Public Programming
'THIS IS CHINA OF A PARTICULAR SORT, I DO NOT KNOW'
Asymmetry, 102a Albion Drive, London E8 4LY
3-5PM, 25.11.2023
Screening of ‘This is China of a particular sort, I do not know’ (2020, 34’) and ‘Another beautiful dream’ (2022, 14’) by artist Clare Chun-yu Liu, followed by an in-person conversation with Yuhang Zhang, Asymmetry PhD Scholar at Goldsmiths.
Set and made respectively in the Royal Pavilion Brighton and Harewood House, the two films feature historical individuals from Britain, China, and Taiwan, and the artist herself. The cast elaborates their views on the chinoiserie collections in situ based on their lived experiences. The conversations and monologues explore the representation of Chineseness as a visual language in the historic artefacts.
Following the screening, Yuhang Zhang will present his recently published short story ‘Boda Chen, the First and Last Dracologist’ on opium, live burials, and colonialism, tracing a clandestine thread to the dark side of history. Drawing on their shared interests, Clare and Yuhang will discuss the use of text, film script, and fictional ethnography in the postcolonial project of reviewing history, as well as working with cultural heritage in cross-cultural and Sino-British settings.
FREE ENTRY, TICKET HERE
BIOGRAPHY
Clare Chun-yu Liu is an artist and lecturer, she holds a practice-based fine art PhD from Manchester School of Art. Clare is interested in exploring oral history and lived experience through fiction and nonfiction to challenge the grand narratives. Her films have been screened and exhibited internationally, including at the ICA London, Raven Row London, Oxford University, New Art Exchange Nottingham, EXiS, Image Forum Festival, Kasseler Dokfest, Taipei International Video Art Exhibition, Goethe Institut Lisbon and Ming sheng Art Museum Beijing. Her work is in VIDEOTAGE Media Art Collection in Hong Kong. Clare is a member of Paul Mellon Centre Early Career Researchers Network and British Art Network.
Yuhang Zhang is a writer and critic based in London. He is currently an Asymmetry Ph.D. Scholar in 'Advanced Practices' at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he also earned an MA in Contemporary Art Theory. With Xingyun Wang and Chu Zhou, he co-initiated Djinn Puddle, an online Theory Fiction project. In 2021, he co-curated The Pineal Eye, a research-based exhibition project supported by Goethe-Institut Peking. Yuhang has contributed reviews and fiction writings to Qilu Criticism, Daoju, Kua, and other publications. His latest project, a theory-fiction of archives, unsolved murder cases, and the logistics landscape in East Asia, is set to be published in late 2023.