10 Chancery Lane Gallery in Hong Kong marks its 25th anniversary with Xiao Lu: Against the Wind, an exhibition devoted to the Chinese artist Xiao Lu, on view from 22 October 2026 to 16 January 2027. The opening on 22 October, from 6 to 8 pm, includes a live performance by the artist at 7 pm, and Xiao Lu will give a talk at the gallery on Saturday, 24 October, at 11:30 am.
Born in Hangzhou in 1962, Xiao Lu is best known for Dialogue, the installation she presented at the China/Avant-Garde exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in February 1989. At the opening she fired two shots into the work, made of two telephone booths and a mirror, an act that led to the temporary closure of the exhibition and her brief detention. The gallery notes that the episode has since become one of the most debated moments in the history of Chinese contemporary art.
She later lived in Sydney until 1997, then in Beijing for more than two decades, returning to Australia in 2021; since September 2025 she has divided her time between London and Beijing. Her performances, installations and photographs, among them Sperm (2006), Wedlock (2009) and Purge (2013), address bodily autonomy, gender equality and women's place in art and society.
According to the gallery, the exhibition traces her career through the obstacles and resolve that have shaped it, presenting struggle as a driving force in her practice rather than a defeat. It includes a chronology of her work alongside the photographic series 15 Gunshots…From 1989 to 2003, the photographs Tides and Skew from 2019, and video documentation of her performances.
Gallery director Katie de Tilly describes Xiao Lu's practice as marked by exceptional conviction. Her work is held by institutions including Tate Modern, MoMA, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Taikang Art Museum in Beijing.
