

2008

We Decided to Go to the Zoo But It Was Raining, Photo Levallois Festival, Paris, France

Projects

2018

Trying to Remember A Tree (iii) – The World Will Surely Collapse, Special outdoor installation project in conjunction with Art After Dark, ShanghART Singapore, Singapore

2014

Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, U.S.A.

2013

Earth Observatory of Singapore, Singapore

2012

National Museum of Wales, Residency by Chapter Arts Centre, Wales, U.K.

Langgeng Arts Foundation, Residency on Dutch Colonial Archives, Holand

2011

Bangkok University Gallery, Tailand

The Arctic Circle Residency, Arctic Circle

Ffotogallery, Wales, United Kingdom

2010