Gao studied Art major in the Department of Art History at CAA from 1993 to 2005 before he started working and joining CPC officially. He served as Vice Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Executive Vice Dean and Dean of the School of Intermedia Art (SIMA), Director of the Institute for Collaborative Innovation in Chinese Visual Studies, Vice President of CAA and became the President since August 2020.

Gao was the first to set up the major of Intermedia Art in China. He took the lead in Chinese Mainland to establish a college education system for the training of art curators and contemporary art creators, cultivating the first group of Masters in Art Curation and PhD in Contemporary Art Practice in China. Among Chinese art colleges and universities, he led to develop a dual master's degree in Art and Science and offer education in Contemporary Art to overseas graduates. 

Gao proposed the educational vision of "College without Walls" and the concept of "Art/Education", advocating to drive education forward with dual engines, namely on-campus and off-campus methods, global and local channels. With the idea of "College as Community, Education as Communication", he was grounded in China and committed to building a network of local colleges and overseas study tours to promote multilateral dialogue between Western and non-Western societies. He established SIMA, the Institute for Collaborative Innovation in Chinese Visual Studies, the National Institute of Art Education, the School of Design & Innovation and other institutes in order to establish a two-way education system that connects inside and outside the institute and the nation. With an interactive teaching system of four dimensions, namely media experimentation, cultural research, art creation, and plan implementation, he expanded the existing landscape of art education and optimized the education model of Chinese contemporary art.

Gao has long been engaged in research on contemporary art and social thought, art education and curatorial practice. He proposed “art with emotion as social thought and part of the social process”, advocating art education with two-way integration of humanities and science, and education initiated from the Chinese land. He has initiated several art education research platforms, such as Panel 21: 21st Century Art/Education Roundtable, and China Art Education Forum (the "Presidents’ Forum" of Chinese Art Colleges). 

He proposed an "Asian vision" for the study of contemporary social thought, founded Inter-Asia School, a joint academic organization in Asia, promoted Modern Asian Thought Research, launched many Asian academic platforms, including Forum on Human Thought, Annual Conference of Young and Mid-Aged Asian Scholars, Inter-Asia Biennial Forum. Furthermore, he has also edited and published more than 20 academic books, such as Human Thought and The State of Postcolonial Knowledge.

In addition, he proposed to develop visual cultural connotations and curatorial approaches with Chinese cultural traditions, and staged many international art exhibitions such as the Shanghai Biennale, the Guangzhou Triennial, and the Hangzhou Biennale of Chinese Painting. He has long served as an academic member and jury member of international cultural and art exhibition platforms such as the Shanghai Biennale and the China Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, and has been on the annual list of 100 Chinese with influence on Contemporary Art for many years. 

In recent years, Gao has curated more than 30 academic exhibitions with great influence (more than 10 are international), organized more than 40 major academic conferences (20 are international), and published more than 50 academic papers in important academic journals and new media communication platforms at home and abroad (more than 10 papers in English in foreign academic seminars and journals). The books he published include The Book of Action: On Writing for Curating, Everything Deadly is Unspeakable, Mirrors and Masks: A Visual Analysis of Reality and Reality. He also edited more than 30 academic books and catalogues, such as Display Culture Series and Transmedia Art Series.

Professional Titles

Chairman of Zhejiang Artists Association

Vice Chairman of Zhejiang Association of Young Professionals

Deputy Director of the Curatorial Committee of the First the China Artists Association

Chairman of Zhejiang Artists Association

Vice Chairman of Zhejiang Literature and Art Critics Association

Member of the Chinese Presidium of the 34th Conference of International History of Art

Academic Member of Shanghai Power Station of Art

Shanghai Biennale and Asia Art Archive

International Fellow of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Editorial board member of New Art. 

Awards and Prizes

National Achievement Award in Teaching Postgraduates 

Asian Contemporary Art Contribution Award.