Born in Shandong, China, Gao Wenqian first graduated from the China Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. He then continued his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, graduating in 2019. In 2017, he presented his first solo exhibition Hello World at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, followed by Home of Time at the Espace Marguerite Charlie in Saint-Denis, and Lands Cape of Pixels, again at the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019. In 2020, he exhibited Transferred Subject at the Jinjue Space in Wuhan before creating Sandbox at the Xie Zilong Photography Museum in Changsha in 2022.

From the beginning of his career, Gao Wenqian has had the opportunity to showcase his creations worldwide in prestigious festivals. In 2015, he traveled to Italy, Spain, and Colombia before venturing to the United States the following year for the Creative Arts Film Festival, where he was nominated for the Perfect Spirit Film Awards. In 2019, he participated in the group exhibition Jamais je ne dormirai at the AMAC gallery in Paris. Two years later, he took part in the 21st Seoul International Alt Cinema & Media Festival, as well as the 18th Experimental Film & Video Festival, also in Seoul. His journey is marked by several residencies: first in Iceland, for The Museum of Identity and Genius Loci in 2017, followed by the Galerie Crous in Paris and Berlin the next year, and an international residency in Chengdu in 2021. 

Gao Wenqian's practice emphasizes mediums such as interactive installations, video games, experimental films, and sound. He is interested in "meta-narratives" that evoke memories across different temporalities. Time thus becomes the guiding thread of his creations, allowing him to explore the complexity of the temporal rhythm imposed on humans by recently implemented technology in our contemporary societies. 

Gao Wenqian experiments with how various media overlap and negate each other, creating work that juxtaposes old and new technologies. As a result, he invites the audience to rethink the diversity of realities available to them. The different methods employed by the artist generate images situated on the boundary between virtual and real. 

Since the beginning of his career, Gao Wenqian has received several awards. He won Best Short Film at the third edition of the Berlin Short Film Festival in 2016, as well as Best Animated Film at the Sixteen International Film Festival in Jaipur. In 2019, he was awarded third place in the Agnès Varda Award at the Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, his home country. 

Gao Wenqian's latest project, AI Farm, serves as an interface between human society and the natural world. The experience simulates a virtual digital farm using computers, where artificial intelligence is tasked with maintaining the ecosystem's balance between flora, fauna, soil, and water. This work allows the artist to question the role of algorithms in today's world. Gao Wenqian is currently in residence at the Cité internationale des arts and is participating in the third edition of La Friche at the Palais de Tokyo, in partnership with the Institut français in China and the Jonathan KS Choi Foundation.