News and Events
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
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.
The Spectre of China. Art and Cultural Identities.
The symposium will take place at the University of Westminister, London, on June 23, 2009.