Dr. Xiaoyue Zhang is an interdisciplinary scholar and arts educator whose work bridges post-structural theory, new music, and contemporary art through post-qualitative research. With a broad multidisciplinary background, she engages with major cultural institutions to explore cross-disciplinary approaches to contemporary artistic expression, drawing on arts-based research (ABR) to advance innovative and inclusive artistic practices.

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Her recent research draws on Deleuze and Guattari's philosophical concepts to explore music becoming-minor in performance spaces. Through three key live music performance events—two at New York City music venues and one at a major academic conference on affect theory—this research maps how various bodies (human and non-human ones, including those of musicians, researchers, materials, and technologies) form assemblages that deterritorialize conventional musical and academic structures. This work presents how New Music generates novel sonic possibilities, while also demonstrating how academic research itself might undergo processes of becoming-minor.

 

Dr. Zhang has collaborated with acclaimed contemporary musicians and artists, including pianist Ning Yu and innovative composers David Bird, Aaron Einbond, and Anqi Liu. These creative alliances translate theoretical concepts into lived artistic experiences, pushing the boundaries between diverse artistic and scholarly forms while opening uncharted sonic territories.

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She earned her Doctorate in Education (research-based) in Curriculum and Pedagogy at the George Washington University in 2025. There, she was mentored by Prof. Jonathan Eakle and received guidance from Prof. Elizabeth A. St. Pierre, a leading scholar in post-structural and feminist theory. Before she entered graduate school, she completed a B.F.A. with a dual major in musicology and piano performance, laying the foundation for her interdisciplinary research at the intersection of music, art, philosophy, and pedagogy.