Hou Hanru is a prolific art critic, writer and curator based in Paris and Rome. Director of Exhibitions and Public Program, Chair of Exhibition and Museum Studies, San Francisco Art Institute (2006-2012), Artistic Director of MAXXI (National Museum for 21st Century Art and National Museum of Architecture), Rome (2013-2022).
Hou Hanru has curated and co-curated over 150 exhibitions for last three decades across the world including: China/Avant-Garde, National Museum of Art of China, Beijing, 1989; Rencontres dans un couloirs, Paris, 1993, projects of Vice & Vertus, Paris, 1994-1995, Parisien(ne)s, Camden Art Centre, London, 1997; Hong Kong, Etc., the 2nd Johannesburg Biennial, 1997, Cities On The Move, 1997–2000; French Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 1999; Shanghai Biennale, 2000; Paris pour Escale, Musée d’art modern de la ville de Paris, 2000; Gwangju Biennale, 2002; Z.O.U. – Zone Of Urgency, Venice Biennale, 2003, The Fifth System, The 5th Public Art Biennale, Shenzhen, 2003- 04, Nuit Blanche, Paris, 2004, Chinese Pavilion, 2007; The 2nd Guangzhou Triennial, 2005; Laboratoire pour un avenir uncertain, Force de l’art, Grand Palais, Paris, 2006; Exhibitions at Walte McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, 2006-2012, The 10th Istanbul Biennial, 2007; Trans(cient) City, Global Multitude, European Cultural, Luxembourg, 2007; The 10th Biennale de Lyon, 2009; The 5th Auckland Triennial, 2013; Open Museum Open City, MAXXI, Rome, 2014; Huang Yong Ping, Bâton-Serpent, MAXXI, Rome 2014, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, 2015, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2016, Transformers – Choi Jeong-hwa, Didier Fuiza Faustino, Martino Gamper, Pedro Reyes, MAXXI, Rome, 2015-2016; Istanbul, Passion, Joy, Fury, MAXXI, Rome, 2015, Please Come Back, the world as prison?, MAXXI, Rome, 2017; Home Beirut, MAXXI, 2017-2018; Art And China After 1989, Theater of the World, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum 2017, the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, 2018, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2019, The 7th Shenzhen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennial of Urbanism and Architecture, UABB 2017-2018, The Street, Where the World is Made. MAXXI Rome, 2018, MoCo, Montpelier, 2019, The D- Tales, Video art from the Pearl River Delta, Times Art Center, Berlin, 2018-2019, A Story for the Future, MAXXI’s first decade, MAXXI, 2021, Thomas Hirschhorn: Purple Line, MAXXI, 2021, Usage of Uselessness, Times Art Museum, Guangzhou, 2021, Cao Fei, Supernova, MAXXI, 2022), Wong Ping: Ear Wax Times Art Center, Berlin 2022,Pier Paolo Pasolini, Tutto è Santo, Corpo Politico, MAXXI, 2022-23, J’ai une famille, Musée de l’histoire national d’immigration, Paris, 2023etc.
He is an advisor for numerous cultural institutions including Times Art Museum, Guangzhou, Times Art Center, Berlin, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, CCA Islands, Japan, etc. He frequently contributes to exhibition catalogues, journals on contemporary art and culture. He lectures and teaches in numerous international institutions and has been visiting professor at Rijksakademie van Beeldense Kunsten, Amsterdam(1995-2005), Central Academy of Fine Arts,
Beijing (2018 -- ), School of Visual Arts New York (2015--), among others. He has served as a jury member in numerous international art awards juries. His books include Hou Hanru, (Utopia@Asialink, and School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, 2014), On the Mid-Ground (English version published in 2002, by Timezone 8, Hong Kong, and Chinese version published in 2013, by Gold Wall Press, Beijing), Curatorial Challenges (conversations between Hou Hanru and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, in “Art-It magazine” as “curators on the move”, Japan, 2006-2012, Chinese version, Gold Wall Press, Beijing, 2013) while more than 500 essays have been published in various exhibition catalogues, books, magazines and online media since the 1980s. He is a chavelier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres, France.
