OCCA is a contemporary art consultancy specialising in contemporary art from China, the Chinese diaspora and Asian art markets. We collaborate with artists, collectors, museums, galleries and art dealers having developed strong global connections in the art world over the past two decades.
OUR STORY
After gaining a degree in Chinese language and literature from Edinburgh University in 1989, Katie Hill pursued a doctorate in the emerging field of contemporary art from China when it was going global for the first time in the early 1990s. Her thesis ‘On Relocating Contemporary Chinese Art’ explored the emergent phenomenon and implications of the Chinese artists migrating in a new wave following the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, examining their positioning and representation within the global art world.
Cai Yuan is an established artist from Nanjing born in 1956, one of the first post-Mao artists to immigrate from China to the UK in the early 1980s. He graduated from the RCA in 1990 after BA degrees in painting at Nanjing Academy and Chelsea College of Art & Design. Cai was involved in organising the first exhibition of Chinese artists in the UK with Jessie Lim, Journeys West. His work has engaged the politics of the British art establishment as an activist and interventional performance artist whose work has contested the power systems of the British art establishment.
Katie and Cai went to live in Beijing from 2007-2008 in order for Cai Yuan to set up a studio there. Galvanising their extensive network of artists and curators in China, they started to make some concerted efforts to exhibit and collaborate and create active cultural exchange with the UK. This is how OCCA began.
Installation view, Out of the Blue: A Calligraphic Journey through Alcantara, Palazzo Reale, Milan. A co-curated project with Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli. Image: Wang Huangsheng, mixed media installation. Painting, cushions, mirrors and light projection.
WHAT WE DO
We assist in the development of collections and catalogues, curating exhibitions and programming of events for museums and organisations. We also provide tailor-made courses, mentoring and tutorials on Chinese contemporary art, ink painting and the Asian art market for small groups or one-to one.
We draw on our extensive linguistic and cultural knowledge of China and the Chinese-speaking world to work with collectors, art professionals, galleries and museums. We combine active engagement in research with working collaboratively with artists, to bring intellectual context and curatorial depth to the field.
We promote works by established contemporary Chinese artists, as well as emerging contemporary Chinese artists who are yet to be discovered internationally. We also exhibit international artists in China, to expose a diverse range of contemporary art to Chinese audiences.
