News and Events
Panel discussion at 3812 Gallery
Beyond the stars. Ma Desheng’s nudes: migration and cross-cultural modernity in the global Chinese diaspora
Date: October 15th, 2025
Location: 3812 Gallery, Unit 3, G/F, The Whiteley, 137 Queensway, London W2 4DB
Time: 6-8 pm
For the inaugural exhibition of Ma Desheng: Woman at 3812 Gallery, we are delighted to present a panel discussion with leading experts exploring Ma’s extraordinary series of female nudes and their significance within the web of global art histories in the post-Mao era and beyond.
Paris-based artist Ma Desheng (b.1952), is primarily known for his leading part in the early Chinese art group, the Stars (星星画会), active from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, whose landmark exhibition in Beijing sparked excitement at a key moment of cultural transition in China. In the past few decades, Ma has continually delved into the abstracted human form through paintings, prints and sculptures. His powerful nude paintings are immensely expressive and visually arresting, appearing in a variety of sizes and forms. They range from the muted, colourful, erotic, to the graphic and the monumental. They will be shown for the first time as a coherent body of work in the UK. The panel will explore the significance of Ma’s work within modern art movements from China at the intersection of Chinese and Western art histories and the complex stories of artistic migration in the global Chinese diaspora.
Moderated by Jeffrey Boloten, director of Art Business and Enterprise Programmes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, the discussion is led by Katie Hill, curatorial partner at 3812 and expert on Chinese art and Dr. Joshua Gong, art historian and curator.
'Ma Desheng began depicting the female form in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, as an expression of artistic freedom and a willingness to challenge conventions. However, it was after moving to Paris in 1986 that he developed his sensuous ink-wash nudes. Inspired by his exposure to modern masters such as Henri Matisse, these early works also reflect his ambition to renew ink painting through a shift in technique and a break from traditional themes.
After a car accident in 1992, Ma Desheng spent two years in hospital and underwent eight years of rehabilitation. When he returned to painting in 2002, his impaired mobility led him to forsake ink wash on paper and experiment with acrylic painting. Now working from a wheelchair, he often uses a brush as an extension to reach his large canvases— much like Matisse did in his later years.' See: https://lnkd.in/enzeqKCx
Catalogue: https://lnkd.in/ehg2KPhf
LI YUAN_CHIA EXHIBITION, WINSING ARTS FOUNDATION, TAIPEI
13th September 2025-18th January 2026
Invisible way
Dumb's music
Blind's rose
No painting museum
Let me think
Li Yuan-chia, 1968
The Winsing Art Foundation has invited curator Yu Wei to organize a solo exhibition of Li Yuan-Chia at Winsing Art Place. The exhibition re-examines the Foundation’s extensive collection of the artist’s works. On view are works from the 1950s to the 1990s, spanning four creative phases in Li’s career in Taipei, Bologna, London, and Cumbria, where he moved at the invitation of the painter Winifred Nicholson. The exhibition features a wide range of media, including calligraphy, painting, low reliefs, interactive works, hangings, hand tinted photographs, and archival materials. It seeks to reveal the notion of the “point” in Li’s practice — minimalist, mysterious, and rich in haptic suggestion — alongside the spiritually infused cosmological schema that underpins it. Li Yuan-Chia was born in Guangxi in 1929, and he made his way to Taiwan after World War II. Inspired early on by the modernist ideas of Li Chun-Shan, he forged a pictorial language that fused traditional ink wash with abstract expression. He was also a founding member of the Ton-Fan Art Group, which led the first wave of postwar modern painting in Taiwan.
LI YUAN CHIA
Winsing Arts Foundation (Winsing Art Place)
2025.09.13 - 2026.01.18
Wed. to Mon. 10:30 - 18:30
Free Entry
No. 6, Lane 10, Lane 180, Section 6, Minquan East Road, Neihu District, Taipei City
Ma Desheng solo exhibition at 3812 London
New work by artist Yarli Allison is shown at the Brent Biennial 2025
In Petri Dishes We Sing
26 Sep till 12 Oct 2025
Yarli Allison
In Petri Dishes We Sing is a speculative project by Yarli Allison (0-208) that builds an immersive world of care, grounded in existing stem cell science and guided by principles of decolonising medicine. Spanning two exhibition rooms, the story unfolds through moving-image works, sculptural dioramas, scientific diagrams, and a walk-in clinic installation, inviting visitors to step into a reimagined future of healing!
