Join a conversation with artists Miao Ying and Pixy Liao (in NYC) and Nabuqi and Tao Hui (joining remotely from China) about their respective practices. The four are among the seven participating artists currently featured in Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity at Asia Society Museum. All born in mainland China after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, these artists create works that reflect the generational shift shaped by rapid economic change and a mindset open to the larger global culture. Exhibition guest curator Barbara Pollack moderates the discussion, with translation and commentary by Banyi Huang.

The exhibition Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity will be open from 6:00 to 7:00 pm for program attendees. Admission is free with program registration.

Miao Ying (born 1985 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in New York, U.S. and Shanghai, China) is known for projects and writings that juxtapose western technology and ideologies with contemporary China, and coping with her Stockholm Syndrome in relation to Authoritarianism. Her works inhabit multiple forms; including machine learning software, websites, VR, installations, paintings, etc. Her recent solo exhibitions include Art Basel Pioneers (2021);  M+ Museum, Hong Kong (2018); New Museum, New York (2016); Chinese Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2015). Her work has been featured in international groups shows at Hawaii Triennial (2022); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2020); 12th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2018); MoMA PS1, New York (2017); UCCA, Beijing (2017); Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, (2016);  amongst others. She is recipient of the Porsche Young Chinese Artist of the year (2018- 2019).

Pixy Liao (born 1979 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in New York, U.S.) received her MFA in photography from the University of Memphis in 2008. Her work, although highly personal, is often witty and humorous. Liao uses her photographs, video, and installation to call into question stereotypical concepts of the contemporary experience. Liao is a recipient of a NYFA fellowship in photography, EnFoco’s New Works Fellowship, and LensCulture Exposure Awards. She has been awarded artist residencies at the University of Arts London, Pioneer Works, Light Work, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Nabuqi (born 1984 in Inner Mongolia, China; lives and works in Beijing, China) creates realms that question our understanding of the world around us and engage us in a play of spatial politics. From handmade sculptures to installations made from assembling ready mades, Nabuqi's elaborate installations prompt, with wit and theatricality, a reflection on constructed norms. Nabuqi graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. Her recent exhibitions include the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); UCCA Art Centre, Beijing (2017); Museum Beelden aan Zee, Den Haag (2017) and the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (2017). 

Tao Hui  (born 1987 in Chongqing, China; lives and works in Beijing, China) graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute with a BFA in Oil Painting in 2010. Tao traversed into the art of video and installation, drawing from personal memories, visual experiences and popular culture. Running throughout his work is a sense of misplacement vis-à-vis social identity, gender status, ethnicity, and cultural crisis. He is a winner of the grand prize of 19th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc Videobrasil, and was shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award for Emerging Artists (2017) and the inaugural Sigg Prize (2019). His solo exhibitions include OCAT, Xi’an, China and UCCA, Beijing, China.

Barbara Pollack is an independent curator, arts writer and educator living in New York City. A leading expert on Chinese contemporary art, Pollack is the author of Brand New Art from China: A Generation on the Rise (I.B. Tauris, 2018) and The Wild, Wild East:  An American Art Critic's Adventures in China (Timezone 8, 2010). In March 2020, she co-founded Art at a Time Like This, a platform for free expression for artists in crisis.

As a curator, Pollack has organized numerous shows among younger generation Chinese artists. She is the guest curator of Asia Society Museum’s current exhibition Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity.