University of New South Wales and University of Maryland Symposium | Rethinking the Curation of Chinese Contemporary Art

Chang Tsong-zung (Johnson Chang), Director, Hanart TZ Gallery Hong Kong (Keynote)

Chang Tsong-zung (Johnson Chang) is a curator, director of the Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong, and guest professor at the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou. He was curator of the major international exhibitions “China’s New Art Post-1989” (1993-1997), Chinese participation at the São Paulo Biennale (1994) and Venice Biennale (1995), and the Hong Kong pavilion at the São Paulo Biennale (1996) and Venice Biennale (2001).

David Joselit, Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, Harvard University

David Joselit is Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US.  He is the author of five books, including Feedback: Television Against Democracy and After Art. Joselit is an editor of the journal October,  and writes frequently about contemporary art and visual culture.

Alexandra Munroe, Senior Curator of Asian Art, and Senior Advisor, Global Arts, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Alexandra Munroe is an award-winning curator, Asia scholar, and author focusing on art, culture, and institutional global strategy. She is the Senior Curator of Asian Art, and Senior Advisor, Global Arts, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, US, where she has led the Guggenheim's Asian Art Initiative since its founding in 2006.

Natalie Lo Lai

Natalie Lo Lai is based in Hong Kong. A former travel journalist, Lai is interested in the development and the construction of nature. She is a learner at the collective organic farm Sangwoodgoon (Hong Kong) where she also explores, as an artist and a Hongkonger, the lifestyle of “Half-Farming, Half-X,” a practice that seeks alternatives and autonomy.

Monti Wai-yi Lai 

Monti Wai-yi Lai is an environmental artist and a farmer recognized for works that reflect on the relationship between art and the environment. Lai received her MFA from Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, majoring in Environmental Art. Her artworks range from site-specific environmental installations to drawings and participatory art. She set up the Farmside Art Research Lab in Hong Kong to explore her agroecological concerns through artisan farming practice.

Jackie Menzies OAM, Curator Emerita of Asian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Jackie Menzies OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) is Curator Emerita of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, Australia. As Head of Asian Art at the AGNSW between 1980 and 2012, Menzies was responsible for numerous Asian acquisitions, publications, and exhibitions.

Frank Vigneron, Professor and Chair of the Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Frank Vigneron is Professor and current Chair of the Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong SAR. He received a Ph.D. in Chinese Art History from the Paris VII University in France, a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Paris IV Sorbonne University in France, and a Doctor of Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

Meiqin Wang

Meiqin Wang received a Ph.D. in Art History from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton, NY, US, and is currently a professor of the Art Department at California State University Northridge, CA, US.

Hongwei Bao, Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham (Moderator)

Hongwei Bao is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he also directs the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies. He is the author of the monographs Queer Comrades, Queer China and Queer Media in China.   

Jane DeBevoise, Chair of the Board of Directors of Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong and New York (Moderator)

Jane DeBevoise is Chair of the Board of Directors of Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong and New York. Prior to moving to Hong Kong in 2002, Dr. DeBevoise was Deputy Director of the Guggenheim Museum, responsible for museum operations and exhibitions globally. She joined the Museum in 1996 as Project Director of China: 5000 Years, a large-scale exhibition of traditional and modern Chinese art that was presented in 1998 at the Guggenheim museums in New York and Bilbao.

Yung-Wen (Mag) Yao, Assistant Professor in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan

Yung-Wen (Mag) Yao is an Assistant Professor in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan. Her research focuses on relationships between contemporary art and Chinese soft power. Yung-Wen (Mag) Yao is an Assistant Professor in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan. Her research focuses on relationships between contemporary art and Chinese soft power. 

Paul Gladston, Inaugural Judith Neilson Professor of Contemporary Art, University of New South Wales

Paul Gladston is inaugural Judith Neilson Professor of Contemporary Art, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He was previously Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures and Critical Theory, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, and inaugural Head of the School of International Communications and Director of the Institute of Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China.

Lynne Howarth-Gladston

Lynne Howarth-Gladston is an artist, curator, and scholar. She has exhibited her painting internationally, including in the People’s Republic of China, the UK, and Australia, and was lead curator of the exhibition ‘New China/New Art: Contemporary Video from Shanghai and Hangzhou,’ Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK (2015), which critically adapted modes of display proposed by the Yellow Box.

Jason Kuo, Professor of Art History and Archaeology, University of Maryland

Jason Kuo is Professor of Art History and Archaeology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, US. He has taught at the National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan), Williams College (Williamstown, MA, US), and Yale University (New Haven, CT, US). He was a Fellow at the Freer Gallery (D.C., US), a Stoddard Fellow at the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI, US), and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, US), and has received grants from the J. D. Rockefeller III Fund, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Henry Luce Foundation.

Alec Tzannes AM, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales

Alec Tzannes AM is Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is also founding director of the Sydney-based architecture and urban design practice, Tzannes, the work of which is recognized by more than 100 local, state, national, and international awards.