Yi Zhou

Not to be confused with Zhou Yi.

Yi Zhou
周依
Yi Zhou in 2017
Born1978 (age 46–47)[1][2][3]
Shanghai, China[4]
Education
Known forMultimedia art and short films
Websiteyizhouinc.com

Yi Zhou (Chinese: 周依; pinyin: Zhōu Yī) (born 1978) is a Chinese film director, writer, producer and multimedia artist.

Early life

Yi Zhou was born in Shanghai in 1978. When she was nine years old, she moved to Rome. She studied at the American University of Paris where and later graduated from the London School of Economics.[4] After leaving university, she embarked on a career in Paris as an artist.[1]

Artistic career

Zhou's first major exhibit was for the Jérôme de Noirmont gallery in Paris in 2002.[4] She installed her sculpture and video projection work, Paradise, in the Piazza della Signoria and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence in 2006.[4]

In 2008, the Comité Vendôme asked Zhou to create a public project for Place Vendôme. She created an artwork based on the symbolic meaning of the Vendôme Column that gives its name to the square. Zhou created two 8 meter-high columns, located on a diagonal axis with the Vendôme Column as the central point.[5] Each of these two columns is composed of 1280 small towers that are placed on a circular.[6] This project was commissioned by art historian Diana Widmaier Picasso[7] and it was presented before the world expo in Shanghai.[8]

In 2010, Zhou relocated back to China and founded YiZhouStudio and production company in Shanghai. She has been compared Yoko Ono and Cindy Sherman by Vogue China as an active image maker switching in front and behind the camera.[9] In 2011, Zhou was also named Tudou.com's (Chinese would-be YouTube) art-director[3] and serves as art and fashion advisory member at Sina.com, which owns Sina Weibo.

From 2010 to 2011, Zhou was brand ambassador for Clarins and sponsored by Clarins for her solo show in Venice during the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. Since 2012, she has collaborated with the Italian luxury eyewear brand Persol, Hogan, Pringle,[10] and Chanel.

In 2011, her artwork DVF 2011 premiered in Beijing at Pace Gallery commissioned by Diane Von Fustenberg for her exhibition Journey of a Dress. Instead of painting or photographing Diane for her portrait, she created an original video work, music by the Oscar-winning Ennio Morricone, as a moving 3D portrait featuring Diane as an iconic figure from whose mouth other icons escape.[11]

As a Chinese social media ambassador,[12] Yi Zhou also developed a series of online moving portraits of key international players from the movie/fashion/art industries, posted on Tudou.com and Weibo.com. This project introduced these celebrities to the Chinese Twitter users, and introduced Zhou's approach to her work as a multimedia artist by creating portraits for social media only.[13] In September 2011, Zhou created a short film featuring herself and Nicola Formichetti which gained international attention and showing emerging Chinese fashion designers' works.[14]

In 2013, she worked with the French couture jewelry house Gripoix designing their first artist-collection entitled Pineapple's Secret.[15] Her animations have inspired clothing collection by the French hip brand, Each x Other.[16] In the same year she was also hired by Iceberg brand to do a 360 degree clothing capsule collection.[17]

In 2013, Yi Zhou collaborated with Bryan Ferry[18] for an animated work that premiered at her solo exhibition at the Vladivostok Biennale and also showed at her solo exhibition in 2014–2015 at Le Cube in Paris.[19]

In November 2016 she held a solo exhibition at Macro Museum in Rome, since she has been taking a break from art to devote to entrepreneurial and entertainment projects.[20]

In 2019, Yi Zhou launched a fashion and lifestyle brand Global Intuition.[21][22]

Zhou has focused her endeavors in NFT creations since late 2021 and her feature film debut.[23][24]

In 2024, Yi Zhou released her first documentary feature In Between Stars and Scars: Masters of Cinema featuring Cameron Crowe, Robert Richardson, Dante Ferretti, Vittorio Storaro.[25]

In 2024, she also created a joint venture with Augustus Group, Colors of the Sun Ventures.[26]

As of 2018, Yi Zhou was represented by Mayhem Entertainment of Los Angeles.[27]

Philanthropy

Zhou has also actively participated to philanthropic works such as: UN World Climate Change in South Africa[28] UNDP rio+!,[29] for Unesco Marine heritage world and Rush Philanthropics auction in 2015,[30] and most recently for Natalia Vodianova’s Naked Heart Foundation by participating with an artwork commissioned by Etam.[31]

In 2022 in collaboration with the United Nations Zhou has launched a campaign to promote peace.[32]

Speaking engagements and collaborations

Zhou has been selected by the Sundance Film Festival on three consecutive occasions.[33]

She has also given public speeches at TEDx Paris Salon,[34] Tedx 798[35] and LVMH labour day[36] and Financial Times Luxury Talks.[37]

