Mimi Bai was born in Xi’an, China, and is based in Brooklyn, NY. Her practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, and film and her work draws connections between labor, assimilation, camouflage, and survival as both a lived reality and fantasy.
Bai has presented work at Artists Space, the Boston Center for the Arts, BRIC, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her films have screened at Rooftop Films, the Center for Art, Research, and Alliances (CARA), the Rockaway Film Festival and the Maryland Film Festival. Bai is a 2023/24 A.I.R. Gallery Fellow, a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow for Interdisciplinary Work, and a recipient of two Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at organizations including the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Pioneer Works, the Saltonstall Foundation, and the Santa Fe Art Institute. Bai attended the Whitney Independent Study Program and is a graduate of Alfred University (MFA Sculpture) and Wesleyan University (BA Sociology).
Contact: hellomimibai [at] gmail [dot] com
EDUCATION:
2017-2018
Studio Program, Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York, NY
2017
MFA Sculpture/Dimensional Studies, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
2009
BA Sociology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS:
2023
A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship, Brooklyn, NY
Jerome Hill Artist Finalist, Jerome Foundation
2022
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
2021
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Work
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop: SIP Fellowship, New York, NY
2019
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
2017
Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship Nominee
Women's Leadership Endowment Research Award, Alfred University: for digital fabrication research
2016
Women's Leadership Endowment Research Award, Alfred University: for stone carving in Peru
EXHIBITIONS:
2024
More-than-Self-Defense (solo), A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn (forthcoming) - link
Textures of Feminist Perseverance, Cuchifritos Gallery, NY, NY - curated by Katherine Carl, Dina Weiss & Jodi Waynberg - link
2023
A Tale of Errantry to the End of the Night, Chain Theater, NY, NY - curated by Chiarina Chen
Gathering, Five Myles, Brooklyn, NY - Curated by Sophia Ma and Cecile Chong - link
2022
Mimi Bai: HIDE AND SEE - Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA - Curated by Amanda Contrada - link
2021
What We Become When We Are Unbound, Project for Empty Space, Newark, NJ - Curated by Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Pauline Jampol - link | Virtual Tour
2020
Death Becomes Her, BRIC, Brooklyn, NY - Curated by Jenny Gerow and Harry Weil - link
Currents: An Overwhelming Response, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curated by Carmen Hermo - link
2018
Public Event, Artists Space, New York, NY - link
BYOB, SPACE, Portland, ME
2017
Village of Vale, Lincoln Center Education, New York, NY (installation)
Mimi Bai: A chair that…, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY
2016
shake the stars with your song (installation), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY - link
Warm Up, MoMA PS1 (stage set), Queens, NY, July 9 and 16
Mimi Bai: Can’t Sit Here, First-year MFA Exhibition, Hornell, NY
2015
Mimi Bai: Insignificant Expansions, Bija, Brooklyn, NY
FILM SCREENINGS:
2023
Hide and See, screening and live score, The Laundromat Project at the Rockaway Hotel, Queens, NY
William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, Philadelphia, PA
Hide and See, screening and live score, The Laundromat Project at the Rockaway Hotel, Queens, NY - link
Hide and See, screening and live score at the Plaza Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA - link
2022
Conjuring #2, Center for Art, Research and Alliance, NY, NY - link
Hide and See, World Premiere, Maryland Film Festival, Baltimore, MD
2021
Rockaway Film Festival, Arverne, NY
Cemetery Shorts presented by Rooftop Films & Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY- link
2020
Dome Chair Sessions - part of Currents: An Overwhelming Response, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
RESIDENCIES:
2023
Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
2022
Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Ithaca, NY
2020
Project for Empty Space: Feminist-in-Residence Program, Newark, NJ
Santa Fe Art Institute: Labor Residency, Santa Fe, NM
2019
BRICworkspace, Brooklyn, NY
Sculpture Space, Utica, NY
2018
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE
2017
Museum of Arts and Design Artist Studios Program, New York, NY
Digital Fabrication Residency, Easton, MD
2014
Center for Furniture Craftsmanship Woodworking Scholarship, Rockport, ME
2012
Manhattan Graphics Center Printmaking Scholarship, New York, NY
PANELS / PRESENTATIONS:
2023
Presenter, The Asian Diaspora: William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, Philadelphia, PA
Visiting Artist, Making Questions: Creative Research Lab, Prof. Angus McCullough, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Visiting Artist, Intro to Media Studies, Prof Adam Tinkle, Skimore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Artists in Conversation: Mimi Bai with Gohar Dashti and Ngoc-Tran Vu, Pao Arts Center, Boston, MA - link | video
Visiting Artist, Art in Action, Prof. Gabo Camnitzer, UMass Dartmouth, Boston, MA
2020
Panelist, In Conversation: Rachel Adams, Mimi Bai, and Luam Melake, co-hosted by the Museum of Arts and Design and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art
Visiting Artist, Integrative Studio, Prof. Gyun Hur, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Guest Artist, SFAI Tilt Podcast: Liminality, Disembodiment & Conspicuous Concealment, Santa Fe, NM - link
Guest Artist, BRIC X HOME, interview with Curator Harry Weil, Brooklyn, NY
PRESS:
2023
Denowski, Dennis, “‘Gathering’ at Tiger Strikes Asteroid and Five Myles Galleries, Brooklyn (Review)”, Arte Fuse, July 25 - link
McQuaid, Cate, “Mimi Bai plays ‘Hide and See’ at the Boston Center for the Arts’s Mills Gallery”, The Boston Globe, February 7 - link
2020
Kramer, Julia Gomez, “Death, As Seen by 8 Female Artists”, The Cut, March 10 - link
Hubert, Craig, “Artists Explore Mourning and Loss at BRIC’s ‘Death Becomes Her’ Exhibition in Fort Greene”, Brownstoner, February 25 - link
Herman, Gabe, “New Exhibit in Brooklyn aims to open conversations around death”, AMNY, February 23 - link
Home page photograph: Sam B. Jones