BIOGRAPHY Vivi Niya Gao (b. 2002) is a Chicago-based Chinese Canadian artist who works across sculpture, performance, mark-making, and any medium to communicate her ideas. She received her BFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Niya has exhibited internationally, with selected exhibitions including Alberta University of the Arts (Calgary), Albright-Knox Gallery (Buffalo), John B. Aird Gallery (Toronto), Stephen Bulger Gallery (Toronto), Art Etobicoke (Toronto), University of Toronto – Trinity Review, Zhou Brothers Art Center (Chicago), Co-Prosperity (Chicago), CICA Museum (Korea), Unwashed, Kunstverein Bayreuth (Germany), and Guan Jiang Fen Qin Yuan (China).
[When you enter my home, where a revolving door reshapes the space between us. A living wall of grass and a floor of fluffy creatures. Looking closely, a translucent wall on wheels blurs the line between inside and out. A blanket moves as you sleep, while shutters play a game of peek-a-boo. Everything moves, everything travels—ready to roll]
My work transforms architectural elements into playful, performative sculptures and installations, reflecting on the impermanence of "home" and how spaces evolve over time through human interaction, memory, and changing environments. I create sculptural objects that foster communication and collaboratively develop systems of sharing and exchange. By creating semi-functional architectural components activated through improvised movement, I respond to environmental feedback—challenging both body and mind through dynamic, disorienting spaces that encourage continuous engagement and adaptability.
Rooted in a migratory and global experience spanning Asia and North America, I seek to craft playful spatial experiences that explore possibilities through freedom, self-determination, adaptability, mobility, permanence, and the interplay between construction and destruction within structures and systems. My work investigates the relationship between the human body and environmental spaces, allowing them to engage in an ongoing dialogue from their respective positions. I am particularly interested in daily habits and how architecture compels inhabitants to adopt alternative patterns of behavior. In a culture marked by uncertainty and restricted movement, my goal is to create works that can be relocated, offering new ways of entering and experiencing life.
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Since I was a little kid, I’ve pursued a tumultuous love affair with touch.
I’ve always been compelled to touch everything—whether I could or couldn’t. When I was three years old, I putted my finger inside an electrical plug and got shocked. That moment taught me how the things I touch can elicit responses from my body. This fascination with touch has profoundly shaped the foundation of my artistic practice, inspiring me to create works that engage with people and the environment through interaction.