Born in 1957 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Zhang Peili is a pivotal artist in Chinese contemporary art and a critical figure in video art worldwide. Zhang received an MFA in oil painting from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art), Hangzhou, in 1984, and was affiliated with the ’85 New Wave movement, showing in the historic Chinese avant-garde exhibition at the National Art Gallery of China, Beijing, in 1989. Zhang helped start the new media department at the China Academy of Art in 2003. In 2012, he became director of OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai, a leading nonprofit center for video and new media.