Zhuo Mengting ('Mengting Zhuo' in western common usage) was born in Guangzhou, China in 1990.
She received her MA in Performance Making from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016 and has been living in London since.
Having studied literature and critical theory, and played in indie bands, she holds as much interest in language as in the composition and the unspoken.
Live performance is regarded as a ‘total’ medium for her to explore the contingency of meaning, and what agency means.
She believes in the possibility of creating a poetic, quiet and intimate experience in a world that is already full of noise.
With Thesaurus, which started as a course project during the MA, a piece about chance and the randomness of narrative, she was nominated by Celeste Prize in 2016.
In 2017, she was commissioned by Migration Matters Festival to present Before the Wall, a semi-autobiographical exploration about the concept of border.
At the same year, she initiated the project TOGETHER under the collective name Factory Irregular: an interactive multi-media performance, where audience is placed in a chaos of discourses and is invited to communicate with performers with mobile software. The piece is selected for The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019.
In the historical 2020, during the pandemic and isolation, she initiated 1000 Ears to explore an unusual and non-visual way of audience engagement. The project was awarded an Arts Council England grant in its development phase. This online performance has been presented at Germany and China.
In 2021, she presented a new participatory performance installation, If You Would Play Again, as a resident artist at Berliner Ringtheater (Germany).
As a director and a performer, she has made work for theatres, galleries and other spaces, including streets, a bar, a karaoke, a residential flat, and online.
A member of the Asia-Art-Activism, a cross-disciplinary and intergenerational network of artists, curators and academics investigating ‘Asia’, ‘art’ and ‘activism’ in the UK.
In addition to making performances, she is also a videographer and a translator.
Producer of 小明拆台 Ming Strike, a Chinese podcast show about performing arts.
She received her MA in Performance Making from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016 and has been living in London since.
Having studied literature and critical theory, and played in indie bands, she holds as much interest in language as in the composition and the unspoken.
Live performance is regarded as a ‘total’ medium for her to explore the contingency of meaning, and what agency means.
She believes in the possibility of creating a poetic, quiet and intimate experience in a world that is already full of noise.
With Thesaurus, which started as a course project during the MA, a piece about chance and the randomness of narrative, she was nominated by Celeste Prize in 2016.
In 2017, she was commissioned by Migration Matters Festival to present Before the Wall, a semi-autobiographical exploration about the concept of border.
At the same year, she initiated the project TOGETHER under the collective name Factory Irregular: an interactive multi-media performance, where audience is placed in a chaos of discourses and is invited to communicate with performers with mobile software. The piece is selected for The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019.
In the historical 2020, during the pandemic and isolation, she initiated 1000 Ears to explore an unusual and non-visual way of audience engagement. The project was awarded an Arts Council England grant in its development phase. This online performance has been presented at Germany and China.
In 2021, she presented a new participatory performance installation, If You Would Play Again, as a resident artist at Berliner Ringtheater (Germany).
As a director and a performer, she has made work for theatres, galleries and other spaces, including streets, a bar, a karaoke, a residential flat, and online.
A member of the Asia-Art-Activism, a cross-disciplinary and intergenerational network of artists, curators and academics investigating ‘Asia’, ‘art’ and ‘activism’ in the UK.
In addition to making performances, she is also a videographer and a translator.
Producer of 小明拆台 Ming Strike, a Chinese podcast show about performing arts.
Selected projects
Sound and Resonance [2022-ongoing]
various live scores | Hundred Years Gallery, Cafe OTO and site-specifically
If You Would Play Again [2021-ongoing]
performance installation | Berliner Ringtheater
1000 Ears [2020-ongoing]
interactive sound performance | National Theatre Mannheim; Beijing Fringe Festival; Asia-Art-Activism
Six Crosses [2019]
participatory performance | Palace of Ritual, Venice
Lucky Ping-Pong Dragon Karaoke [2018-19]
participatory performance | Migration Matters Festival commission; Chinese Arts Now Festival; LEAD International Performance Art Festival
TOGETHER [2017-2019]
participatory theatre | Camden People's Theatre; Prague Quadrennial
Before the Wall [2016-17]
theatre | Migration Matters Festival commission
The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep and Their Elopement (Leave the show now if you want to) [2016]
theatre | China Shanghai International Arts Festival commission; Beijing One Festival
The Site Formerly Known as Para-site [2016]
performance | site-specific
Local Time [2016]
performance
Thesaurus [2015 - 2019]
performance | Celeste Prize finalist exhibition; Raven row; Arnolfini
You cannot, for instance, go into an unknown house and start shooting a rehearsed scene [2015]
performance
Future Them, 2011-2013
post-punk band
download a complete artist CV
various live scores | Hundred Years Gallery, Cafe OTO and site-specifically
If You Would Play Again [2021-ongoing]
performance installation | Berliner Ringtheater
1000 Ears [2020-ongoing]
interactive sound performance | National Theatre Mannheim; Beijing Fringe Festival; Asia-Art-Activism
Six Crosses [2019]
participatory performance | Palace of Ritual, Venice
Lucky Ping-Pong Dragon Karaoke [2018-19]
participatory performance | Migration Matters Festival commission; Chinese Arts Now Festival; LEAD International Performance Art Festival
TOGETHER [2017-2019]
participatory theatre | Camden People's Theatre; Prague Quadrennial
Before the Wall [2016-17]
theatre | Migration Matters Festival commission
The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep and Their Elopement (Leave the show now if you want to) [2016]
theatre | China Shanghai International Arts Festival commission; Beijing One Festival
The Site Formerly Known as Para-site [2016]
performance | site-specific
Local Time [2016]
performance
Thesaurus [2015 - 2019]
performance | Celeste Prize finalist exhibition; Raven row; Arnolfini
You cannot, for instance, go into an unknown house and start shooting a rehearsed scene [2015]
performance
Future Them, 2011-2013
post-punk band
download a complete artist CV