Rachel Zheng
  • About
  • Curation
  • Experience
  • Education
  • Contact
Rachel Zheng
Curator Spatial Projects Graphic Designer
Rachel Zheng
Note 01

About

Rachel Zheng works at the intersection of exhibition-making, design, and communications. She currently teaches Theory and History of Art and Design at Rhode Island School of Design, and leads ARcadia Lab, a curatorial initiative she founded to explore how complex ideas become public-facing experiences.

Her practice draws on a background in marketing and PR as much as curatorial research — she works fluently across content strategy, visual systems, and collaborative production, moving between institutional galleries in Providence, Shanghai, Beijing, Berlin, and Hangzhou.

Mandarin / English
China Academy of Art → RISD
Curation · Design · Communications
Based in Providence, RI
Note 01b

Materials & methods

  • 01 Exhibition development & curatorial practiceConcept development, content planning, spatial and visual integration, academic programming
  • 02 Content strategy & communicationsPress releases, project statements, curatorial writing, brand messaging
  • 03 Visual & graphic designAdobe Creative Suite, campaign visuals, digital and print collateral, AIGC-assisted tools
  • 04 Cross-cultural & bilingual communicationMandarin / English, liaison between artists, curators, and institutional partners
  • 05 Project & stakeholder managementBudget tracking, vendor and partner coordination, cross-functional leadership
  • 06 Teaching & academic researchLecture design, curriculum development, art and design history pedagogy
Selected Projects

Practice

Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future

Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future

Curatorial Project · 2025

After the Waves and the Dusk

After the Waves and the Dusk

Curatorial Project · 2025

E-nnui

E-nnui

Curatorial Project · 2025

Shades of Blue

Shades of Blue

Curatorial Project · 2025

A Long Song of the Grand Canal

A Long Song of the Grand Canal

Curatorial Project · 2023

Being Theoria: The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art

Being Theoria: The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art

Curatorial Project · 2022

← Curation
Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future
Curatorial Project · 2025

Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future

Exhibition introduction goes here. Replace this paragraph with a short statement on the concept, themes, and curatorial approach of the exhibition.

Add a second paragraph if you would like to say more about the works, artists, or the spatial and visual design.

Year
2025
Curators
Rachel Zheng & April Liu
Venue
Gelman Gallery
Dates
Nov 14, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026
PreviousBeing Theoria: The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art NextAfter the Waves and the Dusk
← Curation
After the Waves and the Dusk
Curatorial Project · 2025

After the Waves and the Dusk

Exhibition introduction goes here. Replace this paragraph with a short statement on the concept, themes, and curatorial approach of the exhibition.

Add a second paragraph if you would like to say more about the works, artists, or the spatial and visual design.

Year
2025
Role
Curator
Venue
—
Dates
—
Artists
—
PreviousPlanetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future NextE-nnui
← Curation
E-nnui
Curatorial Project · 2025

E-nnui

Exhibition introduction goes here. Replace this paragraph with a short statement on the concept, themes, and curatorial approach of the exhibition.

Add a second paragraph if you would like to say more about the works, artists, or the spatial and visual design.

Year
2025
Role
Curator
Venue
—
Dates
—
Artists
—
PreviousAfter the Waves and the Dusk NextShades of Blue
← Curation
Shades of Blue
Curatorial Project · 2025

Shades of Blue

Exhibition introduction goes here. Replace this paragraph with a short statement on the concept, themes, and curatorial approach of the exhibition.

Add a second paragraph if you would like to say more about the works, artists, or the spatial and visual design.

Year
2025
Role
Curator
Venue
—
Dates
—
Artists
—
PreviousE-nnui NextA Long Song of the Grand Canal
← Curation
A Long Song of the Grand Canal
Curatorial Project · 2023

A Long Song of the Grand Canal

A Long Song of the Grand Canal (大运长歌) was an exhibition presented in Ningbo, China, in 2023.

Year
2023
Location
Ningbo, China
Chinese title
大运长歌
PreviousShades of Blue NextBeing Theoria: The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art
← Curation
Being Theoria: The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art
Curatorial Project · 2022

Being Theoria: The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art

Being Theoria (缓存在) was the fourth Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, on view from October 18 to December 4, 2022.

