Alisa Yang is an antidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, cultural worker, and disability advocate whose research-based practice explores ways art can function as a currency for care. Centering the body as a site of social and geopolitical conditioning, Yang works across video, installation, and situational projects oriented toward social change. Her films often focus on Asian women and nonbinary people navigating cultural identity, generational trauma, and personal history with humor and vulnerability. Yang earned her BFA from Art Center College of Design in 2009 and her MFA from the University of Michigan in 2016. Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally at venues including MoMA PS1, Aesthetica Art Prize, New Mexico Museum of Art, and Beijing’s Art Nova 100. She has received fellowships and residencies from Yaddo, UnionDocs, Artpace San Antonio, Vermont Studio Center, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and Djerassi.
坐忘 Zuowang TV (Taoist Sitting and forgetting meditation), Single channel projection loop, 2:47 minutes, 2023
Passages, Installation, Digital Videos / NFTs, 2021, teia.art
以卵擊石, to strike a stone/wall with egg (Chinese idiom: to attempt the impossible), Egg tempera with local natural eggshell pigment on fake egg and rock from luxury condo site in Chattanooga, TN, 2023
10,000 Sunsets, Digital Images, 2018 - Death, teia.art
Wish You Were Here, Exhibition Documentation, Artpace, San Antonio, TX, 2020
ASMR ♡ gift packing, Still from Multi-channel Video, 2020
Jesus Was a Brown Child Seeking Asylum, Digital Video / NFT, 1:00 minute, 2021, foundation.app
orcaroom_editedWEB.jpg" alt="Hotel room with two large decorative orca sculptures, Mickey Mouse imagery, a bed, folding chairs, television, and colorful wall decorations." >Please Come Again, Still from Film, 10:00 minutes, 2016
Sleeping with the Devil, Still from Film, 24:00 minutes, 2016
EDUCATION
2016 MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2009 BFA in Illustration Design with Honors, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
sometimes doing nothing leads to something, Lydian Stater, NYC
2020
Wish You Were Here, Artpace, San Antonio, TX
2018
10,000 Sunsets, Another Year in LA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Please Come Again, Argus II Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
Sleeping with the Devil, Slusser Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2015
Between, Another Year in LA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
scopaesthesia, Sometimes Space, Ypsilanti, MI
Artillery Film Night, Now Instant Image Hall, Los Angeles, CA
2022
In Good Company, Lydian Stater, NYC
Chronic Stillness, Lydian Stater, NYC
2021
TLPS, Lydian Stater, NYC
Meta-Menagerie, NFT Exhibition, NYC
NFT Asian Women, Space 776, NYC
2020
Jesus Was a Brown Child Seeking Asylum, Billboard, Dilley, TX
2018
Art Nova 100, Guardian Art Center, Beijing, China
Laguna Arte Prize, The Arsenale, Venice, Italy
Aesthetica Art Prize, York, UK
2017
Crying out Loud, Santa Fe Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
Video Marathon, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
2016
Femmes’ Video Art Festival 2, LACE & The Situation Room, Los Angeles, CA
(En)Gendered (In)Equity: The Gallery Tally Poster Project, LACE, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Looking Forward and Looking Back, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
XX Redux – Revisiting a Feminist Art Collective, Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA
SELECTED SCREENINGS
2021
Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, UT — Sleeping with the Devil
El Paso Film Festival, El Paso, TX — Sleeping with the Devil
2020
Brussels Independent Film Festival, Brussels, Belgium — Sleeping with the Devil
UICA Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI — Please Come Again
2019
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI — Please Come Again
2018
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI — Stop Speaking
Women’s Voices Now Film Festival — Sleeping with the Devil and Please Come Again
Video Art Film Festival, Turku, Finland — Sleeping with the Devil
2017
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA — Sleeping with the Devil and Please Come Again
San Diego Asian Film Festival, San Diego, CA — Sleeping with the Devil and Please Come Again
Currents New Media Festival, Santa Fe, NM — Sleeping with the Devil
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI — Sleeping with the Devil
RESIDENCIES & AWARDS
2022
Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, Johnson, VT
Burnaway Stoveworks Residency, Chattanooga, TN
This Will Take Time BIPOC Residency, Oakland, CA
2021
Djerassi Residency, Woodside, CA
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant
2020
Artpace San Antonio International Artist-in-Residence, San Antonio, TX
UnionDocs Summer Documentary Lab Fellowship, NYC
2019
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Residency, Omaha, NE
Caldera Residency, Sisters, OR
2018
Arte Laguna Special Prize, Please Come Again
Art Nova 100, Beijing, China, Top 100 Artists Under 35
Ann Arbor Film Festival Best Music Video Award, Stop Speaking
Artist-in-Residence, I-Park, East Haddam, CT
2017
Ann Arbor Film Festival Best Regional Filmmaker Award, Sleeping with the Devil
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Grand Jury Golden Reel Award for Short Documentary, Please Come Again
Heima Art Residency, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
Red Gate Residency, Beijing, China
#SlowTrain Residency, China Residencies
PRESS / INTERVIEWS
Arranging Tangerines Episode 5 - A Conversation with Alisa Yang Part 1
Arranging Tangerines Episode 6 - A Conversation with Alisa Yang Part 2
WEBSITE: www.alisayang.com