This is a free event as part of Brent Biennial 25: FIRE Ritual.
Moving-image (4k 28:30) with installation (map art, diorama sculptures, botanical landscapes, fictional tools), zine, and a webXR mini-tour.
Video teaser - yarliallison.com/work_stemcell.php
Exhibition on display daily, 11am-6pm, from 26th September – 12th October, with a workshop on 28th September.
Metroland Cultures, Kilburn, London NW6 6PS.
metrolandcultures.com/events/brent-biennial-25-fire-ritual
Dinu Li at Van Gogh House
Van Gogh House presents ‘Back-a-Yard Swag’, a solo exhibition of sculpture, assemblage and music by artist Dinu Li. The exhibition materialises an overlooked but important British history of blues parties in the homes of Caribbean communities, kept alive until the late 1980s.
Back-a-Yard Swag
Dinu Li
13th September – 19th September 2025
Admission: Free as part of the Festival of ENCOUNTERS
Comprising sculpture, assemblage and music, artist Dinu Li materialises an overlooked but important British history of blues parties in the homes of Caribbean communities, kept alive until the late 1980s. Li’s solo exhibition centres on the memory of one specific all-nighter he attended, where the playlist included tracks produced by descendants of Chinese indentured labourers in Jamaica.
Bass, echoes and reverb vibrate across the first floor bedroom of Van Gogh House, interspersed with the sounds of Chinese tribal mountain songs and a sampling of mid 1960’s rocksteady beats. Li’s sound system is situated next to flowing locks of faux hair, often adorned by partygoers, tied to loops of twisting and turning cane. They are juxtaposed by Chinese opera pom poms, net curtains and anchored to leaf patterned concrete bricks. On the ground floor, a dub siren is attached to a 1960’s gossip bench as an interactive object for visitors to play. This is set against a playlist of dub music coming out of another sound system sat on a burgundy carpeted staircase.
Back-a-Yard Swag acts as a beacon, shining a light on the descendants of Chinese indentured workers, whose recording studios in Kingston have made a significant contribution to the evolution of reggae. The objects and materials brought together by Li, form a structure of new familiarity, acting as cultural agents for polyphonic multiplicity.
About the artist
Dinu Li is an interdisciplinary artist working with sculptural assemblage, installation and the moving image. His work explores memory, identity, place, space and time. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, notably at the 53rd Venice Biennale. He has presented papers as part of Urban Encounters at Tate Britain in 2017. In 2022, Li was awarded the Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award. Recently, Li was supported by the British Council on a residency in China.
Acknowledgements
‘Back-a-yard Swag’ is generously supported by Lambeth Council, Fenton Arts Trust, Van Gogh House and The Wang Family.
MOMO - SILENT INK
默墨
by Xie Rong (aka Echo Morgan)
Date: 15th November
Location: SOAS GALLERY
Address: SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square,
London, WC1H 0XG
Time: 5 pm - 6 pm. (please arrive 10 mins early)
Curated by Katie Hill FRSA
Portrait by Jamie Baker
Momo 默墨 - Silent Ink draws inspiration from Jizi’s cosmic ink paintings and his struggles as an intellectual navigating political and historical turmoil, reflecting the silence of generational trauma and evoking today’s forbidden Heaven Songs from Afghanistan.
Renowned musicians BeibeiWang and Cheng Yu will perform live with Xie Rong, standing in solidarity with Afghan women’s unimaginable realities, embodying the call from within the burqa.
Fragmented sounds from the Silk Road, contributed by Uyghur musician @shohretttt Turkish double-neck baglama player @ozan_baysal , Afghan drumming recorded by @seedsofsounduk , and Kazakh kui by @dombra_dizzyac , weave into a powerful soundscape composed by Wang Beibei, echoing Rong’s own childhood struggles and amplifying the silenced voices and songs of freedom.
This performance reimagines ink as a vessel for the female voice, exploring the search for refuge in cosmic energies and the healing found through shared, broken silences. Here, the live performance becomes a journey into communal resilience, uncovering solace and strength within the collective voice.
Talk | Yingmei Curious about Vincent Van Gogh
On 30 October 2024
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Join Van Gogh House for a special evening in conversation with artist Yingmei Duan and curator Katie Hill.
