Last updated: 26 October 2026
Yin Xiuzhen is the Beijing artist who builds sculpture and installations from used clothing, from suitcase cities to a walk-in heart. Here you will find what the Yin Xiuzhen artist page covers: our take on her work, where it is on show, what you can buy in the UK, and our review of her 2026 Hayward Gallery survey.
Our take on Yin Xiuzhen
Yin has worked with second-hand clothes since Dress Box (1995), and her best-known series, Portable City, packs whole cities into open suitcases sewn from clothes donated by the people who live there. Her mother worked in a garment factory and made the family’s clothes, which runs through all of it. For the Hayward she built A Heart to Heart (2025), a heart you can walk inside. “The heart is our human engine and, in my culture, it transcends the mind,” she said in the Hayward announcement.
I gave her half of the joint Hayward show 3/5. The first room “landed more on the comical side than the profound one”, and the heart’s interior “felt somehow unfinished”, although the upper level of her exhibition “improved considerably”.
Yin Xiuzhen editions are not on sale in the UK at the moment. Her 1990s photographs come up at auction occasionally: three sold at Bonhams in February 2026 for between US$2,048 and US$3,840, according to Artsy’s price database.
Yin Xiuzhen: the essentials
- Born in Beijing in 1963, and lives and works in Beijing, according to Pace Gallery.
- Studied oil painting at Capital Normal University, Beijing, from 1985 to 1989.
- Won the China Contemporary Art Award and the UNESCO-Aschberg Award in 2000.
- Showed in the Chinese Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale and in the main exhibition of the 2019 Biennale, and had a solo project at MoMA in 2010.
- Tate owns her Weapon (2003 to 2007).
- Represented by Pace Gallery since 2010.
Yin Xiuzhen exhibitions: now on and recent
- Now on: the 16th Curitiba International Biennial, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil, until 15 November 2026, as listed in her Pace CV. There is no UK show on at the moment.
- Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart, Hayward Gallery, London, 17 February to 3 May 2026, her first major UK survey, shown alongside Chiharu Shiota. Read our review.
- Yin Xiuzhen: Piercing the Sky, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 9 November 2024 to 16 February 2025.
Yin Xiuzhen books and gifts you can buy
There are no Yin Xiuzhen prints or signed editions for sale in the UK right now. These are available:
- Heart to Heart catalogue, £20: the 96-page Hayward Publishing hardback with an interview by curator Yung Ma, from the Southbank Centre shop.
- Phaidon monograph, £29.95: Yin Xiuzhen in the Contemporary Artists series, from Phaidon.
- Tote bag, £7.50: printed with Collective Subconscious (Blue), from the Southbank Centre shop.
Our reviews featuring Yin Xiuzhen
- Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen at the Hayward Gallery review (Cool Factor 3/5 for Yin, 5/5 for Shiota).
Yin Xiuzhen FAQs
Can I buy Yin Xiuzhen prints in the UK?
Not at the moment. The Southbank Centre shop sells her exhibition catalogue for £20, and Phaidon sells her monograph for £29.95.
Where can I see Yin Xiuzhen’s work now?
She is in the Curitiba International Biennial in Brazil until 15 November 2026. Her Hayward Gallery survey closed on 3 May 2026, and Tate owns her Weapon.
What is Yin Xiuzhen known for?
Sculpture and installations made from used clothing, especially the Portable City suitcases and, at the Hayward, a walk-in heart.
Which gallery represents Yin Xiuzhen?
Pace Gallery, since 2010.
More from CoolCuration
- Hayward Gallery heart brooch: the small red heart sold alongside her show.
- Veronica Ryan at the Whitechapel review: another sculptor who works with fabric and stitching.
- Gifts for artists: our edit of presents for people who make things.
- Best affordable art in the UK: where to start collecting without auction prices.
Think we’re missing something, got something wrong, or want to be featured? Contact us.
Main image: Yin Xiuzhen in Heart to Heart, Hayward Gallery, 2026. Photo: Leo Garbutt, courtesy the artist and Hayward Gallery, via Art Basel. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates and prices last checked: 26 October 2026.
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