December 2, 2015
Thomas St.
Market Buildings
Manchester M4 1EU
United Kingdom
He Xiangning Art Museum is pleased to present Survival Strategies of Independent Art Spaces, an international forum hosted by the He Xiangning Art Museum in collaboration with the Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art and the Manchester Center for Chinese Contemporary Art. Curated by Feng Boyi, Fang Lihua, Wang Dong and Yan Liemin, it will be held at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Manchester Art on December 2 and at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art on December 19.
Our basic definition of independent art spaces is as follows: they are non-profit or not-for-profit, and provide free opportunities for independent, experimental and creative artists or artistic practices. In other words, they exist independently of art museums, galleries and art districts, and are alternative, folk-based and wild self-organizing art spaces. Finally, they serve as an important counterbalancing force against the increasingly commercial, official and mainstream trends in the contemporary art ecosystem.
As China undergoes its “great leap forward” in the construction of art museums and is mired in a chaotic mix of art zones, this forum explores the survival strategies and modes of existence of independent art spaces of all forms constructed in China, around the world, and by overseas Chinese, probing their conditions and challenges while emphasizing and promoting the free and independent attitudes and viewpoints of these spaces. Such spaces play a unique and dynamic role in the overall contemporary art system, and their practices are clearly rooted in reality.
This forum is set at three sites in Shenzhen, Beijing and Manchester, inviting a total of 33 speakers and 31 independent art organizations from China and around the world, as well as 18 critics and curators who focus on independent art spaces to join in the debate. After the close of the forum, we have invited various experts and scholars to write essays probing the issues of independent art spaces, and to compile and edit the speeches and discussions from the three forum sites, to be published together alongside documents on China’s independent art spaces.
The concept of the “independent art space” is still quite ambiguous in China today. Such organizations face shared challenges to their survival and obstacles to their practice. It is our hope that the dialogues, discussions and exhibitions in this international forum can promote effective exchange and exploration of representative practices and experiences of independent art spaces and foster positive feedback and healthy development for independent art spaces in China and by overseas Chinese that can eventually establish survival mechanisms for Chinese independent art spaces.
For further information, please contact:
info [at] hxnartmuseum
