Rockbund Art Museum

The Rockbund Art Museum is proud to initiate its first project under ‘Curatorial Practices in Asia’, a new research platform dedicated to different local contexts situated in the region. For 2018, the platform has been organized in collaboration with the independent curator Biljana Ciric dedicated to exhibition histories in China and Southeast Asia. Since the beginning of this year, a series of public events and activities have been dedicated to this regional exchange in extension to the second installment of an on-going project by the curator, which culminates into a two-day assembly on the 24th and 25th November 2018, held in partnership with Shanghai Study Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

In addition to these discursive events, a Reading Room and an open-call research grant provide another important layer to the project. Currently on display in the museum first floor, the Reading Room provides a diverse collection of resources available to the public: primary archival material, critical readers, original catalogues, artist books, and out-of-print locally produced publications. The museum has also organized an open-call grant to support young researchers to initiate research into overlooked histories related to Mainland China.

The Rockbund Art Museum is proud to initiate its first project under ‘Curatorial Practices in Asia’, a new research platform dedicated to different local contexts situated in the region. For 2018, the platform has been organized in collaboration with the independent curator Biljana Ciric dedicated to exhibition histories in China and Southeast Asia. Since the beginning of this year, a series of public events and activities have been dedicated to this regional exchange in extension to the second installment of an on-going project by the curator, which culminates into a two-day assembly on the 24th and 25th November 2018, held in partnership with Shanghai Study Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

In addition to these discursive events, a Reading Room and an open-call research grant provide another important layer to the project. Currently on display in the museum first floor, the Reading Room provides a diverse collection of resources available to the public: primary archival material, critical readers, original catalogues, artist books, and out-of-print locally produced publications. The museum has also organized an open-call grant to support young researchers to initiate research into overlooked histories related to Mainland China.

About the Assembly

Looking specifically at exhibitions from China and Southeast Asia during the 90s, a series of case studies, roundtable discussions, and keynote speeches will examine the possibilities of exhibitions as a form and medium. They will explore how exhibitions can be read and understood across different social and cultural contexts, highlighting differences within the region, whilst also inviting new approaches and methodologies to pin-point areas for comparative forms of research. The research platform looks to draw further awareness towards the specificity and diversity of practices found within Asia—thereby looking to contribute decisively towards a (re)mapping of exhibition practices and histories using the different perspectives and local contexts found in this region.

The keynote speakers include Qiu Zhijie, who will discuss exhibition-making practices in China through the prism of the Post Sensibility movement; Patrick D. Flores will provide a context of Southeast Asia in relationship to his concept of the ‘exhibitionary’; and Zdenka Badovinac will reflect on the gestures of re-enacting exhibitions from the era of Yugoslavia, raising questions about what actions to take once a historical exhibition archive is created and how it can be activated in the future again. Other presentations and discussions featured will expand these topics towards other directions, engaging with themes related to the question of temporality, performativity, festival formats, nation identities, gender and representation—from a survey of different historical overviews, the legacy of artist-organized exhibitions will be considered, as well as the roles operated by curators during this period. From these histories, this collective platform will further enable comparative research to go beyond the project into future collaborations.

About the Assembly

Looking specifically at exhibitions from China and Southeast Asia during the 90s, a series of case studies, roundtable discussions, and keynote speeches will examine the possibilities of exhibitions as a form and medium. They will explore how exhibitions can be read and understood across different social and cultural contexts, highlighting differences within the region, whilst also inviting new approaches and methodologies to pin-point areas for comparative forms of research. The research platform looks to draw further awareness towards the specificity and diversity of practices found within Asia—thereby looking to contribute decisively towards a (re)mapping of exhibition practices and histories using the different perspectives and local contexts found in this region.

The keynote speakers include Qiu Zhijie, who will discuss exhibition-making practices in China through the prism of the Post Sensibility movement; Patrick D. Flores will provide a context of Southeast Asia in relationship to his concept of the ‘exhibitionary’; and Zdenka Badovinac will reflect on the gestures of re-enacting exhibitions from the era of Yugoslavia, raising questions about what actions to take once a historical exhibition archive is created and how it can be activated in the future again. Other presentations and discussions featured will expand these topics towards other directions, engaging with themes related to the question of temporality, performativity, festival formats, nation identities, gender and representation—from a survey of different historical overviews, the legacy of artist-organized exhibitions will be considered, as well as the roles operated by curators during this period. From these histories, this collective platform will further enable comparative research to go beyond the project into future collaborations.

The assembly is an important component to an on-going curatorial project initiated by Biljana Ciric titled From a History of Exhibitions Towards a Future of Exhibition-Making. In collaboration with different institutions across the region, including St Paul Street Gallery (Auckland) and Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai), the platform revisits the importance of the exhibition, exploring issues that go beyond the reflection of artworks in order to link art to a wider social context. 

2018.11.24-11.25 Assembly Agenda

2018.11.24

10:00-10:30 Opening Remarks

Larys FROGIER (Director of Rockbund Art Museum)

Biljana CIRIC (Curator of the project From a History of Exhibitions Towards a Future of Exhibition-Making)

10:30-11:15 Keynote Speech: Exhibition History of Contemporary Art in China in the 1990s

by QIU Zhijie

11:15-11:30 Q&A

13:00-13:45 Keynote Speech: The Exhibition Problematic and the Asian Dislocal

by Patrick D. FLORES

13:45-14:00 Q&A

14:15-14:45 Translocalism and Contemporaneity: Chiang Mai Social Installation, 1992-1998

by David TEH

14:45-15:15 Latitudes of Region, Dispersals of the Curatorial

by Carlos QUIJON, Jr.

