1969年生于福建省漳州市，1992年毕业于浙江美术学院版画系。现任天津美术学院院长、中央美术学院教授。创作涉及书法、水墨绘画、摄影、录像、装置、剧场等多种方式。
曾出版《总体艺术论》、《影像与后现代》、《给我一个面具》、《自由的有限性》、《重要的是现场》、《摄影之后的摄影》、《剧透》、《无知者》、《实验主义者》、《失败者》等艺术理论著作。主要作品集有《万物有灵》、《邱志杰：无知者的破冰史》、《时间的形状：邱志杰的光书法摄影》、《莫愁：邱志杰近作》、《记忆考古》等。
曾在国内外美术馆举办几十次个展，并参加过数百个群展。策划了1996年中国最早的录像艺术展《现象与影像》，以及1999年到2005年之间推介青年一代艺术家的“后感性”系列展览。2012年第九届上海双年展“重新发电”总策展人。2017年度威尼斯双年展中国馆策展人。
2003年以来投身于当代艺术教育。其“总体艺术”理念以文化研究为基础，发展出一种将观察、造物、现场、事件、写作和策展等糅合于一体的实践，寻求艺术与人生、艺术与社会的贯通。近年来致力于实验艺术教育体系尤其是社会性艺术和科技艺术的构建。2017年在中央美术学院创立了EAST科技艺术教育国际联盟。
邱志杰出版的重要著作包括：《邱志杰 文字生涯》金泽21世纪美术馆 2023、《给邱家瓦的三十封信》云南出版集团 晨光出版社 2023、《知识地理学》意大利SKIRA出版社 2021、《寰宇全图》德国Buchhandlung Walther Konig出版社 2019、《不羁之旅》意大利Mousee出版社 2018、《蓝图中的独角兽》荷兰Witte de With美术馆 2016、《偶像的黄昏》柏林世界文化馆 2009、《记忆考古》北京长征空间 2007、《实验主义者》广西师大出版社 2020、《如何成为无知者》广西师大出版社 2020、《如何成为失败者》广西师大出版社 2020、《剧透》广西师大出版社 2020、《万物有灵》湖南美术出版社 2015、《邱注上元灯彩计划》吉林出版集团 2015、《总体艺术论》上海锦绣文章出版社 2012、《无知者的破冰史》文化艺术出版社 2009、《总体艺术创作基础教程》 湖北美术出版社 2008、《摄影之后的摄影》中国人民大学出版社 2004、《给我一个面具》中国人民大学出版社 2002、《重要的是现场》中国人民大学出版社2002、《自由的有限性》中国人民大学出版社 2002、《影像与后现代》湖南美术出版社2002、《邱志杰》福建美术出版社 2000。
Born in 1969, in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China, Qiu graduated in 1992 from the Printmaking Department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art, CAA). He is the Vice President and professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and professor of the School of Intermedia Art at the China Academy of Art. As an artist, Qiu Zhijie is known for his calligraphy and ink painting, photography, video, installation, and performance works.
As an art writer, Qiu Zhijie has published dozens of books includingOn TotalArt,The Image and Post-Modernism,Give Me a Mask,The Limit of Freedom,Post-Photography Photography,Experimentalist, How to Become a Loser,How to Become Ignorant, The Spoiler, etc. Catalogs of his work includeBreaking Through the Ice,The Shape of Time,Archeology of Memory, etc.
He held dozens of solo exhibitions in art museums both domestically and internationally and participated in hundreds of group exhibitions. He was also the curator of the first video art exhibitionPhenomena / Image in China in 1996. He curated a series of “Post-sense Sensibility” exhibitions between 1999 and 2005 promoting the young generation of Chinese artists. In 2012 he was the chief curator of the 9th Shanghai Biennale “Reactivation”, in 2017 he was the chief curator of the Chinese Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale.
Qiu has been engaged in contemporary art education since 2003. His concept of Total Art is based on cultural research, from where he developed a practice that integrates observation, creation, scene, event, writing, and curation, seeking a thorough connection between art and life and art and society. In recent years, he has been committed to the construction of an experimental art education system, especially for social and technological arts. In 2017, he established the EAST International Alliance for Sci-Tech Arts at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Important published books includuing:Qiu Zhijie Living Writing,21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2023;Thirty Letters to Qiu Jiawa,Aurora Publishing House, 2023;Geography of Knowledge, Skira, Italy, 2021; Mappa Muddi, Buchhandlung Walther König, Germany, 2019;Journeys Without Arrivals,Mousse Magazine and Publishing, 2018;Unicorns in a Blueprint,Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, 2016; Twilight of the idols, House of World Cultures, 2009;Archeology of Memory,Long March Space, 2007;Experimentalist,Guangxi Normal University Press, 2020;How to Become Ignorant, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2020;How to Become a Loser, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2020;The Spoiler,Guangxi Normal University Press, 2020;Talking To Things,Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2015;JINLING Chronicle Theater Project,Jilin Publishing Group, 2015;On Total Art,Shanghai Jinxiu Wenzhang Publishing House, 2012;Breaking The Ice a History,Culture and Art Publishing House, 2009;Basic Course of the Plastic of Total Art,Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, 2008;Post-Photography Photography, China Renmin University Press, 2004;Give Me a Mask, China Renmin University Press, 2002;The Scene Is Most Important, China Renmin University Press, 2002;The Boundary of Freedom, China Renmin University Press, 2002;The Image and Post-Modernism, Hunan Fine Art Publishing House;Qiu Zhijie, Fujian Art Publishing House, 2000.
