CHIEN-AN YUAN
Ann Arbor, MI
chienanyuan@gmail.com
www.chienanyuan.com
Education
MED, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2006
BSS in Cultural Studies, Ohio University, 2004
Work History
2000-present Interdisciplinary Artist - Sound, Visual, Installation, Ann Arbor, MI
2000-present Graphic/Web Designer, Photographer, Film Producer, Independent Contractor, Ann Arbor, MI
2018-present Label Owner/Art Director, 1473, Ann Arbor, MI
2012-2016 Adjunct Instructor: Web , Truman College, Chicago, IL
2003-2009 Creative Director, “Actually, Records.”, Chicago, IL
2006-2007 10th Grade English Teacher, Uplift Community School, Chicago, IL
2002-2004 Job Developer, Chinese American Service League, Chicago, IL
2000-2002 Health Care Assistant I, Planned Parenthood Chicago Area, Chicago, IL
Performance
2023 Kizuna Tree, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, AADL Downtown, Ann Arbor, MI
2023 Untitled Angel Island Section II, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Synapse Arts, Berger Park Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2023 Invisible Embrace, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Pivot Arts, Chicago, IL
2023 Freedom From, Freedom To, Sound Performance, Cristal Sabbagh, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2023 Sojourn 33, Sound Performance w/ Sojourn Cleveland, Convivium 33, Cleveland, OH
2023 Raise The Roof, Sound Performance w/ Chrissy Martin, Bim Bom, Chicago, IL
2023 1473 Presents, Sound Performance w/ Chrissy Martin, Ziggys, Ypsilanti, MI
2023 Tetra, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, A2AC Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2022 Yuge Zhou, Moon Drawings, Sound Performance, Chinese American Museum of Chicago -Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center, Chicago, IL
2021 Invisible Embrace, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Spread Art, Detroit, MI
2019 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
2019 National Poetry Month: diVERSE voices, Video Art, AADL-Downtown, Ann Arbor, MI, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
2019 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, AADL -
Downtown, Ann Arbor, MI
2007 Teeth Marks On The Everett, Composer + Performer, Jienan Yuan
2019 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, AADL -
Downtown Branch, Ann Arbor, MI
2018 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Links Hall,
Chicago, IL
2007 Functional Displacement, Links Hall, Actually, Records, Chicago, IL
2004 The 9th Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, Hothouse, Asian Improv Arts Midwest, Chicago, IL
2004 Mars, Marriage and Mass Distraction, Gene Siskel Film Center, Asian American Artists Collective Chicago, Chicago, IL
2003 Conflict Theory, Remote Lounge, “Actually, Records.”, NYC, NY
2003 Blemish,Women in the Director’s Chair, “Actually, Records.”, Chicago, IL
2003 Endlessism,Guild Complex, “Actually, Records.”, Chicago, IL
2003 Register This!, Gene Siskel Film Center, Asian American Artists Collective Chicago,Chicago, IL
2002 Re:911, Gene Siskel Film Center, Asian American Artists Collective Chicago, Chicago, IL
Curatorial
2023 We Are Here Because You Were There, A2AC Gallery, Ann Arbor Arts Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2012 Art Blank Activism, Project A, Asian American Cultural Center, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Champaign-Urbana, IL,
2005 Image X Sound : The Short Films of Tatsu Aoki, Gene Siskel Film Center, FAAIM,Chicago, IL
Screenings
2023 Curtis Chin’s new memoir, Co-Producer, Co-Editor, One Detroit, Detroit Public Television
2023 Detroit DJ Whodat?, Producer, Editor, American Black Journal, PBS
2022 Who Killed Vincent Chin?' Revisited, Co-Producer, Co-Editor, One Detroit, Detroit Public Television
