Born in Beijing in 1972, Zhou Yi received his undergraduate degree from the Cooper Union School of Fine Arts in New York in 1999, his MFA in oil painting from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2004, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Art Camp in 2005, and was appointed Visiting Associate Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. He joined the team of artist Ai Weiwei in 2009 and participated in the research, proposal writing and production of international projects. Out of his interest in conceptual art and theoretical thinking, he has in recent years shifted from being an artist to an exhibition curator. In the past four years, as Artistic Director of the Beijing Intermediate Art Museum, he has led a team to curate nearly 30 painting and installation exhibitions and more than 100 public education events.

Dong Jing, together with Zhou Yi, initiated the Recreation Project in 2017, which conjectures, researches, deduces and recreate of the trajectories and related backgrounds of the eight artists.

In 2021, Zhou Yi + Dong Jing co-curated the 9th OCAT Biennale Boomerang at OCAT Shenzhen.