红砖美术馆创始人、馆长、策展人，在中国率先提出并践行“生态体验美术馆”的理念。2023年策划了“海蒂·布赫：皮囊之上”大展；2021年策划了当代艺术与航天科技跨界的展览“徐冰：艺术卡门线”； 2020年，策划了大型国际群展“2020＋” ，在面对突发疫情引发全球旧秩序的失效时，呈现重建新秩序的思考与行动。2019年策划了莎拉·卢卡斯亚洲最大规模个展“莎拉·卢卡斯”；2018年，策展了奥拉维尔·埃利亚松迄今在中国最大个展“奥拉维尔·埃利亚松：道隐无名”； 2016年，策划了“识别区：中国·丹麦家具设计”展，第一次将中国古家具以设计的名义与丹麦家具设计大师对话。他策划的展览还包括：詹姆斯·李·拜尔斯中国首次个展“完美时刻”（2021）；“加藤泉” (2018)、“安德里亚斯·穆埃：摄影”(2018)、“安德烈斯·塞拉诺：一个美国人的视角”(2017)、“温普林中国前卫艺术档案之八〇九〇年代”(2016)等，从不同视角建构起红砖美术馆对艺术的深层次、多维度探索与思考。
The founder, director and curator of the Red Brick Art Museum, a pioneer in proposing and implementing the concept of ‘ecological museum experience’ in China. In 2023, he curated the exhibition ‘Heidi Bucher: Beyond the Skins’. In 2021, he curated the project ‘Xu Bing: Art Beyond the Kármán Line’, which explored the intersection of contemporary art and aerospace technology. In 2020, Yan Shijie curated the large international group exhibition ‘2020＋’, attempting to open a multi-dimensional space for understanding the pandemic, public crises and social upheavals that have blanketed the globe. In 2019, he curated Sarah Lucas’ largest eponymous solo exhibition in Asia, ‘Sarah Lucas’. In 2018, Yan Shijie was the curator of ‘The Unspeakable Openness of Things’—the largest solo exhibition of Olafur Eliasson in China to date. In 2016, he curated the exhibition ‘Identification Zone: Chinese and Danish Furniture Design’ which was the first design-centered dialogue between Chinese classical furniture and Danish furniture masterpieces. Other well-received exhibitions curated by Yan Shijie include the first solo exhibition in China of the American artist, ‘James Lee Byars: The Perfect Moment’ (2021), ‘Izumi Kato’ (2018), ‘Andreas Mühe: Photography’ (2018), ‘Andres Serrano: An American Perspective’ (2017) and ‘Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art of the 80s and 90s’ (2016). The aforementioned exhibitions have constructed deep and multi-dimensional explorations and reflections on contemporary art from various perspectives.
