Ou Ning’s cultural practices encompass multiple disciplines. As an editor and graphic designer, Ou Ning is perhaps best known for his seminal book New Sound of Beijing (1999), which helped define the capital’s emerging rock scene. As a curator, he initiated the Get It Louder exhibition which tours in the major cities of China every two years. He’s also the commissioned curator of the sound art section in China Power Station, an exhibition presented by the Serpentine Gallery at London’s legendary Battersea Power Station and then travelled to Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo and MUDAM, Luxembourg. As an artist, Ou is known for his involvement in urban research and his archive and documentation projects such as San Yuan Li (participant of the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003) and Da Zha Lan, commissioned by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. He is a frequent contributor of various magazines, books and exhibition catalogues and has lectured around the world. In the late 1990s, he founded U-thèque, an independent film and video society. Later, he launched Alternative Archive, a platform for alternative cultural activities. He joins the jury of the Benesse Prize at the 53rd Venice Biennale this year. He’s currently based in Beijing, China and is the Director of Shao Foundation.