Zhuyang Liu
Sound Artist | Guzheng Musician | Multimedia Artist | Music Producer/ Composer
Zhuyang Liu is a London-based multimedia artist, sound artist, and researcher whose practice pushes the boundaries of Chinese instruments, experimental sound, contemporary art, and free improvisation.
Rooted in the traditions of Chinese music, they explore new pathways between Eastern cultural heritage and contemporary artistic languages within a global context. By integrating the guzheng and various Asian traditional instruments with sound installations, electronic music, theatrical structures, and spatial audio environments, they develop a distinctive sonic system and compositional methodology. Through the deconstruction and recomposition of language, instrumentation, and acoustic structures, Liu reinterprets Eastern musical traditions through an avant-garde lens, proposing new paradigms of listening within international contemporary art.
Breaking the "fourth wall" is a hallmark of Liu’s work; their projects often invite audiences to inhabit complex sonic environments where participation becomes integral to the composition. Characterized by a blend of dark humor and absurdity, their works superimpose everyday urban life with speculative or transgressive fictional worlds. Theirimmersive situations, often featuring hybrid creatures and rich sound textures, spark conversations around existence, the body, and the anatomy of political and social systems. Described by British media as a “sonic acrobat,” Liu continues to expand the possibilities of Chinese music within the global experimental landscape.
Liu began their training in the Northern school of guzheng at a young age under the tutelage of Zhou Xin (China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra), descending from the lineage of grandmasters Zhou Wang and 曹正 (Cao Zheng). In 2013, they won the Gold Medal at the China-Japan-Korea International Guzheng Competition. Their expertise extends to the Sanxian, Komungo, Koto, Gayageum, and various Vietnamese plucked instruments. In their sound experiments, elements of Chinese opera, folk songs, and Eastern folklore interweave with electronic improvisation and field recordings to create a unique intercultural sonic narrative.
Their work has been presented at prestigious institutions including the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Notably, they became the first Chinese musician to present a guzheng-centered free improvisation performance at the renowned experimental venue Cafe OTO. Their performances and exhibitions have spanned Chili Gallery (Solo), Hundred Years Gallery, Pushkin House, JZ Jazz Club Hangzhou, and numerous experimental festivals across Europe and Asia. They have also served as a guest artist lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, delivering workshops on intercultural sonic methodologies.
Liu’s trio album, Moving Mountains and Filling Seas, was featured in the seminal avant-garde publication The Wire, with further coverage in SuperELLE China and CLOT. They have collaborated and performed with international luminaries such as Hiromichi Sakamoto, Tim Hodgkinson, Atsuko Kamura, Maggie Nicols, Shabaka Hutchings, and Moor Mother, and engaged in musical exchange with seven-time Grammy winner Jacob Collier. Their collaborative projects have been mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Alan Silverman. As a member of the avant-garde collective “The Three Originals” (老三样), they explore the boundaries of traditional instruments, electronics, and poetry. Following the 2023 release of Water Dragon Temple, their new album Fire Serpent is slated for release in 2026.
Beyond their creative practice, Liu is an active researcher. Their writing, The Sonic Arsenal of Alternative Instruments: “Unconventional” Sounds, Noise, and Conflict, examines global instrument structures and sonic ecology. Building upon Steve Goodman’s (2010) Sonic Warfare, their research offers critical, previously overlooked perspectives on the politics of sound. By opening a dialogue on sonic power and institutional structures, their work continues to push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable within the musical and auditory domains.
Contact
Artist sound studio based in London, UK
For collaborations and inquiries: liuzhuyang74@gmail.com
or Instagram: @zystudioassistant (artist assistant)
https://zhuyanger.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/@zhuyangliu