Year
2022
Dates
Oct 18 – Dec 4, 2022
Chinese title
缓存在
PreviousA Long Song of the Grand Canal NextPlanetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future
Selected Works

Spatial Projects

O-O-O-E Hypermarket

O-O-O-E Hypermarket

Spatial Project · March 2023

The Megalith In Deep-time

The Megalith In Deep-time

Spatial Project · June 2023

Academic Jungle

Academic Jungle

Spatial Project

← Spatial Projects
O-O-O-E Hypermarket
Spatial Project · March 2023

O-O-O-E Hypermarket

Commissioned to curate the unused space at the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower, a Shanghai landmark that has been losing its appeal for young people. The project sets out to break the spatial status of the Black Cube and turn a conventional science-popularization show into a scientific and humanistic exhibition with aesthetic and educational weight. Its theme is the future department store and supermarket, an exhibition that draws people in and prompts them to think about how technological change shapes humanity and society.

Research came first: a thematic map of the tower and the routes around it, a timeline of its history, and field research inside the dome (Floors 1 and 2). Earlier exhibitions there had followed the same science-fiction formula of dark interiors, cold light bands, and low-grade content, so the team designed new light strips based on the tower’s own lighting system and worked with programmers on the lighting.

Every exhibit is designed as a shelving system, named after its inspiration: Container, Pallets, Suspension, Gravity, Loft, Rotating, and Sailing. Each is mobile and changeable, and can be shown alone or in sets. The ring-shaped dome becomes an exhibition with no beginning and no end, so visitors choose their own route. The elevator, fitted with silver aluminium profiles, sound, and air blowers, gives a sense of travel up to the 339-metre dome.

Venue
Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai, China
Time
March 2023
Role
Curator & Designer
Applications
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, C4D
Site research, history timeline, and circulation design
Site research, history timeline, and circulation design
Exhibit design and exhibition space design
Exhibit design and exhibition space design
PreviousAcademic Jungle NextThe Megalith In Deep-time
← Spatial Projects
The Megalith In Deep-time
Spatial Project · June 2023

The Megalith In Deep-time

An exhibition of experiments on life and time. The curatorial team contacted Prof. You Hailu of the Chinese Academy of Vertebrate Biology, who recommended a paper on dinosaur restoration as inspiration. The team then gathered artworks connected to deep time, life, dinosaur restoration, and geology, and organized the show in two parts: a Documentary Exhibition and a Video Exhibition.

Deep time, a concept developed by the Scottish geologist James Hutton in the late 18th century, helps put the short span of human existence in perspective and highlights the changing nature of the planet.

The centrepiece is a glowing, suspended white halo built from aluminium profiles, covered with white Dupont paper, and lit from inside. Films can be projected on its inside or outside, or it can stand alone as a giant light. Twelve groups of profiles bend together into an oval, which from above corresponds to the twelve ‘fengshui’ branches of traditional Chinese culture, a metaphor for the relationship between time and geology. A seesaw-inspired exhibit holds literature and a projector at its balance point, with curtains at each end showing two films at once. In the video area, films play on a seven-metre-high curtain, and visitors can enter a tower and look up at the top screen.

Venue
China Academy of Art (Liangzhu Campus)
Time
June 2023
Role
Curator & Designer
Applications
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Blender, SketchUp
Installation structure, seesaw exhibit, and Documentary Exhibition
Installation structure, seesaw exhibit, and Documentary Exhibition
Video Exhibition installation
Video Exhibition installation
PreviousO-O-O-E Hypermarket NextAcademic Jungle
← Spatial Projects
Academic Jungle
Spatial Project

Academic Jungle

A self-curated art event celebrating the fifth anniversary of Westlake University in China, conceived as a playful academic exchange. Over 20 exhibits of different forms and functions were positioned across the field. They work as versatile platforms that can host film screenings and act as independent projection rooms.

