Jacob Zhicheng Zhang calls Nanjing, China, home and currently lives in Berlin. He has curated exhibitions at the Sullivan Galleries (Chicago) and LITHIUM (Chicago). Recently, Zhang is researching interpretations of archival materials in contemporary art, and he has partnered with the online presence of a gallery to publish an interview series in that regard. Rather than likening archivally minded artists to researchers, Zhang believes in the ability of art-making to critically engage with the archive and expansively reflect on its established presence.

In May 2019, Zhang received a Master of Arts degree in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied as a fully funded New Artist Society Scholar. His thesis addresses certain migratory politics in contemporary performance art, shedding light on the commonality and differences among the work of Ming Wong, Nikki S. Lee, and Tseng Kwong Chi.

Besides working as a curator and art historian, Zhang is avid about organizing public art events. With two other colleagues, he has co-organized Reminiscing/Reinventing, a symposium that explores diverse modern and contemporary technologically aided practices of remembering. Zhang has hosted and attended panel discussions. His interests in reactions to technologies, contemporary migration, queer sensibilities, post-socialist identities, institutional critique, and the ideas of reproduction and reenactment are reflected in the programs.