Project Outcome
BUILD WHERE YOU STAND 就地取材: SYMPOSIUM AND VITRINE PRESENTATION
curated by Li Jia
Asymmetry, 102a Albion Drive, London E8 4LY
2–4.30PM, 07.12.2024
We are excited to present ‘Build Where You Stand 就地取材’, curated by our 2024 Asymmetry Curator-in-Residence, Li Jia, as the project outcome of her residency in London with us and Delfina Foundation. ‘Build Where You Stand 就地取材’ convenes curators, researchers, collectives and communities dedicated to socially engaged practices from China and the UK to delve into the expansive relationship between art and community and to foster mutual learning and exchange across contexts.
On 7 December, Li Jia will host a symposium by the same name joined by Dr Ruoxi Liu, Krystie Ng, Dr Stephanie Sipei Lu, Di Liu, and Hanlu Zhang. Drawing from her extensive experience as a curator of socially engaged practices, Li Jia will begin the programme with a presentation on the findings from her field research during her residency in London. The programme will feature presentations from the invited speakers, both in-person and remotely, exploring diverse approaches to socially engaged and community-driven art. Topics include community activism among independent cultural workers in China (Dr Ruoxi Liu), self-organised woodcut collectives in inter-Asia (Krystie Ng), socially engaged art in Southeast Asia and South China (Dr Stephanie Sipei Lu), grassroots artistic communities and the Lumbung experience at Documenta 15 (Di Liu), as well as socially-rooted practices curated through Social Practice Lab (Hanlu Zhang). Together, their presentations offer insights into the varied landscape of socially engaged art, research and curatorial practices, offering diverse strategies and pathways for engaging one’s community across different contexts.
In parallel, a vitrine presentation will be open to visitors until 31 January 2025. It will feature images, texts, archival footage and field notes on independent collectives and organisations rooted in community-focused and socially engaged work in China. Highlighted collectives such as Dinghaiqiao Mutual Aid Society, Social Sensibility R&D Department, and Fuyin.info exemplify the creative resilience and collective efforts of artists, curators, and practitioners. This display provides invaluable insights into the dynamic and impactful practices shaping community and social engagement in China, while also offering a framework for comparative analysis with similar experiences and initiatives in London.
EVENT TIMES
Symposium
2–4.30PM, 07.12.2024
Vitrine Presentation
On view 02.12.2024–31.01.2025
By appointment or during public programmes
Li Jia’s residency marks Asymmetry’s first iteration of a new initiative after identifying the need to create a focused opportunity that offers suitable parameters for a Mainland China-based curator to conduct independent research in another cultural context without having to integrate into institutional structures.
The residency is also an evolution of the collaboration between Asymmetry and Delfina Foundation, which to date has produced multiple successful fellowships including three Curatorial Fellows in partnership with Whitechapel Gallery, and two Curatorial Writing Fellows and the current Curatorial Research Fellow in partnership with Chisenhale Gallery. During their placements, our Fellows have curated and assist-curated institutional exhibitions such as ‘Anna Mendelssohn: Speak, Poetess’ (2023-2024), ‘Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70’ (2023), and ‘Galleries in the Groove: Three Visionary Dealers, 1960s-80s’ (2021-2022), and produced project outcomes such as multi-part programme series ‘Polyphonic Bodies’ (2022) and publication project ‘KUA 跨’ (2022).
ACCESS INFORMATION
This event takes place on the ground floor with step-free access in our multi-purpose programme space, with a fully accessible, all-gender bathroom.
Please feel free to inquire with info@asymmetryart.org if you would like to discuss any access needs. Please kindly be advised that requests should be made one week in advance of the event, and we will try our best to make accommodations subject to availability.
BIOGRAPHY
Li Jia is an independent curator and researcher based in Beijing. Her work focuses on the diverse and innovative practices of socially engaged art across Asia, the role of artistic activism in recent social movements, and the history of contemporary Chinese art. During her residency, she plans to conduct a comparative study on the relationship between art and community in China and the UK. Her research will explore the collective creative practices of ESEA diasporic communities in the UK, particularly at the intersection of gender and ecological issues. Li has curated over 60 individual programs and group exhibitions. She received the first Hyundai Blue Prize (Creativity) for her achievements in curatorial practice in 2017 and was awarded the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) Individual Grant in 2021.
Li Jia is currently the 2024 Asymmetry Curator-in-Residence.
Dr Ruoxi Liu is a departmental lecturer at the School of Global and Area Studies, the University of Oxford. Her primary research interests lie in investigating individual agency, grassroots creativity, and community activism(s) under restricted socio-economic-political contexts. From May 2020 to April 2021, she conducted an ethnographic study entitled ‘The Meaning of Being Independent: Precarities of Work and Lifestyles and Alternative-Seeking among Chinese Self-Employed Cultural Workers’ across Guangzhou, Jingdezhen and several other cities in China.
Di Liu is a PhD candidate in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. With research interests in connoisseurship, art criticism and socially engaged art, her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, Spike, and Artforum, among others. She is a co-founder of Reading Room, an independent research and publishing project.
Dr Stephanie Sipei Lu is a writer, researcher and curator. She holds a PhD in Museum Studies at University of Leicester and is a faculty member at the Research Centre for New Art Museum Studies, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Her research, teaching and curatorial projects focus on socially engaged art and the publicness of art institutions. Her writings have appeared in the Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, The Future of Museum and Gallery Design, Meishu, Museum Worlds, and Be Water Journal, among others. Lu is the translator of Active Withdrawals: Life and Death of Institutional Critique. She is the main author of ecoartasia.net, part of her postdoctoral project on art and ecology at City University of Hong Kong (2019–2020). Together with other authors, she is editing a book on social practice in South China.
Krystie Ng is a Malaysian researcher and curator based in Hong Kong. Her research interests focus on alternative art practices and narratives in contemporary art. In 2019, she co-founded the Inter-Asia Woodcut Mapping Group, a research collective focused on self-organised woodcut practices in an inter-Asian context. Additionally, she co-founded and conducted research for The Art of Coexistence: An Archival Project of Self-Organized and Collaborative Art Practices working group.
Hanlu Zhang is a curator, writer, and editor interested in art as a social practice. In 2020 she founded Social Practice Lab (SPL), a platform which curates socially engaged art and initiates collaborative projects. SPL engages topics and communities related to urban-rurality, migration, social justice, and alternative practices. She has worked on projects with Power Station of Art, Shanghai; Mulan Community Service Center, Beijing; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong; Sun Yat-sen University Anthropology Department; and ESEA Contemporary, Manchester. Zhang graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked at Artforum China and Guangdong Times Museum. She is also a member of Theater 44, a fluid network exploring collective creativity.