2019 Life, Life (Sakamoto - async), Nippon Connection Film Festival, Frankfurt, Germany
2018 Billet-Doux NXMW FIlm Festival, Kalamazoo, MI
2017 Life As (606-481) Over The Real Festival, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Lorenzo Viani Viareggio, Viareggio, Italy
Curator: Maurizio Tozzi
2017 Billet-Doux Screen.Dance.Now., Riverside Arts Center, Ypsilanti, MI
Curator: Joanna McNamara
2017 Billet-Doux Big River Dance Festival, 4th Avenue Arts Theater, Huntington, WVA
Curator: Summer Logan & Jessica Lynn Fox
2017 Billet-Doux Moving 24FPS Festival, The Jam Handy, Detroit, MI
Curator: Marcus White
2012 Visions of Astropolis, Transistor, Chicago, IL
2011 The Promise (part 5), Sanawon, Center on Halsted, Chicago, IL
Solo Exhibitions
2014 Bricolage 4, Transistor, Chicago, IL
Group Exhibitions
2012 Mercy, Not Sacrifice IV, Syrup Loft, Los Angeles, CA, Curator: Elizabeth Kim
2012 America Through a Chinese Lens, Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY
Curator: Herb Tam
2011 Sexier, I Was Born With Two Mango Tribes (w/ Greg Grucel, Jon Monteverde), Zhou B Arts
Center, Chicago, IL, Curator: Larry Lee
2011 Sexy, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL Curator: Larry Lee
2004 100 Cuts, Gallery 312, Chicago, IL Curator: Larry Lee and Laura Kina
2004 Coming Soon, Project A, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL Curator: Larry Lee
2003 Operation:Human Intelligence, Project: A, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL Curator: Contemporary Arts Council
“Actually, Records.”
2011 Art Direction + Design, XYZR_KX Secession in Astropolis
2011 Art Direction + Design, Joel Walter Nowhere in Fiction
2009 Art Direction + Design, Kite Operations Festival
2008 Producer,Art Direction + Design, Jienan Yuan We Saw Everything
2007 Co-Producer,Art Direction + Design, The Gold Medalists The City Lights Us On Fire
2007 Art Direction + Design, Oishi No In Between
2007 Art Direction + Design, Joel Walter Heart of Branches
2007 Co-Producer,Art Direction + Design, Hope In Ghosts All Your Departures
2006 Art Direction + Design, Ee Capital Plans
2006 Art Direction + Design, The Red Wheelbarrow Homemade Life Raft
2006 Art Direction + Design, XYZR_KX Inanomie Op.221
2004 Art Direction + Design, XYZR_KX Falls Off The Curb, Chump Style
Music Composition / Sound Design
2019 Teeth Marks On The Everett, Composer + Performer, Jienan Yuan
2018 Light Hardware, Sound Design + Composer, BodyCompass Dance Project, Sarah Gottlieb
2017 Hell Cabaret II, Composer, Yo Sissy Music Fest, Festaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany, NIGHTPARADE, Holly Chernobyl
2017 Haikai, Composer, Post-Butoh Fest 2017, Japanese Cultural Center, Chicago, NIGHTPARADE, Holly Chernobyl
2016 TB Kinder, Sound Design + Composer, Tattoo Circus, Kunstlerhaus Bethanian, Berlin, Germany, NIGHTPARADE, Holly Chernobyl
2015 Cairn and Cloud IV, Composer, BodyCompass Dance Project / Links Hall, Sarah Gottlieb
2015 Yolk, Composer, BodyCompass Dance Project / Links Hall, Sarah Gottlieb
2011 Lives of Confrontation, Composer, Cincinnati Arts Center, Saira Wasim
2007 We Saw Everything, Composer + Performer, Jienan Yuan
2004 Papermoon, Composer, NYU School of Interactive Arts, Ann Poochareon
2004 Walking Between The Lines, Composer, Apple, Inc. Cherry Sky Films, Vincent Tsu
Performance
2023 Kizuna Tree, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, AADL Downtown, Ann Arbor, MI
2023 Untitled Angel Island Section II, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Synapse Arts, Berger Park Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2023 Invisible Embrace, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Pivot Arts, Chicago, IL
2023 Freedom From, Freedom To, Sound Performance, Cristal Sabbagh, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2023 Sojourn 33, Sound Performance w/ Sojourn Cleveland, Convivium 33, Cleveland, OH
