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In today’s China contemporary artists and curators are moving towards more direct forms of social engagement. These include open performances, work with family archives, collaborative projects in the countryside, pop-up community stores in the cities and independent curatorial projects outside museum and gallery spaces. As a consequence, it is no longer possible to think of the relationship between contemporary art and society in China in the same way as during the 1980s and 1990s when artistic display was largely confined to conventional exhibition spaces.
This move towards more direct forms of social engagement raises questions about the changing significance of contemporary artistic and curatorial practices in China. It has therefore become necessary to re-visit the theoretical concepts and critical outlooks used to understand those practices.
Artistic and curatorial practices in China cannot be viewed simply from internationally dominant western(ized) theoretical perspectives. While such perspectives are valuable because of their conceptual sophistication, they often lack in-depth understanding of China’s particular conditions of artistic production and display.
This conference will critically explore differing cultural perspectives on the significance of socially engaged contemporary artistic and curatorial practices in China as well as the impact of translation between cultures on such practices. It is hoped that this multi-voiced, trans-cultural exploration will begin to reveal previously overlooked aspects of contemporary artistic and curatorial practice beyond those currently envisaged both within and outside China.
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In today’s China contemporary artists and curators are moving towards more direct forms of social engagement. These include open performances, work with family archives, collaborative projects in the countryside, pop-up community stores in the cities and independent curatorial projects outside museum and gallery spaces. As a consequence, it is no longer possible to think of the relationship between contemporary art and society in China in the same way as during the 1980s and 1990s when artistic display was largely confined to conventional exhibition spaces.
This move towards more direct forms of social engagement raises questions about the changing significance of contemporary artistic and curatorial practices in China. It has therefore become necessary to re-visit the theoretical concepts and critical outlooks used to understand those practices.
Artistic and curatorial practices in China cannot be viewed simply from internationally dominant western(ized) theoretical perspectives. While such perspectives are valuable because of their conceptual sophistication, they often lack in-depth understanding of China’s particular conditions of artistic production and display.
This conference will critically explore differing cultural perspectives on the significance of socially engaged contemporary artistic and curatorial practices in China as well as the impact of translation between cultures on such practices. It is hoped that this multi-voiced, trans-cultural exploration will begin to reveal previously overlooked aspects of contemporary artistic and curatorial practice beyond those currently envisaged both within and outside China.
Larys Frogier, Director of the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
Paul Gladston, Director of the Centre for Contemporary East-Asian Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham
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International Symposium Session
Morning Session
9:00-9:45
Sign In and Welcome
Larys Frogier (Director of RAM)
9:45-10:30
Paul Gladston (Director of CEACS, UoN)
Cultural Parallax and the Uncertain Conditions of Artistic and Curatorial Social Engagement in China
10:30-11:00
Birgit Hopfener (Post-doc Researcher, Dept. of Art History, Freie Universität)
Saving/Affirming Life through Art and Vice Versa: Developing Criteria for a Critical Examination of Qiu Zhijie’s Project, A Suicidology of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (2008-09)
11:00-11:20
Refreshment Break
11:20-11:50
Bo Zheng (Assistant Professor, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong)
Roar, East Lake!: A Comparative Analysis of Everyone's East Lake (2010) and the Chinese Woodcut Movement of the 1920s and 30s, Linking Contemporary Practices with Historical Precedents
11:50-12:20
Li Qi (Senior Curator at Rockbund Art Museum)
Setting Conditions: Curating Queer in China
12:20-12:30
Voon Bartlett (Project Manager, TRC: A-P, London)
Q&A –Discussant
Afternoon Session
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International Symposium Session
Morning Session
9:00-9:45
Sign In and Welcome
Larys Frogier (Director of RAM)
9:45-10:30
Paul Gladston (Director of CEACS, UoN)
Cultural Parallax and the Uncertain Conditions of Artistic and Curatorial Social Engagement in China
10:30-11:00
Birgit Hopfener (Post-doc Researcher, Dept. of Art History, Freie Universität)
Saving/Affirming Life through Art and Vice Versa: Developing Criteria for a Critical Examination of Qiu Zhijie’s Project, A Suicidology of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (2008-09)
11:00-11:20
Refreshment Break
11:20-11:50
Bo Zheng (Assistant Professor, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong)
Roar, East Lake!: A Comparative Analysis of Everyone's East Lake (2010) and the Chinese Woodcut Movement of the 1920s and 30s, Linking Contemporary Practices with Historical Precedents
11:50-12:20
Li Qi (Senior Curator at Rockbund Art Museum)
Setting Conditions: Curating Queer in China
12:20-12:30
Voon Bartlett (Project Manager, TRC: A-P, London)
Q&A –Discussant
Afternoon Session
13:30-14:00
Frank Vigneron (Professor, Dept. of Fine Arts, CUHK)
Shopping Malls as Art Spaces: Case Study, the K11 mall in Tsim Sha Tsui
14:00-14:30
Gan Xiao’er (Associate Professor, College of Fine Arts, SCNU)
An Imagined Country: Reaction to My Three Feature Films
14:30-15:00
Francesca Tarocco (Associate Professor, Chinese Visual and Religious Culture, NYU, Shanghai)
The Cosmopolitan Lives of Buddhist Images
15:00-15:30
Zhou Yanhua (PhD Candidate in Art History)
Fairytale: A Unique Social Engagement
15:30-15:50
Refreshment Break
15:50-16:20
Ming Turner (Assistant Professor, Institute of Creative Industries Design, National Cheng Kung University Taiwan)
The Work of Wu Mali and Social Engagement
16:20-16:50
Beccy Kennedy (Lecturer in Art History and Curating, MMU)
Visualising Chinese Borders in the 21st Century: Findings/Summations from the First Session
16:50-17:20
Liu Ding (Artist, Curator)
Carol Yinghua Lu (Chef Curator and Art Director, OCAT, Shenzhen)
Revisits and Thick Description: Understanding the Legacy of Socialist Realism in Contemporary Art Practice in China
17:20-18:00
Paul Gladston (Director of CEACS, UoN)
Q&A – Discussant
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