The exhibits also create discrete rooms within the public exhibition area, giving visitors a private, secluded space for introspection whenever they want one. The project is used as a case study in research on how exhibition spaces become homogenized, and how a new curatorial space can answer that.

Venue
Westlake University, China
Role
Curator
PreviousThe Megalith In Deep-time NextO-O-O-E Hypermarket
Selected Works

Graphic Design

After Throwing (Poster)

After Throwing (Poster)

Graphic Design · 2026

Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future (Poster)

Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future (Poster)

Graphic Design · 2025

Thesis Cover: Spatial Display as Discourse

Thesis Cover: Spatial Display as Discourse

Graphic Design · 2025

O-O-O-E Hypermarket: Chronicle, Labels & Curatorial Book

O-O-O-E Hypermarket: Chronicle, Labels & Curatorial Book

Graphic Design · March 2023

Myths and Reality about Fiber

Myths and Reality about Fiber

Graphic Design · May 2022

In Mirror

In Mirror

Graphic Design · 2022

← Graphic Design
After Throwing (Poster)
Graphic Design · Poster · 2026

After Throwing

Poster design for After Throwing (丢球之后), an exhibition presented by E.SCAPE (艺术空间) in Shanghai as its [Jia]_家 2026 Annual Curatorial Project, on view from August 29 to October 7, 2026, and supported by YYO Foundation.

The Chinese and English titles run across the page in large, tilted display type. A thin curved line traces the path of a thrown ball, a soft white sphere hangs at its end, and acid-yellow corner brackets frame it against a pale, grainy gradient. Artist, curator, and credit lists sit in a bilingual column on the right.

Year
2026
Type
Exhibition poster
Presented by
E.SCAPE 艺术空间
Venue
No.3, Lane 40, Wukang Road, Shanghai
Dates
Aug 29 – Oct 7, 2026
Curators
Shuhan Zhang & Luman Jiang
Chinese title
丢球之后
PreviousIn Mirror NextPlanetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future (Poster)
← Graphic Design
Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future (Poster)
Graphic Design · Poster · 2025

Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future

Poster design for the exhibition Planetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future at Gelman Gallery, on view from November 14, 2025 to January 11, 2026, with an opening reception on November 13.

The title is set in an arc over a ring of planet-like discs, above a bowl of layered landscape and fossil imagery in grayscale. The names of the participating artists are scattered across the sky, and the curators and gallery hours sit along the bottom edge.

Year
2025
Type
Exhibition poster
Venue
Gelman Gallery
Dates
Nov 14, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026
Curators
Rachel Zheng & April Liu
PreviousAfter Throwing (Poster) NextThesis Cover: Spatial Display as Discourse
← Graphic Design
Thesis Cover: Spatial Display as Discourse
Graphic Design · Thesis cover · 2025

Spatial Display as Discourse: Curatorial Regimes of Visibility in China Since the 1990s

Cover design for the Master of Arts thesis submitted at Rhode Island School of Design (Global Arts and Cultures). The full wrap covers front, spine, and back, with the title set in a light typeface and a small image above the author’s name on the front.

The back cover carries the questions that guide the thesis: how international curatorial frameworks stay meaningful within China’s cultural, political, and institutional conditions; how spatial devices operate as regimes of visibility; how those regimes reorganize authorship and labor; and how different curatorial temporalities reshape spatial grammars and publics over time.

Year
2025
Type
Thesis cover
Degree
MA, Global Arts and Cultures, RISD
PreviousPlanetarity: Friction, Fossils, and the Future (Poster) NextO-O-O-E Hypermarket: Chronicle, Labels & Curatorial Book
← Graphic Design
O-O-O-E Hypermarket: Chronicle, Labels & Curatorial Book
Graphic Design · March 2023

O-O-O-E Hypermarket: Chronicle, Labels & Curatorial Book

The graphic and editorial system behind the O-O-O-E Hypermarket exhibition, built in five steps. First, a fictional sci-fi chronicle in which the Pearl of the Orient is an important building holding many events. Second, an illustrated version of that chronicle. Third, a backstory for each piece of merchandise drawn from the chronicle, with its own timeline illustration. Fourth, virtual labels for the merchandise. Fifth, the curatorial book that gathers it all.

