River Yuhao Cao
曹宇豪
The Glass Essays
River is My Hometown
I Found a Dead Bird (Performance)
I Found a Dead Bird (Moving Image)
Forest Picture
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ABOUT
CONTACT
River Yuhao Cao 曹宇豪 (b. 1997, China) is an artist filmmaker and performance artist based in London.
Inspired by the performative aspects of mourning in regional Chinese folk traditions, River explores it as a regenerative practice. Through this lens, he reconstruct landscapes from his early memories of Southern China in his work, while uncovering the perspective of the revenant. River is interested in how lamentation as a translation strategy interprets the fluidity of the subject.
Cao’s first artist film ‘The Glass Essays’ has been featured in Visions du Réel, Switzerland; Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada; Kassel Dokfest, Germany; South London Gallery, UK; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), UK; His previous work has been featured in B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Germany; Tofu Collective, Denmark; Sadie Coles HQ, UK; Saatchi Gallery, UK; Nottingham Contemporary, UK; and the London Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), among others.
River has been selected for New Contemporaries 2025 and received the Arts Council England National Lottery Project Award in 2024, the Film London FLAMIN Fellowship (2023–24), and was a finalist for the Film London Lodestars Award 2025 in the Artist Filmmaker category. Additionally, River was nominated for the LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award in 2023 and featured in the DAZED 100 alongside Queer Direct in 2022.
EDUCATION
2019 – 2021, MA, Royal College of Art, UK
2015 – 2019, BA, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, CHN
RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2025 Finalist, Film London Lodestars Award – Artist Filmmaker, Film London, UK
2024 Awarded, Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants, UK
2024 Artist Residency, Forma HQ, London, UK
2023 Awardee, The FLAMIN Fellowship 2023 – 2024, Film London, UK
2023 Nominated, LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award, Studio Voltaire, UK
2022 Artist Residency: Disturbance – Ugly Duck, UK
2022 Selected, DAZED 100, DAZED Digital.
2022 Artist Residency: Letchworth Garden City – Eastcheap Projects, UK
2021 Selected, 11th Selected, Film London FLMAIN / Video Club, UK
2021 Selected, London Grads Now.21, Saatchi Gallery, UK
2019 Awardee, Academy Award, Tianjin Academy of Fine Art, CHN
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS
2026 New Contemporaries: South London Gallery (SLG) & Middlesbrough Museum of Modern Art (MIMA). UK (upcoming)
2025 Kasseler Dokfest, Kasseler, Germany.
2025 Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York, UK.
2025 Beijing International Short Film Festival, Beijing, China.
2025 Cinetoro Experimental Film Festival, Toro, Colombia.
2025 Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada
2025 Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland
2025 APPARITIONS 2025: Interconnected Worlds & Human Movement, Central Saint Martins, London,UK
2025 San Dian Shui, Tofu Collective, Copenhagen, Denmark
2024 B3 BIENNIAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE, Frankfurt, Germany.
2024 ALUM NIGHT, Lethaby Gallery, London, UK
2024 I WILL HAUNT YOU FOREVER: Queer Ghosts Across Time, Museum of the Home, London, UK
2023 FLUID COSMOLOGIES, Forma HQ, London, UK
2023 UNDER BLUE SHADE, Roman Road Gallery, London, UK
2023 TRANS – FORMING TRANS – MISSIONS, Spanners Club London / Elevator Shanghai, UK / China
2022 DIASPORAS NOW, Reference Point, 180 The Strand, London, UK
2022 DISTURBANCE, Ugly Duck, London, UK
2022 MARTYROLOGY, Biblioteka, London, UK
2022 FRINGE FILM FESTIVAL, Rich Mix, London, UK
2022 REMEMBERING PLACE, ESEA Contemporary (Previously called: Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art), Manchester, UK
2022 I Found A Dead Bird, Eastcheap Projects, Letchworth Garden City, UK
2022 QUEER DIRECT - The Shop, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2022 GGI, The Yard Theatre, London UK
2021 LONDON GRADS NOW.21, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2021 SELECTED 11 Screening tour, Nottingham Contemporary / Spike Island / Phoenix Cinema and Arts Centre / Video Club / Film London / Fabrica Gallery, Nottingham / Bristol / Leicester / London / Brighton, UK
2021 RCA DEGREE SHOW, Cromwell Place, London, UK
2021 IMMUNITY GEOGRAPHY, Joy Museum, Beijing, CHN
2021 LANDSCAPE AND VIEWING, Himalayas Museum, Shanghai, China
2021 EVERYTHING FOREVER, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2020 302_REDIRECT, Institute of Contemporary Art London (ICA), London, UK
2020 ART & DESIGN EDUCATION FUTURE LAB, West Bund Art Center, Shanghai, China
2020 TRANSFER IDENTITY, SOUL, AND TIME, No Space Gallery, Beijing, CHN
2020 MADE IN MIND, SERIES II Experimental Video Screening, Gallery Mcube, Kathmandu, Nepal
2020 NO THEATRE screening tour, Kongti Lab, Shenzhen, CHN
2019 BEATA ALBUM, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
2019 ANTI-PROM, Instinctsca, Bussey Building, London, UK
2019 FLUTTERING OLIVE BRANCH, Greek Embassy, Beijing, China
PRESS AND REVIEWS
“这个主打激进的电影节，全是禁片级别影像” 56th Visions du Réel: This film festival, known for its radical lineup, showcases films that are practically all banned-level material. April 2025, Latina Li, Deep Focus (China). Online: Link
“曹宇豪导演的16min短片《玻璃随笔》入选第56届瑞士真实影展开幕场景竞赛单元” Director River Yuhao Cao’s 16-minute short film Glass Essay has been selected for the Opening Scenes competition section at the 56th Visions du Réel in Switzerland. March 2025, Deep Focus (China). Online: Link
A Queer East Diary: A Fish in a Forest. June 2024, Shini Meyer Wang, QUEER EAST. Online: Link
Haunted Bodies. June 2024, Harry Bayley, QUEER EAST. Online: Link
Artist River Cao talks about their series of self narrative spaces, ‘I found a dead bird’. October 2022, Lucy Basaba, THEATRE FULL STOP. Online: Link
Artist Interview: River Cao. March 2022, Gaby Sahhar, QUEER DIRECT. Online: Link
TALKS & PRESENTATIONS
2025 Artist Talk: CAP Alumni atist talk, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2023 Lecture: Mourning, After Mourning, Tianjin Academy of fine Arts, CHN
2023 Artist Talk: River Cao, Circularrom Artist Talk, CHN
2022 Artist Talk: Remembering Place, ESEA Contemporary (Previously called: Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art), Manchester, UK
2022 Artist Talk: River is My Hometown – Mourning and Moving Image, Goldsmiths CCA, London, UK
2021 Lecture: Mourning and Moving Image, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, CHN
2021 Panel Talk: Selected 11 hosted by lan Haydn Smith, Spike Island, Bristol, UK
2021 State of the Art Symposium, Royal College of Art, London, UK