Ou Ning's cultural practices encompass multiple disciplines.
As an activist, he founded U-thèque, an independent film and video organization, and Bishan Commune, a group of intellectuals who devote themselves to the rural reconstruction movement in China. As an editor and graphic designer, Ou Ning is known for his seminal book New Sound of Beijing. As a curator, he initiated the festival Get It Louder (2005, 2007, 2010) and launched the sound project in China "Power Station," co-organized by Serpentine Gallery and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. As an artist, he is known for urban research projects such as San Yuan Li, commissioned by the 50th Venice Biennale (2003), and Da Zha Lan, commissioned by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes.
Ou Ning is a frequent contributor of various magazines, books and exhibition catalogues and has lectured around the world. In 2009, he was appointed the chief curator of Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, and was chosen to be the jury member of the 8th Benesse Prize at the 53rd Venice Biennale. He is now the curator of The Solutions: Design and Social Engineering for the 2011 Chengdu Biennale and the founder of a new literary bimonthly, Chutzpah Magazine, which launched in April 2011. He is based in Beijing and is the director of Shao Foundation and a member of Asian Art Council 2011 at Guggenheim Museum.