Time
March 2023
Role
Curator & Designer
Applications
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, C4D
PreviousThesis Cover: Spatial Display as Discourse NextMyths and Reality about Fiber
← Graphic Design
Myths and Reality about Fiber
Graphic Design · May 2022

Myths and Reality about Fiber

Graphic design, content and illustration, and information visualization. Myth is a collective imagination and a way of speaking in a collective language. The many goddesses of weaving became the original linguistic expressions that shaped the art of fiber and the relationships between women, and weaving has since become a social metaphor and a universal ideology.

Our group started from the 100 chapters of mythology, using different categorization techniques to look for hidden relationships between them and to map them across regions and stages. The plate is divided into five major panels plus illustrations of sun, moon, and border: one hundred Eastern and one hundred Western myths, an extension of thinking across music, opera, fairy tales, and religious stories, the intentional objects and behaviors used in the myths, and the application and development of fiber practice. The sun illustration holds three types of goddesses from Western mythology, the moon holds hand-drawn animals and constellations, and the border carries hand-drawn goddesses with classic excerpts from the myths.

Time
May 2022
Role
Designer
Applications
Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
PreviousO-O-O-E Hypermarket: Chronicle, Labels & Curatorial Book NextIn Mirror
← Graphic Design
In Mirror
Graphic Design · 2022

In Mirror

In Mirror is a graphic design work from 2022.

Year
2022
PreviousMyths and Reality about Fiber NextAfter Throwing (Poster)
Note 03

Experience

Sep 2025 — Present

Lecturer

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

  • Teach Theory and History of Art and Design I, delivering lectures on global artistic traditions across art, architecture, and design history, with focus on intersections of race, gender, labor, technology, and colonialism.
  • Participate in academic symposia and faculty research discussions, contributing to curriculum development and pedagogical exchange.
Feb 2026 — May 2026

Marketing Designer Intern

DiDi, Shanghai, China

  • Designed visual assets for marketing campaigns and brand communications — including banners, H5 landing pages, and social media posters — collaborating with operations teams to deliver milestone-aligned campaign visuals across multiple platforms.
  • Tracked digital platform trends and translated trending content into creative visual assets, using design software and AIGC tools to improve design efficiency and content performance.
Sep 2025 — Jan 2026

Curator (Seasonal)

Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI

  • Led narrative development and content planning for an interdisciplinary exhibition, translating complex themes into accessible curatorial frameworks; integrated content, visual design, and spatial layout, and organized academic programming to drive cross-disciplinary engagement.
  • Managed exhibition communications (press releases, project statements) and coordinated media outreach and public programs.
May 2025 — Aug 2025

Gallery Assistant Intern

Hua International, Beijing & Berlin

  • Coordinated cross-regional exhibition projects, aligning photography, design, and PR resources across proposals and presentations; served as bilingual liaison among artists, curators, and partners to ensure efficient cross-border project delivery.
  • Led institutional communications and social media strategy, including day-to-day social media operations, to grow brand visibility and audience engagement.
Oct 2021 — Feb 2022

Exhibition Assistant (Part-time)

Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

  • Supported exhibition research, content planning, and curatorial writing for large-scale institutional collaborations.
  • Served as liaison between international artists and curatorial teams, supporting installation, post-opening coordination, budget tracking, and archival management for exhibition publications.
Note 04

Education

Master of Arts

Rhode Island School of Design

Sep 2024 — June 2026

Global Arts and Cultures, Liberal Arts Division

Bachelor of Arts

China Academy of Art

Sep 2020 — June 2024

Art and Technology, Innovation Design Division

Note 05

Contact

Open to curatorial collaborations, teaching opportunities, and design projects.

  • Emailrachellyzheng77@gmail.com
  • Phone401-346-6885
  • LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/rachelzhengjiayi
  • Location20 Washington Pl, Providence, RI

Rachel Zheng — Curator & Design Researcher

Providence, RI · 2026