Chen Chieh-jen was born in 1960 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and graduated from a vocational high school for the arts. He currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan.
In 1980s, the Cold War/Martial Law period in Taiwan, Chen challenged the limits of expression under the Martial Law system and the conservative art establishment with guerrilla-style performance art and underground exhibitions.

In 1996, Chen created a series of photographic and video projects that re-imagine, re-write and re-connect his experience of living in a marginalized region. Working with local citizens, Chen Chieh-jen combines experimental aesthetics with the unique poetic qualities of video to initiate dialogue and connections with audiences around the world. Chen emphasizes the use of visual art to suggest bodily memories, perceptions, elusive states of mind, and hard to articulate atmospheres related to ideological and political topics, especially those in this era of increasing neoliberal domination. His artwork is not only an act of resisting the historical amnesia that surrounds us, but is also about imagining new forms through which a “people’s history” can be written and new possibilities through which a “democracy of diversity” can be achieved.

Chen Chieh-jen frequently receives overseas invitation, and enjoys high reputation worldwide. His works were collected by several significant art museums, such as Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris; M+, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung; Kaohsiung Museum Fine Arts, Kaohsiung; Asia Society and Museum, New York; Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts; Artium Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte contemporáneo, Vitoria, Spain; Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris; UBS AG The UBS Art Collection, Zürich; COFF Photography Foundatio, Spain; DSL Collection Contemporary Chinese Art, France. Important institutions held the artist’s solo exhibitions include: MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei; REDCAT, Los Angeles; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Asia Society and Museum, New York; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris. The artist’s important group exhibitions include: Biennale di Venezia, Biennale de Lyon Contemporary Art, Liverpool Biennale, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Bienal de São Paulo, International Istanbul Biennial, Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Biennale of Sydney, New Orleans Biennial, Taipei Biennia, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Shanghai Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, Aichi Triennale; and photo festivals in Spain, Lisbo, Arles. The awards Chen has won include: 2018 The 12th Annual Artist Award, Award of Art China, China; 2009 The 13th National Award for Arts, The National Culture and Arts Foundation , Taiwan; 2008 PULSE Prize, PULSE Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, USA; 2000 The Special Prize, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea.