Gao Chu is an art historian and curator of photography and Director of the Institute of Social Archive of Chinese Photography at CAA. He is the Photography Department Director at the CAA Art Museum and Director of the Gaofan Photography Museum (Xiaoshan, Hangzhou).

His recent publications include: China (2019), Compilation of Documents of David Crook, Isabel Crook, and Their Family, 48 volumes (2019), Archive and Collections: Photography in China (2019, 2024), Memory of the Era (2021), Revolution and Revival: A Century of Images of the Communist Party of China (2022), Chinese People (2024), Victory of the People, three volumes, (forthcoming). His research interests include the construction and operation of photography museums, a topic he also explores through the courses he teaches offers related courses. He is a traditional darkroom technician and his printed works have been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art in the United States (2021-2022).

In 2013, Gao Chu and ICAST student Zhang Jing co-curated Ten Mile Inn: Rural Northern China (1947-1948) in the Eyes of David Crook. Since assuming the role of Director of the Institute of Social Archive of Chinese Photography in 2014, he has developed and executed numerous projects, exhibitions, and seminars including Visual Archive of Revolution in China, Photography in China During the War Period, International Photography Curators Conference, Red Flag Canal: Walking Footnotes, and Scholars and Epics.