Michael Wang uses systems that operate at a global scale as media for art, addressing climate change, species distribution, resource allocation and the global economy. Recent large-scale works include 10000 li, 100 billion kilowatt-hours, a work that harnessed Shanghai’s hydropower-fueled electric grid to create a facsimile of the glaciers at the origin of the Yangtze river (included in the 13th Shanghai Biennale in 2021) and First Forest, a living replica of a Carboniferous forest installed in a disused coal-gas plant (included in Manifesta 12 in 2018).

Selected solo exhibitions include: Lake Tai, Prada Rong Zhai, Shanghai (2022-23), Extinct in New York, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center at Governors Island, New York (organized by Swiss Institute, 2019), World Trade, Foxy Production, New York (2017); Extinct in the Wild, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2017); and RIVALS, Andrea Rosen Gallery 2, New York (2014-15). In 2017, Wang was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant.