BAO RONG 包蓉
Bio
Bao Rong (b. 1997, China) completed her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2023. She previously studied Public Sculpture at the China Academy of Art and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her BFA in 2021 with a Distinguished Scholarship.
Bao Rong is an installation artist whose practice spans interactive sculptures and performative installations. Having studied in Hangzhou, Chicago, and London, she explores the cracks within systems of modern efficiency through humor and bodily absurdity. From malfunctioning tactile paths to soft kinetic bells, her works transform breakdowns into playful metaphors. Using flexible materials and mechanical motion, Bao’s “soft sculptures” pulsate like living organs—light, unstable, and alive. Balancing satire and tenderness, her art turns weight into air and absurdity into empathy, inviting viewers to experience fragility as a form of resistance.
In 2022, Bao was selected as one of the Top 10 emerging artists by China’s UCCA and was shortlisted for New Contemporaries in the UK. In 2023, she received the Graduate Award from The COLAB, Royal College of Art, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, along with the British Council’s Connections Through Culture Grant. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Gilbert Bayes Award by the Royal Society of Sculptors and was nominated for the UCCA Young Associates Choice Awards. In 2024, she was commissioned by Tate Collective for a new project. From February to May 2024, she held her first solo exhibition, RONG BAO IS ME, at Saatchi Gallery in London. It was also the first solo show by a Chinese female artist in the museum’s history. In 2025, she was commissioned by Pinacoteca Agnelli in Italy to create a public sculpture for La Pista 500, and also by London Selfridges and Harpar’s Bazaar China for art installations.
Bao was invited as a visiting tutor at various esteemed institutions, including Tate, Getty Conservation Institute, University College London, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the University of Utah, the University of Westminster, South Thames College, and the University for the Creative Arts.
包蓉，1997年生于中国，现工作与生活于北京与伦敦。她于2023年毕业于英国皇家艺术学院雕塑专业，本科曾就读于中国美术学院雕塑与公共艺术专业，后转学至芝加哥艺术学院，于2021年获得纯艺术学士学位，并荣获杰出奖学金。
包蓉是一位以互动装置与行为表演为核心的艺术家。她在杭州、芝加哥与伦敦求学，创作聚焦现代高效体系中的裂缝，以幽默与身体的荒诞回应系统失灵的瞬间。从迷失的盲道到柔软的撞钟，她将故障转化为诗意的隐喻。以柔性材料和机械运动构成的“软雕塑”如同跳动的器官，轻盈却鲜活。她以戏谑代替沉重，让荒诞成为共情的入口，用柔软抵抗僵硬，用轻盈反抗压抑。
2022年，包蓉被中国尤伦斯当代艺术中心评选为“十大新锐艺术家”之一，并入围英国New Contemporaries。2023年，她获得由英国皇家艺术学院、The COLAB与约克郡雕塑公园联合颁发的毕业生奖，同时获得英国文化协会“文化连线基金”。2024年，她荣获英国皇家雕塑家协会Gilbert Bayes奖，获得UCCA青年赞助人年度选择奖提名，并受英国泰特美术馆Tate Collective邀请创作全新艺术项目。 2024年2月至5月，她在英国萨奇美术馆举办了首次个展《RONG BAO IS ME 包蓉是我》，同时也是该著名国际美术馆历史上首次为中国女性艺术家举办个展。 2025年，她受意大利皮纳科泰卡·阿涅利美术馆委任，为“La Pista 500”公共艺术项目创作大型雕塑，并于同年受伦敦Selfridges和中国《时尚芭莎》的创作委托，同年受邀登上BBC艺术节目“Go Get Arty“。
她曾受邀在多个国际知名艺术与学术机构担任访问导师和讲师，包括：泰特美术馆、盖蒂中心、伦敦大学学院、苏富比艺术学院、美国犹他大学、伦敦威斯敏斯特大学、英国南泰晤士学院、创意艺术大学等。