Bz Zhang 张迪
Born
Brenda Zhang 张迪

1991 (age 32–33)
United States
Alma materBrown University (BA), University of California, Berkeley (MArch)
Occupations
  • artist
  • architect
  • organizer
  • educator
Websitebz.studio

Bz Zhang 张迪 (born 1991) is an American artist and architect based in Tovaangar/Los Angeles, California.

Zhang's work is multi-disciplinary, including drawings, paintings, photographs, texts, objects, spaces, and maps.[1] Zhang is trained in painting and architecture, and their work includes themes of racial justice and climate justice.[2][1][3][4] They are known for speaking about issues of equity in the art and architecture professions, including organizing within the design field,[5][6] contemporary urban issues in practice[7][8], and building equitable futures.[9][10][11]

Education

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Zhang received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Visual Arts from Brown University[12] in Providence, Rhode Island and a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design, in Berkeley, California.[13]

They have taught architecture at the University of Southern California, University at Buffalo, University of Michigan, California College of the Arts, and University of California, Berkeley.[14]

Career

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Zhang is a core organizer with the Design As Protest Collective[15][16] and Dark Matter U.[17][18] They are a licensed architect in the state of California.[19] As part of SPACE INDUSTRIES, they were featured in Architect Magazine’s “Next Progressives” in 2020.[13]

Exhibitions

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Zhang's work has been exhibited in Los Angeles,[20] New York,[21] San Francisco,[22][2] Philadelphia, and elsewhere. Most recently, their work has been shown at CalArts[20] and the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.[3][11] They have also exhibited as part of the Design As Protest Collective in YOU ARE A(NTI)RACIST,[23][15] in Chicago, Illinois, and as part of Dark Matter U in DMUxLisbon,[24] in the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal.

Awards

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Zhang has received fellowships, grants, and residencies from the Journal of Architectural Education,[14] the Graham Foundation,[25] the University of Southern California School of Architecture, where they were the inaugural Citizen Architect Fellow,[26] Twenty Summers,[27][1] Gray Area Foundation for the Arts,[28][2] and Art Farm,[29] among others.

Personal life

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Zhang is Chinese-diasporic, queer, and nonbinary.[1][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Fulcher, Susannah Elisabeth (2022-05-11). "Bz Charts Stories of Home and Elsewhere". The Provincetown Independent.
  2. ^ a b c "Artist Brenda (Bz) Zhang Examines Sense of Belonging In the Built Environment". Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. 2020-07-17.
  3. ^ a b "Safer at Home: Brenda Zhang (Bz)". University of Southern California Libraries. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  4. ^ a b Storer, Abraham (2023-05-03). "Twenty Summers Holds the Past and the Future Together". The Provincetown Independent. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  5. ^ "100+ Anti-Racist Resources for Architects and Designers". Architizer Journal. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  6. ^ Roche, Daniel Jonas (2024-02-28). "Italy's culture minister responds to petition that calls for the "exclusion of Israel from the Venice Biennale"". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  7. ^ "How Buildings Impact Our Lives". WHYY. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  8. ^ Ozturk, Selen (2023-12-04). "Green Cities: A Matter of Life and Death | EMS". Ethnic Media Services. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  9. ^ Elkotbeid, Sarah (2023-11-13). "Social Housing: Los Angeles's Chance to Fight the Housing Crisis". National Resources Defense Council. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  10. ^ Shankar, Shreya. "10 Codes from the [UN]Commons : A How-To Guide To Worldbuilding". California College of the Arts, Architecture Division. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  11. ^ a b Speier, Mia (2020-06-24). "LGBTQ online collection connects to pandemic, protests". Daily Trojan. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  12. ^ "Growing community at the John Hope Settlement House". Brown University. 2012-08-02.
  13. ^ a b Architect Magazine (2020-08-10). "Next Progressives: Space Industries". Architect Magazine.
  14. ^ a b Albarazi, Heather (2022-05-06). "Inaugural JAE Fellows Announced". Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
  15. ^ a b Washington, Michele Y. (2022-04-13). "Chicago Exhibition Interrogates Design Justice and the Legacy of Racism". Architectural Record.
  16. ^ Singh, Ekam. ""If everyone does a little…"". New York Review of Architecture. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  17. ^ Pacheco, Antonio (Summer 2021). "Anti-racist Frameworks for Transforming Design Education". Oculus.
  18. ^ "Architecture Equity Steering Committee hosts Dark Matter University in event series on social justice in design". UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  19. ^ "NOMA Celebrates Award Winners at Sold-Out Unplugged Conference". Architect Magazine.
  20. ^ a b Zoormandan, Taya (2022-06-21). "New Exhibition Interrogates Mapmaking in Tense Renderings: the will and won't of spatial logics". CalArts.
  21. ^ "NSFW at OUTLET, Brooklyn". COOL HUNTING®. 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  22. ^ "The End of You". Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  23. ^ "DAP Collective: YOU ARE A(NTI)RACIST". Columbia College.
  24. ^ Murphy, Jack (2022-12-21). "In Lisbon, an installation by Dark Matter U makes connections between its members, works, and methods". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  25. ^ "Graham Foundation > Grantees > Dark Matter U". Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. 2023.
  26. ^ "The Inaugural Class of the A-Lab Architecture Development Program Celebrates Commencement". USC School of Architecture. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  27. ^ "Home and Elsewhere: Co-Creating an Atlas with Brenda Zhang (Bz)". Twenty Summers. 2022-04-13. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  28. ^ "Experiential Space Research Lab Artists". Gray Area. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  29. ^ "Art Farm past residents". www.artfarmnebraska.org. Retrieved 2024-05-25.