Art Basel knifewoman who stabbed a stranger at the art show to ‘see her bleed’ is an aspiring architect at graduate school in New York

• Siyuan Zhao, 24, allegedly stabbed 33-year-old Shin Seo Young  in the neck with an X-Acto knife at the Art Basel event in Miami on Friday
• An associate of Zhao has called her ‘understanding’ and said she recently moved from Oregon to New York City with graduate school plans  
• Police said Young confronted the suspect, Siyuan Zhao, about purposely following her around the art show and bumping into her several times
• Zhao pulled out an X-Acto knife and stabbed Young in the right side of the neck and left shoulder without warning or provocation 
• Some patrons thought they were watching performance art during the stabbing 
• Young, an aspiring architect, has been charged with attempted murder 

The woman who allegedly stabbed a stranger in the neck with an X-Acto knife at the legendary Art Basel Miami Beach is an aspiring architect who recently moved to Manhattan with graduate school plans.

Siyuan Zhao, 24, was arrested on an attempted murder charge for stabbing 33-year-old Shin Seo Young on Friday evening at the Miami Beach Convention Center in a corridor near an art installation entitled ‘The Swamp of Sagittarius’, created by Miami artist Naomi Fisher and partner Agatha Wara.

The Chinese national, who is in custody, graduated earlier this year from a five-year architecture program at the University of Oregon and had many friends, an associate of Zhao said.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Siyuan Zhao was arrested immediately by a Miami police officer , whom she made a shocking confession to. She has been charged with felony attempted murder. Zhao, a Chinese national, graduated earlier this year from a five-year architecture program at the University of Oregon and had many friends, an associate said

Shin Seo Young, 33, was stabbed with an X-Acto knife during at Art Basel Miami Beach on Friday in the Miami Beach Convention Center.

‘She was a very understanding woman,’ the associate, who did not want to be identified, told Page Six. ‘I really couldn’t imagine she would be related to something like this.’

The associate said the five-foot-four, 110lb attacker had an apartment on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.

Police said the Young confronted Zhao about purposely following her around the art show and bumping into her several times.

Zhao then pulled out an X-Acto knife and stabbed the Youngin the right side of the neck and left shoulder without warning or provocation, authorities said.

Young suffered several cuts, and a photo taken of her shows blood all over a white jacket that she was wearing as she sat on the ground covering her face while someone applied pressure to her neck wound with what appeared to be a white cloth.

She was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital and is expected to survive.

Rescue workers remove Young from Art Basel after she was stabbed with an X-Acto knife in the right side of the neck and left shoulder

Zhao was arrested immediately by a Miami police officer whom she made a shocking confession to and is being held on a $25,000 bail.

While she was being patted down by the officer, she said, ‘I had to kill her and two more. I had to watch her bleed,’ according to Local 10 News.

At the time of the stabbing, Fisher said she heard a scuffle at her exhibit and later saw Young being wheeled away by paramedics.

‘A guy walked up to me and said, ‘I thought I saw a performance, and I thought it was fake blood, but it was real blood,’ Fisher told the Miami Herald.

She explained that the stabbing happened in front of booth N29, where Freedman Fitzpatrick Gallery from Los Angeles was exhibiting.

‘It’s horrible … I’m so freaked out,’ Fisher told the Herald. ‘I feel nauseous.’

Art Basel Miami Beach spokeswoman Sara Fitzmaurice said in a statement: ‘The attack was an isolated incident that was immediately secured.

Miami Beach police Det. Kathleen Prieto said that at least one witness thought it was a performance with fake blood until he realized that the blood was real and a woman had been stabbed

‘The suspect was apprehended by police who were at the scene within seconds of the incident. … Our thoughts are with the victim.”

Young and Zhao were patrons of the art show and not exhibitors.

Another person thought the police tape around the scene of the incident was actually an art installation.

Last week, police and Art Basel officials announced that they had increased security in and around the convention center after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Security guards and event organizers worked quickly to clean up the blood drops left at the scene of the stabbing, and to keep the public’s attention focused on the art, the Herald reported.

Art Basel Miami Beach is attended by thousands of people from all over the world. The four-day fair closes on Sunday.

It is the extension of the annual contemporary art fair in Basel, Switzerland.