The Harmonious Society Conference
29 September 2014, University of Salford, Media City UK, Manchester
The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art and the University of Salford are delighted to
present the Harmonious Society Conference as part of the wider Harmonious Society
programme of exhibitions and events within the Asia Triennial Manchester 2014.
The conference brings together leading international curators and academics with
exhibiting artists from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, to review and examine the
significance of Chinese contemporary art in the West. The conference provides a
unique opportunity to discuss practice-led curatorial research, which critically examines
Chinese contemporary art, and the strategies for its curation, from cultural and socio-
political perspectives. Simultaneously the conference offers a rare and detailed insight
into the artistic practice and ecology of artists’ development of those participating in the
Harmonious Society programme.
Conference schedule:
09:30 Registration
10:00 Welcome by Prof Allan Walker, Dean of School of Arts and Media and Sarah Fisher,
Director, CFCCA
10:10 Introduction by Prof Jiang Jiehong
10:20 Keynote: Prof Lu Xinghua (Shanghai)
11.20 Tea and coffee
11:30 Panel Discussion 1
Chair: Jiang Jiehong
Discussants: Lu Xinghua, Yang Zhenzhong, Zhang Peili and Mei Huang .
Please note that this session will be conducted in Chinese, translated by Li
Bowen
12:40 Lunch Break
13:30 Keynote: Prof Wu Dar-Kuen (Taipei)
14:30 Panel Discussion 2
Chair: Wu Dar-Kuen
Discussants: Chen Chien-jen, Yao Jui-chung and Chou Yu-Ling
Please note that this session will be conducted in Chinese, translated by Li
Bowen
15:30 Tea and coffee
15.50 Panel Discussion 3
Chair: Ying Kwok
Discussants: Leung Chi Wo and Pak Sheung Chuen
16.50 Plenary Discussion
17:30 Drinks reception
Harmonious Society – September 27th until November 23rd 2014
Harmonious Society is a key strand of Asia Triennial Manchester 2014 (ATM14). It is
the largest exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art in the UK to date featuring all new
commissions or UK premieres.
Over 30 dynamic artists – including major figures such as China’s Zhang Peili, Taiwan’s
Chen Chieh-Jen and Hong Kong’s Leung Chi Wo – have been invited to show work in
response to this era of unprecedented social, ideological and cultural transformation
through their individual memories, personal reflections and imaginations.
The exhibition takes place across six key spaces in Manchester: Centre for Chinese
Contemporary Art, ArtWork, John Rylands Library, Manchester Cathedral, Museum of
Science and Industry and the National Football Museum.
The current socio-economic vision presented by the government of Mainland China,
seemingly presents ‘no conflict’ but rather, almost poetically, a ‘Harmonious Society’.
Simultaneously our era has been characterised as increasingly destabilised and
challenging, transformed in the early years of the 21st century in terms of space, identity
and communication. Artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan investigate their own socio-
political situations, responding alongside artists from Mainland China, to produce the
Harmonious Society exhibition.
The curatorial team is led by Jiang Jiehong, Professor of Chinese Art at Birmingham City
University and a former curator of Guangzhou Triennial, supported by co-curators Ying
Kwok, Ying Tan, Mei Huang, Luo Yi, Chou Yu-Ling, Paul Stanley and Lindsay Taylor.
Artists confirmed for Harmonious Society are CHANG Huei-Ming (Taipei), CHEN Chieh-
Jen (Taipei), CHEN Wenbo (Beijing), CHENG Ching-Yuan (Taipei), HE An (Beijing), JIN
Feng (Shanghai), KAN Xuan (Beijing), KAO Jun-Honn (Taipei), LEUNG Chi Wo (Hong
Kong), LEE Kit (Hong Kong), LI Wei (Beijing), LIU Jianhua (Shanghai), LIU Xiaodong
(Beijing), Luxury Logico (Taipei), PAK Sheung Chuen (Hong Kong), TOF (JIN Feng, YIN
Yi and DING Li) (Shanghai), Annie Lai Kuen WAN (Hong Kong), WANG Sishun (Beijing),
WANG Yin (Beijing), WANG Yuyang (Beijing), XU Qu (Beijing), YANG Zhenzhong
(Shanghai), YAO Jui-Chung (Taipei), Samson YOUNG (Hong Kong), ZHANG Peili
(Hangzhou), ZHAO Yao (Beijing), ZHENG Guogu (Yangjiang), ZHOU Xiaohu (Shanghai),
YAN Bing (Beijing), YUAN Gong (Shanghai), ZHUANG Hui and Dan’er (Beijing).
Contributors
CHEN Chien-Jen
Born in 1960, Taiwan, Chen Chieh-Jen lives and works in Taipei. His recent solo
exhibitions include Chen Chieh-jen (MUDAM Luxembourg, 2013) and The Route &
Empire’s Borders II (Gävle Konstcentrum, 2013). He has also exhibited internationally
at Venice Biennale (1999 and 2009), and received the National Award for Arts (Taiwan,
2009) and the PULSE Prize of PULSE Contemporary Art Fair (USA, 2008).
CHOU Yu-Ling
Chou Yu-Ling is currently the assistant curator in residence at Centre for Chinese
Contemporary Arts. In 2009 she was assistant curator of Chen Chieh-jen’s exhibition
Empire’s Borders-Western Enterprises Inc. at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester. In
2010 she co-curated Plug in x Add on: Taiwanese Contemporary Art with +8 at the Rag
Factory, London. Writing extensively on contemporary art in Taiwan and China, she was
awarded the Third Yishu Award for Critical Writing on Contemporary Chinese Art in 2013.