Yingmei Duan (b. 1969) left her home country China in 1998, after being a member of the underground Beijing East Village group between 1993-1995 where she took part in the collective performance work “To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain”. The experience as a member of the avant-garde circle prompted Duan to turn towards the medium of performance, which developed further in Germany where she studied and worked with Marina Abramović and Christoph Schlingensief. Based in Germany, Duan travels around the world to present her performances, often collaborating with a wide range of people and exploring themes such as cultural shifts and social constraints.
She has recently completed a 100-day online residency with Van Gogh House and Newcastle University. Read Yingmei's blog here: vangoghhouse.co.uk/yingmeiduan
Book tickets here:
STRANGE WONDERS - JIZI AND PIONEERS OF INK FROM CHINA
An inaugural exhibition of Jizi’s work in the UK and works from a private collection by leading artists from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the diaspora.
https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/strange-wonders-jizi-and-pioneers-contemporary-ink-china
Curated by Katie Hill.
Academic panel discussion with Professor Paul Gladston: 12th October at 2 pm.
Works loaned from a private collection from Belgium, the LYC Foundation and courtesy of the artists.
The exhibition has been made possible by the generous support of the UNSW Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art.
SOAS GALLERY, 10th October to 14th December, 2024.
Yique’s Way - Mutuality In Extremes: Panel Discussion
The panel discussion features Professor Paul Gladston, Dr. Katie Hill, Dr. Hongwei Bao, and Yique
Date and time
Saturday, August 10 · 6 - 8pm GMT+1
Location
Ugly Duck
49 Tanner Street London SE1 3PL
About this event
August 10th, 18:00 - 20:00
Free - registration required
The panel discussion features Paul Gladston, Dr. Katie Hill, Dr. Hongwei Bao, and Yique, exploring contemporary Chinese art and its social and cultural impacts, often challenging Western views on democracy and freedom. They will examine the role of artists in society and the intersection of art, politics, media, and public perception. The panel will also address reactions to Yique's East London Socialist Core Values, discussing its political implications and media portrayals. Attendees will engage with experts who challenge conventions and expand our understanding of contemporary art.
Yique is a Contemporary Chinese artist whose research spans classical Marxism, the Frankfurt School's critique of society, and the social transformations under neoliberalism.
Prof. Paul Gladston is the inaugural Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art at the University of New South Wales, Sydney and a distinguished affiliate fellow of the UK-China Humanities Alliance, Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Dr. Katie Hill is currently Academic Lead, Asia and Senior Lecturer at Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, where she founded and directed the MA in Modern and Contemporary Asian Art.
Dr. Hongwei Bao is Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he co-directs the Centre for Critical Theory and Cultural Studies.
The exhibition and panel discussion were made possible by the generous support of the UNSW Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art.
Digital Residency: Yingmei Duan
Van Gogh House is excited to welcome artist Yingmei Duan as a digital artist in residence with Van Gogh House. Newcastle University (NU) is leading on a new networking project with national and international heritage partners National Trust, International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC), and the Artist’s Studio Museum Network to research and understand the international breadth of curatorial activity regarding commissioning contemporary art for heritage sites and archives. As part of the NU research, four artists have been commissioned to engage virtually with the rich history of three specific heritage places in England. Responding to Van Gogh House is artist Yingmei Duan.
Yingmei Duan is participating in a 100 day online artist residency at Van Gogh House. Over the next 100 days, Duan will document her residency on this page through weekly updates.
LINK FOR DIGITAL RESIDENCY: https://vangoghhouse.co.uk/yingmeiduan/
IMAGE: Weimin He Suffocation series—The Way to Dreamland. 2022 ink on xuan paper 70 x 50 cm
BANKSIDE GALLERY
SAN-XIANG: Works on Paper
Weimin He, Liu Hongzhi & Wang Chunjie
21 NOVEMBER - 3 DECEMBER 2023
Weimin He, Liu Hongzhi and Wang Chunjie studied at the School of Arts, Harbin Normal University, in the 1980s. After a reunion in 2016, the artists discovered how much they still had in common, in particular their shared passion for work in paper and ink.
