We are delighted to announce the recipient of the Asymmetry PhD Scholarship for the ‘Advanced Practices’ Programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. Weitian Liu, a writer and researcher from Suzhou, China, has been selected as the first Asymmetry Scholar following an international Open Call earlier this year and will begin his four-year placement in October 2021.

The PhD Scholarship at Goldsmiths marks one of three Asymmetry placements that will begin this autumn in London in partnership with leading UK institutions. In October, Asymmetry will welcome its first Curatorial Fellow at Whitechapel Gallery, London and second Curatorial Writing Fellow at Chisenhale Gallery, London.

ABOUT THE PHD SCHOLARSHIP

The Asymmetry PhD Scholarship at Goldsmiths is an academic opportunity within the field of artistic practice and cross-cultural research and is aimed at practitioners who identify with Greater Chinese heritage, based in the region or internationally. Awarded to one successful candidate per academic year, the scholarship covers the full four years of the ‘Advanced Practices’ PhD programme, including tuition fees, monthly rent, and living and research costs.

Weitian will use this opportunity to develop his PhD project at Goldsmiths, engaging with modes of knowledge production pertaining to contemporary art practices in East Asia and exploring the relationship between visual culture, contemporary art and civic practices.

ABOUT THE PHD PROGRAMME

‘Advanced Practices’ is an exciting new addition to the Goldsmiths’ MRes and MPhil/PhD programmes and invites participants to engage with the growing importance of practice-driven research within fields of knowledge production, public exhibiting and cultural organising. Through an interrelated programme of teaching, projects and collaborations, ‘Advanced Practices’ seeks to extend the ground for practice, providing a space to re-situate the relation between audience and exposition. Animated by concepts that vary from digital ecologies to choreo-politics and practice epistemology, the programme encourages applicants to invent and integrate new methodologies for practice into the wider realm of recognised knowledge.

Taught over a course of six seminars a year, the programme will be led and supervised by the renowned faculty at the Department for Visual Cultures, Prof. Irit Rogoff, Dr. Bridget Crone and Dr. Adnan Madani, giving participants access to a range of contemporary knowledges, in addition to full access to all graduate-research offerings across Goldsmiths’ departments.

ABOUT WEITIAN LIU

Weitian Liu is a writer and researcher from Suzhou, China. He received a BA in English from Shanghai International Studies University and an MLitt in Art History from the University of St Andrews. Between September 2018 and December 2020, he undertook the Enlight Foundation Traineeship at the University of St Andrews, where he completed an MPhil in History of Photography while cataloguing and researching the Franki Raffles Photography Collection at the University’s Special Collections.

With Ziyun Huang, Weitian co-founded QILU Criticism, an independent online platform for critical discussions on contemporary art in mainland China. He has previously worked on the curatorial team of Life Support: Forms of Care in Art and Activism (2021), an exhibition at Glasgow Women’s Library. Recently, he became a member of 'A School Project', a Suzhou-based arts initiative that operates as a platform for collective learning and knowledge exchange among practitioners within the field of contemporary art.

Partner:
Goldsmiths, University of London