2023 Raise The Roof, Sound Performance w/ Chrissy Martin, Bim Bom, Chicago, IL
2023 1473 Presents, Sound Performance w/ Chrissy Martin, Ziggys, Ypsilanti, MI
2023 Tetra, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, A2AC Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2022 Yuge Zhou, Moon Drawings, Sound Performance, Chinese American Museum of Chicago -Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center, Chicago, IL
2021 Invisible Embrace, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Spread Art, Detroit, MI
2019 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
2019 National Poetry Month: diVERSE voices, Video Art, AADL-Downtown, Ann Arbor, MI, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
2019 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, AADL -
Downtown, Ann Arbor, MI
2007 Teeth Marks On The Everett, Composer + Performer, Jienan Yuan
2019 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, AADL -
Downtown Branch, Ann Arbor, MI
2018 That We Walk, Sound Design, Composer, Lighting Design, IS/LAND, Links Hall,
Chicago, IL
2007 Functional Displacement, Links Hall, Actually, Records, Chicago, IL
2004 The 9th Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, Hothouse, Asian Improv Arts Midwest, Chicago, IL
2004 Mars, Marriage and Mass Distraction, Gene Siskel Film Center, Asian American Artists Collective Chicago, Chicago, IL
2003 Conflict Theory, Remote Lounge, “Actually, Records.”, NYC, NY
2003 Blemish,Women in the Director’s Chair, “Actually, Records.”, Chicago, IL
2003 Endlessism,Guild Complex, “Actually, Records.”, Chicago, IL
2003 Register This!, Gene Siskel Film Center, Asian American Artists Collective Chicago,Chicago, IL
2002 Re:911, Gene Siskel Film Center, Asian American Artists Collective Chicago, Chicago, IL
Selected Press
2023 Boone, Marley. "Diasporic Distillations", A2Pulp
2023 Porter, Chris. "Sound Waves - Chien-An Yuan Plays Off The Screen At The Ann Arbor Film Festival, A2Pulp
2022 Fu, Annie. "America's Lost Chinatowns", Insider
2022 Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa. "For Detroit’s Japanese Americans, oral histories key to preservation of history, future solidarity", PBS News Hour
2020 Porter, Chris. "Ann Arbor's Chien-An Yuan produces music, photography, and design steeped in contrasts", A2Pulp
2019 “Angry Reader of the Week” Angry Asian Man
2018 Chicago Magazine
2018 Chicago Tribune
2013 "Super Mario Snowman” Huffington Post Chicago
2012 "Goings On About Town: Art" The New Yorker
2012 Stauffer, Tema. "How Do I Fit Into This?" ArtSlant
2012 Massara, Kathleen. "America Through A Chinese Lens' At Museum Of Chinese In America" Huffington Post
2012 "Must See Arts In The City April 25 - May 1, 2012" WNYC
2012 Mustich, Emma. "Chasing The Chinese-American Dream" Salon
2011 Kuennen, Joel. “Bringing Sexy Back.” ArtSlant
2009 Wong, Martin. “We Saw Everything Review” Giant Robot
2009 Packota, Rachel Rain. “We Saw Everything Review” Lucid Forge
2009 Aripinati, Nicolo. “We Saw Everything Review” Indie For Bunnies
2005 Francisco, Kristina. “Labelmakers: Punc Rock” UR Chicago Music
Lectures, Presentations, and Appearances
2023 Panelist, Madame Butterfly, One Detroit, Detroit Public Television
2021 Interview, AAPI Stories - Chien-An and Jon , One Detroit, Detroit Public Television
2012 Guest Lecturer, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
2005 Guest Lecturer, University of Michigan
Awards
2022 Sojourner Truth Award in Topical Reporting, 2nd Place: Vincent Chin’s Legacy – Bill Kubota, Zosette Guir, Chien-An Yuan
Affiliations
2022-present Exhibition Committee, Ann Arbor Art Center
2023-present Board of Directors, Happendance
2019-2021 Board of Directors, American Citizens for Justice
2002-2009 Coordinator, Project A
2002-2005 Member, Asian American Artist Collective Chicago