Kao Ra Zen

Kao Ra Zen is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet, rapper, curator, educator, and cultural organizer whose work moves across hip-hop, spoken word, theater, movement, music, film, and multimedia performance. His practice explores mythology, identity, transformation, existential questions, collective imagination, and the social and political forces that shape individual and communal life.

Working both independently and collaboratively, Kao Ra Zen creates performances and projects that combine music, poetry, movement, visual media, storytelling, and conceptual performance. He is a solo recording artist and a member of the hip-hop duo Blue Collar Rock Stars, the Nacrobats hip-hop collective, The Ungovernables, and other interdisciplinary collaborations. His work has been presented in Chicago and internationally, including performances, screenings, and collaborations in New York, Berlin, and Finland.

As a curator and cultural organizer, Kao Ra Zen has developed performances, film programs, and interdisciplinary events including A Performance Happening, Hippy Holy Daze, and Kulture Klash. He has also curated and produced programming in collaboration with arts organizations and collectives including NON:op Open Opera Works and the Guild Literary Complex.

His work has been presented at venues and events including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Symphony Center, Steppenwolf Theatre, Elastic Arts, DANK-Haus, Constellation, Alhambra Palace, the Chicago Hip-Hop Theater Fest, TEDx Chicago, Ear Taxi Festival, and the Afro Utah Festival, as well as internationally at the New Performance Turku Biennale in Finland and in Berlin.

Kao Ra Zen holds an Associate in Fine Arts degree from Harold Washington College and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His artistic practice is grounded in experimentation, collaboration, self-expression, community engagement, and a continuing investigation of the relationship between the individual, society, history, and the imagination.

Available Areas: North, West, Central, East, South, Chicago Metro

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