Pocantico and the Katonah Museum of Art Celebrate Shen Wei's Trailblazing Artistic Career

Exhibition to include new works of visual art, dance, and film never before shown in the United States   

Shen Wei: Still/Moving 
The Pocantico Center: On View October 18, 2025–April 18, 2026  
The Katonah Museum of Art: On View October 19, 2025–April 19, 2026

This fall, The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Katonah Museum of Art proudly present Shen Wei: Still/Moving, a dual-venue exhibition celebrating three decades of the boundary-transcending artist Shen Wei. 

This joint exhibition of The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Katonah Museum of Art will illuminate the full scope of the artist’s trailblazing practice, offering viewers access to Shen Wei’s extensive paintings, works on paper, choreographic compositions, and short films, including new pieces never before exhibited in the United States. While each section stands alone, audiences are encouraged to visit both sites to experience the complete exhibition. Separate tickets are required for admission.

At The Pocantico Center, the exhibition will focus on Shen Wei’s landscape paintings, reflecting his ongoing dialogue with Chinese traditional painting and nature. Often monumental in scale, these compositions possess a cinematic quality that compels the viewer’s eyes to dance.

“Over the course of an artist residency, performance, and exhibition this fall, Shen Wei’s multidisciplinary practice will bring every corner of the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at Pocantico to life,” said Meredith Horsford, executive director of the Pocantico Center. “This partnership with Shen Wei and the KMA has given us an extraordinary opportunity to embrace our dual identity as a charitable foundation and a presenting arts institution.”

The exhibition at the KMA will emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of Shen Wei’s body of work: the generative influence of music on his dance practice and the central role of choreographed movement in his paintings.

“Shen Wei is a true visionary who seamlessly transcends cultures and disciplines to inspire and delight,” said Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, director and chief curator of the KMA. “The Katonah Museum of Art is proud to partner with The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to commemorate thirty years of this artist’s groundbreaking practice through this milestone exhibition.”

Shen Wei: Still/Moving kicks off with live performances by Shen Wei Dance Arts, the artist’s international dance company that fuses disparate cultural influences to forge a startling new hybrid form of dance, at the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at Pocantico on October 17 and the KMA’s Marilyn M. Simpson Sculpture Garden on October 19. Tickets for Shen Wei: Still/Moving and the rest of the Fall 2025 Season at Pocantico are now available at pocantico.org/events.

EXHIBITION CREDITS 

Shen Wei: Still/Moving is co-organized by The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Katonah Museum of Art. The exhibition is curated by Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, director and chief curator of the KMA, with support from Elizabeth Monti, associate curator at KMA, and Katrina London, curator at The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. 

ABOUT SHEN WEI 

Hailed as “one of the most expansive, creative minds in the arts” (The New York Sun), Shen Wei is internationally renowned for his artistic vision as a choreographer, director, and visual artist. Born in China, Shen Wei trained in Chinese opera, traditional painting and calligraphy, and Western visual art. He founded his international touring company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, in 2000. Shen Wei’s paintings and performative installations have appeared in leading museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Power Station of Art, Shanghai; and the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. He was the lead choreographer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies.