You are invited to 'curate' exhibitions
Writer: Cao Zhen | Editor: 夏媛洁 | From: Shenzhen Daily
Contemporary art lovers who wish to express their thoughts on curation can now “curate an exhibition” by re-arranging small bricks printed with artworks on a floor layout of the OCT Art & Design Gallery.
This activity is part of the exhibition, “The Curation Workshop II: Story and Structure,” at the gallery, where contemporary artworks and projects created by 41 Chinese artists and groups are on display. During the exhibition, 19 professional curators have been invited to present their own curation proposals for the exhibited works.
Visitors at the OCT Art & Design Gallery. Photos courtesy of the exhibition organizers.
They have the freedom to increase or reduce the current exhibited works in their proposals (each with no more than 10 additions or deletions). After negotiating with the gallery and the event initiators Cui Cancan and Feng Feng, they should submit their proposals, which will be displayed on the blackboards at the gallery.
The current exhibited works at the gallery were arranged by Cui, and visitors can also make their own arrangements by placing bricks printed with artworks on a floor layout of the gallery to express their ideas in curation, or simply for fun.
“Everyone can be a curator to tell stories, search for meanings and reshape the world, which is the essential spirit of this project,” said Cui.
A visitor at the OCT Art & Design Gallery.
An independent curator, Cui initiated the first edition of “The Curation Workshop” in June 2019, aiming to explore new curatorial methods and languages. The project brought together a new generation of Chinese curators who are professional and independent and have systematic working methods and broad perspectives, arousing a real buzz in the art community and launching a new wave of research on curation.
“The first edition of ‘The Curation Workshop’ discusses the relationship between curation and design; the second edition focuses on ‘storytelling’ because curation is actually a kind of storytelling,” said Feng, executive director of the OCT Art & Design Gallery. “In the future, we may expand the project in universities or academies,” he added.
Visitors walk past an array of exhibits at OCAT Shenzhen.
Another part of this year’s project, “The Curation Workshop II: Sample Cases From OCAT,” is also an exhibition being held at OCAT Shenzhen. The project organizers have reviewed past projects that have been staged at the five venues and an exhibition site of OCAT in recent years and selected eight ones with the most typical and experimental languages of curation for the exhibition.
“OCAT as China’s largest contemporary art museum group was established in 2005 and now has five art museums [including OCAT Shenzhen and OCT Art & Design Gallery] and seven exhibition sites in China. Among its hundreds of exhibitions, we chose eight past projects which best represent the experimental and pioneering spirit in curation for the exhibition,” said Cui.
Most of the artists at this year’s exhibitions are internationally sought-after, such as Fang Lijun, Gu Wenda, Liu Jianhua and Peng Wei.
‘Story and Structure’
Dates: Until May 7
Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., closed Monday
Venue: OCT Art & Design Gallery, 9009 Shennan Boulevard, Nanshan District (南山区深南大道9009号华·美术馆)
Tickets: 15-30 yuan (free on Tuesdays)
Metro: Line 1 to Overseas Chinese Town Station (华侨城站), Exit C
‘Sample Cases From OCAT’
Dates: Until May 7
Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., closed Monday
Venue: OCAT Shenzhen, South Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意文化园南区OCAT深圳馆)
Tickets: Free
Metro: Line 1 to Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A