Chou Yu-ling is currently a PhD candidate at the London Consortium, writing on Chen
Chieh-Jen and archival culture in Taiwan. Her research interests cover moving images,
archival theory, artists’ films and visual culture.
HUANG Mei
Huang Mei is a curator, researcher and magazine contributor who works between China
and the UK. Her curatorial interests and research are focus on Chinese contemporary
art. Huang is currently the research curator at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, she
is also working with University of Salford to develop Chinese contemporary art research
and collection. In 2011, Huang received her BFA degree from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
in China, and in 2014, she graduated from MFA Curating of Goldsmiths, University of
London. In 2014, Huang curated exhibition Survey at Chengdu Museum of Contemporary
Art.
JIANG Jiehong
Dr Jiehong Jiang is Professor of Chinese Art, founding Director of Centre for Chinese
Visual Arts at Birmingham City University, and Visiting Professor at China Academy of
Art in Hangzhou. Focusing on Chinese contemporary art and visual culture, Jiang has
published widely both in English and Chinese, including most recently, An Era without
Memory: Chinese Contemporary Photography on Urban Transformation, to be published
by Thames and Hudson (London) in 2015. His international curatorial projects have
included the Fourth Guangzhou Triennial (2012), the Unseen, and currently, as Lead
Curator of Harmonious Society at the Third Asia Triennial Manchester (2014).
Ying KWOK
Ying Kwok is an artist and curator who has been working in Hong Kong, China and the
UK. With the Chevening Postgraduate Scholarship by British Council, she obtained her
Masters degree from Chelsea College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London,
UK in 2004. Kwok worked as the curator of the Chinese Arts Centre (now Centre for
Chinese Contemporary Art) in Manchester between 2006 and 2012. To encourage critical
thinking and initiate effective discussions around the values of art in Hong Kong, Kwok
founded “Collector Club” in 2013. Interested in various social situations and how human
behaviour changes in different circumstances, she initiates events and projects within
various social platforms, such as dinners and club nights.
LEUNG Chi Wo
Born in 1968 Hong Kong, Leung Chi Wo lives and works in Hong Kong. Leung has been
presented internationally at the 3rd Shanghai Biennale (2000), the 49th Venice Biennale
(2001), the 4th Gwangju Biennale (2002), the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Guangzhou Triennials
(2005, 2008, 2012), the 5th Busan Biennale (2006) and the 4th Marrakech Biennale
(2012) amongst others. His recent solo exhibitions include Untitled (2012), Hong Kong Arts
Centre (Hong Kong) and So I don’t really know sometimes if it’s because of culture (2014),
Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (Hong Kong).
LU Xinghua
Lu Xinghua is Professor at the Centre of Social Thought and Contemporary Art, China
Academy of Art. His research interests include modern Chinese politics, aesthetics
and Chinese contemporary art since 1985. He was member of acting committee for
2010 Shanghai Biennale. His recent works include Against Claims from Contemporary
Art (2012) and The Future of Political Art (2014).
PAK Sheung Chuen
Born in 1977, Fujian, Pak Sheung Chuen now works and lives in Hong Kong. He
represented Hong Kong at Venice Biennale (2009) and his exhibition Left & Right, Blue
& Sky won the best stand prize in Frieze (London, 2012). He also received the Best Artist
Award in the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (2012) and the Best Artist Award in Hong
Kong by the HKADC (2013).
WU Dar-Kuen
Wu Dar-kuen is the Chief Curator at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National
University of the Arts (TNUA), Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Animation, Taipei
National University of the Arts (TNUA), and a columnist for La Vie magazine. Specialising
in video installation and new media, his artworks have been shown internationally,
including Osaka Triennial (Tokyo, 2001), Jakarta Biennial (Indonesia, 2005), and a
collaborative programme in Taipei Biennial (Taipei, 2010).
YANG Zhenzhong
Born in 1968, Hangzhou, Yang Zhenzhong now lives and works in Shanghai. His work
has exhibited internationally on numerous occasions including Shanghai Biennale (2002),
Venice Biennale (2003 and 2007), Asia Pacific Triennial (2006) and Guangzhou Triennials
(2005 and 2012). His solos include Eternal Return (Moscow Manege Museum and
Exhibition Association, 2014); Overpass (Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, 2008) and
Yang Zhenzhong (Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 2006).
YAO Jui-Chung
Yao Jui-chung was born in 1969, Taipei. He represented Taiwan at Venice Biennale
(1997) and has participated in many international exhibitions including Yokohama
Triennale (2005), Asia Pacific Triennial (2009), Taipei Biennial (2010) and Shanghai
Biennial (2012). Yao Jui-Chung was the winner of the Multitude Art Prize (2013), and has
published extensively including the Ruined Islands (2007) and Mirage: Disused Public
Property in Taiwan (2011).
ZHANG Peili
Zhang Peili has been a leading figure in the Chinese contemporary art scene since the
mid-1980s, and is generally considered the forerunner of video art in China. Zhang Peili
has exhibited many times including Venice Biennale (1993), Lyon Biennale (1997), Sydney
Biennial (1998), Guangzhou Triennial (2002), and most recently, his solo show, Certain
Pleasures (Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, 2011).
Tickets: £20 (concessions £10), including lunch and drinks reception. Further details and
tickets can be found here