Ink painting has a long and deep-rooted history in China, however, these artists tend to take the tradition into a more contemporary arena. Each of them has developed their own distinctive style, and their mutual goal is to utilise the medium to explore their innermost thoughts. San Xiang – loosely translated as ‘Three marks of existence’ – is an exhibition of works in response to the ever-changing world, revealing the artists’ struggle, bitterness, outrage and even despair at reality.
MAO YAN at PACE GALLERY, LONDON
https://www.pacegallery.com/journal/excavating-the-present-temporality-and-presence-in-the-recent-works-of-mao-yan/
Essay on Mao Yan by Katie Hill
Published Wednesday, Feb 28, 2024, Pace Gallery Journal
Out of the Blue at The Royal Palace in Milan.
The Apartment of the Princes at Palazzo Reale is transformed into vibrant experiences where site-specific installations respond to the aesthetics of the rooms by playing on visual affinities and contrasts.
Reflections on the Eastern Spirit and Wisdom in Contemporary Ink Art.
ART Power HK and 3812 Gallery will host an online panel discussion, titled Reflections on the Eastern spirit and wisdom in contemporary ink art, on April 9, 2020.
Mad For Real at Tate Modern.
Mad For Real (Cai Yuan and JJ Xi) present their banner project commissioned by Venice Agendas to mark the new decade.
A Window On… He Xiangyu.
Gain wider understanding and insight into He Xiangyu’s practice from a cross-cultural perspective, with this talk by Dr. Katie Hill at CFCCA.
Duan Yingmei: A Dialogue Between the Artist and the Art Critic and Curator Katie Hill.
Duan Yingmei presents a performative talk followed by a dialogue with Dr. Katie Hill, specialist in Chinese Contemporary Art.
“A History Written by Our Bodies”: Artistic Activism and the Agonistic Chinese Voice of Mad For Real's Performances at the End of the Twentieth Century.
Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University, presents Katie Hill, A History Written by Our Bodies: Artistic Activism and the Agonistic Chinese Voice of Mad For Real's Performances at the end of the Twentieth Century.
Rural Museums: Past, Present, and Future.
Rural Museums: Past, Present, and Future will explore the unique characteristics and current models of rural museums, shed light on successful global practices, and discuss the role of rural museums in placemaking and local development.
Contesting British Chinese Culture.
This is the first text to address British Chinese culture. It explores British Chinese cultural politics in terms of national and international debates on the Chinese diaspora, race, multiculture, identity and belonging, and transnational ‘Chineseness’.
Painting and Regionality in Contemporary China.
Join us for a talk by Dr. Katie Hill about the variety of aesthetics in painting traditions that have evolved in the many regions of China since the 1980s.
Qu Leilei: The Stars and After.
We are pleased to invite you to the conference Qu Leilei: The Stars and After, linked to the exhibition Qu Leilei: A Chinese Artist in Britain on view at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Artist in Conversation: Wang Keping.
Meet Wang Keping at Aktis Gallery’s Artist in Conversation event, moderated by Katie Hill!
‘Artists’ Marathon’ by Cai Yuan and JJ Xi – Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London.
Come to the Artists' Marathon on Sunday 26 April!
Art in Time: A World History of Styles and Movements.
Beginning with the most recent artistic developments of the twenty-first century and tracing the thread of art history back in time, Art in Time offers a new perspective on the styles and movements of art.
Art in China Today: What will the Future Hold?
Members of the panel are Karen Smith, Uli Sigg, Katie de Tilly, and Dr. Katie Hill.
Yingmei Duan - Performance and Performative Installation Art 1995-2013.
To coincide with Yingmei Duan’s 3-month performance at the 2014 Sydney Biennale, Lehmanns Media published this trilingual monograph on Yingmei’s diverse oeuvre. It marks the first overview of her performance and performance installation between 1995 and 2013.
Negotiating the Identity of Contemporary Chinese Art.
EY Far East Network and ARTouch Consulting invite four panellists comprising Sheng Qi, Guo Le, Dr. Marko Daniel, and Dr. Katie Hill, to explore three key questions relating to the identity of contemporary Chinese art.
The Chinese Art Book.
Full of surprises for the reader new to Chinese art as well as for specialists, its unique arrangement breaks new ground by pairing works that speak to one another in unexpected historical, stylistic and cultural ways.
Documenting China.
Documenting China will look at the way visual artists document contemporary China through conceptual and performance art and asks film-makers to discuss their practice using the camera.