Art historian, researcher, and visual practitioner based in Chicago.

Yanlin Zhu is currently pursuing an MA in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese art, media circulation, and the material conditions of seeing.

His thesis, Pirate Visuality: Copied Media and the Conditions of Seeing in China, 1990s–2000s, examines how pirated VCD and DVD networks shaped visual perception and contemporary artistic practice.

He has worked across exhibitions, archives, and arts programming at the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, Don Gallery, Christine Park Gallery, and the NYU Shanghai Institute of Contemporary Arts. His practice spans photography, moving image, installation, and writing.