https://www.redgoldmusic.com/copy-of-a-priori
刘竹洋（Zhuyang Liu），声音艺术家、青年古筝演奏家、跨媒介艺术家与电子音乐制作人。本硕毕业于伦敦大学学院（UCL）斯莱德美术学院（Slade School of Fine Art）当代艺术新媒体专业。
刘竹洋的艺术实践深植于中国传统音乐根基，致力于在国际语境中重塑东方文化与当代艺术的融合路径。她通过将古筝及多种亚洲传统乐器与声音装置、电子音乐、剧场结构及空间声场结合，在跨文化对话中发展出独特的声音语言与创作方法。竹洋的创作通过对语言、乐器与声音结构的解构与重组，以实验与先锋的视角重新诠释东方音乐传统，并在国际艺术现场提出新的聆听范式。她的作品突破了语言与文化的界限，使音乐、声音、空间与观众形成共同生成的结构，被英国媒体誉为“声音的杂技师”。作为新一代中国艺术家，她以当代艺术为媒介，将受中国音乐启发的先锋声音带入国际实验音乐领域，持续拓展传统文化在当代语境下的表达可能。
她自幼研习中国北派古筝传统，师从中国广播民族乐团古筝演奏家周昕，学脉承袭自周望、曹正两位宗师。2013年，她获得中日韩国际古筝大赛金奖。除古筝外，其研究范围涵盖三弦、玄琴、日本筝、伽倻琴及越南弹拨乐器等多种亚洲乐器。在她的声音实验中，中国戏曲、京剧、民歌与东方民间传说等元素，与电子即兴及现场采样深度交织，构成了独特的跨文化声音表达。
近年来，刘竹洋的作品多次受邀于国际顶尖文化机构呈现，包括伦敦大英博物馆（British Museum）、维多利亚与阿尔伯特博物馆（V&A Museum）等。她是英国实验音乐地标 Cafe OTO 首位以古筝为核心进行即兴演出的中国音乐家。其艺术足迹遍布 Chili Gallery（个展）、Hundred Years Gallery、普希金美术馆、杭州 JZ Jazz Club 以及欧亚多个自由即兴与艺术科技节。此外，她还受邀于伦敦大学金史密斯学院（Goldsmiths）担任特邀艺术家，开展相关学术讲座与工作坊。
其三重奏专辑《移山造海》曾被国际先锋音乐权威刊物 The Wire 收录报道，并受到 SuperELLE China、CLOT 等媒体关注。她曾与 坂本弘道, Tim Hodgkinson、Atsuko Kamura、Maggie Nicols、Shabaka Hutchings、Moor Mother 等多位国际艺术巨匠合作同台，并与七次格莱美奖得主 Jacob Collier 进行中国音乐交流。部分合作项目母带由格莱美获奖工程师 Alan Silverman 完成。作为先锋声音实验组合“老三样”的成员艺术家，她持续探索中国乐器、电子乐与诗歌的即兴边界。继 2023 年发行专辑《Water Dragon Temple》后，其新作《Fire Serpent》预计于 2026 年问世。
在创作之外，刘竹洋致力于声音理论与乐器研究。其著作《另类乐器的声波军械库：声音、噪音和冲突中的“非常规”》从乐器工具论与声音生态视角，深入探讨了全球乐器结构、地域文化、即兴音乐与制度权力之间的复杂关系。基于史蒂夫·古德曼(2010)的“声波战争”并提供了一个重要而未被提及的方面。写作打开了声音力量和声音政治的对话。而这也是在音乐和声音艺术的历史上一直吸引着艺术家和作曲家的一个领域，因为此讨论不断地推动被认为是音乐或听觉领域可接受的界限。
LAO SAN YANG '老三样'
An experimental collective of three Chinese independent artists Bianco Li, Corey Lyu, Zhuyang Liu, based in London. During their own art practices, the first musically encounter was a spark of mutual interests and similar cultural backgrounds. Bianco Li has her own practice on jazz, free improvisation and folk singing and was looking for collaboration on stage-based experimental performers. While Corey Lyu talks about his interest of Chinese Opera singing and does his own hand-made costumes for pop ups. Zhuyang Liu is a Guzheng player / string instrumentalist, but sometimes you'll find them bring the retooled instruments, electronics and fictions on the stage like soap operas. The first performance ‘mountain ghost’ took place in Amershan Arms, March 2022. A trio of 30min impromptu performance in conversation through multiple eastern, modified Instruments, alternative vocal experiment, body language and noise.
三位旅居伦敦的中国青年独立艺术家在疫情期间，不约而同地开始思考声音与表演新的表达方式。Bianco、吕博功【皂罗袍】，刘竹洋，歪打正着，在东伦敦一个地下场地，三个人扛着裂了条缝的二手筝、手作的戏服，吕扮上薛湘灵的行头、B带着eBay上五磅淘来的笛子……完成了第一次即兴对话。(‘山鬼’，Amershan Arms，London 2022 Mar. 15th）第二次演出的时候非常紧迫，三人在演出前一天草草写下概念并排练。Bianco在朋友发宣传的时候写道：“明天在别人客厅里演出（实际是个厨房），8点，还是老三样。”这个称呼就这么用着了。（Dangerous kitchen，London，2022 Sep）三人2023年6月7号的专场表演在百年画廊（Hundred Years Gallery）展开，五个不同概念的声音作品，观众默契地挤满空间。被英国当代艺术家Markus Eisenmann评价为“无可挑剔的演出”。
他们把改装乐器、民族乐器、人声实验、肢体、戏剧、合成器和段子带到舞台上，探讨伦理、神话、诗歌、当代生活、民俗、跨媒介表达、自由即兴等等，融合了一些神秘可爱的东西。他们的实验最终揭示了一个事实，我们是否需要‘另一种观看和聆听去接近更本真的样子？’
‘Zhēng Gǔ Dí ’ 2022
‘Guǐ ’, or ‘oni’ (Japanese) in the eastern context is both monsters and gods. Various things have their gods, god of land, of water, of wealth and of poverty. ‘Guǐ ‘ is a vaguer existence, a god without formal position. ‘山鬼’ mountain god, being as the ruler of the mountain, but cannot escape from its duty, its fate of lives and dies with the mountain.
https://bi1anco.bandcamp.com/track/zh-ngg-d
March 15th 2022, performance ‘Mountain Ghost’, Amersham Arms, London.
Live recording:
https://bi1anco.bandcamp.com/album/-
Innovative style of playing presents a soundscape that blurs myth and reality through playing around with the sound pick- up tactics. They bring about the fusion scenes of ethnic and contemporary life under the context of asian culture and their nomadic identities.
‘Zh ē ngG ǔ D í ’ / mountain ghost 山鬼 , 2022
Zhuyang & Joe Shone - Epic life doggerel verse 2022
When I first got on the Uber, I wasn't gonna talk to the driver . Because I like to look at the shape of people's heads in vehicles. the driver is a bald man, there are too many bald man here he is just normal@ but i’m actually emo because before i left the pub and called the cub i mean the pub beside her place, we only sleep at her’s cuz mine is doggy ..@#$%$$@@%
Written by Zhuyang Liu, Live 2022 improvisation
Zhuyang Liu - Guzheng, Electronic, Vocal
Joe Shone - Piano , Vocal
Recording and mixing Jan 2023
1. I like to observe the shape of people's head in the tube 04:54
3.Human being you just think too much of your LIFE 09:28