15:15-15:45 State-Funded International Exhibitions from 1990s to Now

by Grace SAMBOH

15:45-16:15 Waste, Noise and Local Art Exhibitions: A Probe into Cultural Practice at the Edge of Taipei Basin During the First Half of the 1990s

by Wei YU

16:15-16:45 Round Table with Q&A led by Nikita Yingqian CAI

17:00-17:30 Cycles with Ends: Swidden Cultivation and Ethnographic Exhibits in Yunnan

by Maggie J ZHENG

17:30-17:45 Q&A

17:45 Closing Remarks

Larys FROGIER (Director of Rockbund Art Museum)

2018.11.24-11.25 Assembly Agenda

2018.11.24

10:00-10:30 Opening Remarks

Larys FROGIER (Director of Rockbund Art Museum)

Biljana CIRIC (Curator of the project From a History of Exhibitions Towards a Future of Exhibition-Making)

10:30-11:15 Keynote Speech: Exhibition History of Contemporary Art in China in the 1990s

by QIU Zhijie

11:15-11:30 Q&A

13:00-13:45 Keynote Speech: The Exhibition Problematic and the Asian Dislocal

by Patrick D. FLORES

13:45-14:00 Q&A

14:15-14:45 Translocalism and Contemporaneity: Chiang Mai Social Installation, 1992-1998

by David TEH

14:45-15:15 Latitudes of Region, Dispersals of the Curatorial

by Carlos QUIJON, Jr.

15:15-15:45 State-Funded International Exhibitions from 1990s to Now

by Grace SAMBOH

15:45-16:15 Waste, Noise and Local Art Exhibitions: A Probe into Cultural Practice at the Edge of Taipei Basin During the First Half of the 1990s

by Wei YU

16:15-16:45 Round Table with Q&A led by Nikita Yingqian CAI

17:00-17:30 Cycles with Ends: Swidden Cultivation and Ethnographic Exhibits in Yunnan

by Maggie J ZHENG

17:30-17:45 Q&A

17:45 Closing Remarks

Larys FROGIER (Director of Rockbund Art Museum)

2018.11.25

10:00-10:30 Opening Remarks

Larys FROGIER (Director of Rockbund Art Museum)

Biljana CIRIC (Curator of the project From a History of Exhibitions Towards a Future of Exhibition-Making)

10:30-11:15 Keynote Speech: Preserving the Heritage by Using It

by Zdenka BADOVINAC

11:15-11:30 Q&A

Two sessions in the afternoon:

13:00-13:30 Vietnam’s Art Scene 1990s — An Overview on Two Artists’ Practice

by Nhung WALSH

13:30-14:00 Exhibitionary Time: The Artists Village's Time Show

by SENG Yujin

14:00-14:30 What’s the Meaning of an Engagement that Failed? — About No Room, the 4th Exhibition of the Big Tail Elephants in 1994 at Guangzhou’s No.14 Sanyu Road

by Nikita Yingqian CAI

14:30-15:00 An Art Project in Text and Archives — The Self-Organization and Cross-Regional Practice of "Wildlife Starting from 1997 Jingzhe"

by WANG Ziyun

15:00-15:30 Round Table with Q&A led by David Teh

15:45-16:15 An Exploration of METALLURGY: Khin One and the Changing Art Scene of Yangon in 1997

by Nathalie JOHNSTON

16:15-16:45 Towards a Mythical Reality

by Michelle WONG

16:45-17:15 Mapping Apartment Art

by MIAO Zijin

17:15-17:45 From Women's Art to All-Female Group Exhibitions: The Emergence of a Female Consciousness in 1990s China

by Julia HARTMANN

17:45-18:15 Round Table with Q&A led by Grace SAMBOH

18:30 Closing Remarks

Biljana CIRIC (Curator of the project From a History of Exhibitions Towards a Future of Exhibition-Making)

About Shanghai Study Centre, The University of Hong Kong (HKU/SSC)

The Faculty of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong established Shanghai Study Centre in 2008. It is housed in the historical Post Office Building, on Suzhou Creek. 

The Study Centre aims to be a place where new ideas emerge about urban development in the fastest urbanizing region in the world. The public program at HKU/SSC invites critics with challenging opinions, architects with provoking viewpoints, planners with innovative solutions and academics with new theories – all with the aim of understanding the current condition in Chinese cities, and to explore beyond today and tomorrow. The goal is to be able to generate new ideas that can contribute to better, more intelligent and more interesting cities and architecture.

About Shanghai Study Centre, The University of Hong Kong (HKU/SSC)

The Faculty of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong established Shanghai Study Centre in 2008. It is housed in the historical Post Office Building, on Suzhou Creek. 

The Study Centre aims to be a place where new ideas emerge about urban development in the fastest urbanizing region in the world. The public program at HKU/SSC invites critics with challenging opinions, architects with provoking viewpoints, planners with innovative solutions and academics with new theories – all with the aim of understanding the current condition in Chinese cities, and to explore beyond today and tomorrow. The goal is to be able to generate new ideas that can contribute to better, more intelligent and more interesting cities and architecture.