References

  1. ^ a b Beaudoin, Anne-Cécile (28 March 2011). "Yi Zhou: Shanghai surprise" (in French). Paris Match. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Yi Zhou — À propos". Slash Paris. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  3. ^ a b Zhang, Nancy. "Zhou Yi: China's leading video artist comes home | CNN Travel". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d Barbieri, Claudia (1 December 2010). "The Frenetic World of Yi Zhou". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2016. In the past year alone Ms. Zhou, 32, has been invited to show her work at venues including the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, the 20 Hoxton Square gallery in London, the Shanghai Biennale and Contrasts Gallery. [...] The Shanghai-born daughter of a successful Chinese businessman, Ms. Zhou was raised from the age of 9 in Rome. She was educated both in London, where she studied economics and political science at the London School of Economics, and in Paris at the American University. Now she lives between her Paris apartment on the Rue de Lille and a Shanghai pied-à-terre in the old French Concession area of the city.
  5. ^ "Sculpture place Vendome Paris Yi Zhou 1280 Tower". 2009.
  6. ^ Arte, Rai. "I mondi surreali di Yi Zhou". Il portale di RAI Cultura dedicato all'arte e al design. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  7. ^ WWD Staff (30 November 2016). "W Magazine and YSL Celebrate 'Desire' With Art World". WWD. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  8. ^ "TV5 Monde, Yi Zhou Interview, November 1st Video by Yi Zhou on Myspace". Myspace. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Studios La multi visione di Yi Zhou che mixa culture, tecniche, poetiche".
  10. ^ Au, Desiree (1 December 2014). "In Shanghai, Yi Zhou's Multitasking Produces Rewards". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 January 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  11. ^ "Diane Von Furstenberg's Dispatch From China". Vogue. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  12. ^ "Yi Zhou – Les réseaux sociaux en Chine | TEDxParis". TEDxParis. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  13. ^ "周依制作"名人肖像视频"之十三：邓文迪_土豆_高清视频在线观看". www.tudou.com. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  14. ^ Petty, Felix (19 January 2015). "speaking to multi-disciplinary chinese art star yi zhou". i-D. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Fruit Forward: Artist Yi Zhou's Nature-Inspired Jewelry Collaboration with Gripoix". Vogue.com. September 2012.
  16. ^ "Each x Other Screens Short Film at Cannes". WWD. 24 May 2013.
  17. ^ "Designer rebel with applause|Life|chinadaily.com.cn". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  18. ^ "This Week In Pictures - 07/10/2013". British Vogue. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  19. ^ "LE CUBE - Yi Zhou / Etrange poésie". Le Site du Cube. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  20. ^ Petty, Felix (21 October 2016). "chinese multimedia artist yi zhou discusses her roman adventure". 1-D.
  21. ^ "Intervista a Yi Zhou, fondatrice di Global Intuition". Vogue. 1 October 2019.
  22. ^ Roche, Eddie (18 July 2019). "YiZhou, Founder of Global Intuition, Is Ready To Take Over the Fashion World".
  23. ^ "Chinese Multimedia Artist Yi Zhou Set to Shoot Sci-Fi 'Stars and Scars' in Italy (EXCLUSIVE)". 9 December 2020.
  24. ^ "Chinese Filmmaker Yi Zhou Teams with Prince Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia for Biopic of His Grandmother, the Last Queen of Italy". 15 April 2021.
  25. ^ In Between Stars and Scars: Masters of Cinema
  26. ^ In 2024 she has created a joint venture with Augustus Group, Colors of the Sun Ventures.
  27. ^ Sun, Rebecca (10 September 2018). "Rep Sheet Roundup: WME's Jennifer Rudolph Walsh Joins SeeHer Advisory Board". Hollywood Reporter.
  28. ^ "月光-Clair de Lune by 周依Yi Zhou_土豆_高清视频在线观看". www.tudou.com. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  29. ^ "Yi Zhou's Seven Critical Issues". Le Figaro.fr. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  30. ^ "TheMakerMagazine". www.themakermagazine.com. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  31. ^ "Artist Yi Zhou Opens Exhibition in Rome - Hashtag Legend". hashtaglegend.com. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  32. ^ "Filmmaker Yi Zhou to Sell 4 Short Films as NFTS to Raise Money for Ukraine". 4 March 2022.
  33. ^ Holgate, Mark. "Yi Zhou Goes From Shanghai to London to Sundance, with a 3-D Pharrell". Vogue. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  34. ^ "Yi Zhou – Les réseaux sociaux en Chine | TEDxParis". TEDxParis. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  35. ^ "Watch "Yi Zhou at TEDxFactory798" Video at TEDxTalks". TEDxTalks. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  36. ^ "Signature of Women's Empowerment Principles - LVMH". LVMH. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  37. ^ "2014 financial times business of luxury summit, mexico city". designboom | architecture & design magazine. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2016.

Further reading

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