In the Name of “Archive”: Re-imagining History as Contemporary Art Practice

The 6th Para-curatorial symposium, In the Name of “Archive”: Re-imagining History as Contemporary Art Practice

Modern theorists have long challenged archive as an objective and impartial system to generate the absolute knowledge. As pointed out by Hal Foster in his seminal essay "An Archival Impulse," artists since the 1970s have attempted to recuperate archive as a volatile process imbued with multi-layered temporalities, subjectivities, and enactments. However, the discussions on such practices have primarily been focused on the projects initiated from the European and North American context. In recent years, artists and curators in Asia have taken active steps to expand archive beyond a repository of documents and turn it into a dynamic and generative tool for alternative knowledge. Pan Yuliang: A Journey to Silence, the current exhibition at Guangdong Times Museum is one of the latest experiments which seeks to give life to historical archives collected from institutional and personal networks through artistic and curatorial mediation.

In the Name of “Archive”: Re-imagining History as Contemporary Art Practice, the 6th Para-curatorial symposium co-curated by Nikita Yingqian Cai and Mia Yu, sheds lights on the history-inspired and archive-driven projects by contemporary artists and curators. How is archive redefined through contemporary art and exhibitions? How could archive manifest different meanings in various Asian cultural configurations? Is it possible to recuperate the spatiality and the materiality of archive in the Internet age? Does archive allow for the opening of an imaginative and fictive space? How to render documentation with affective value? How to connect historical or history-inspired research to contemporary art and evoke critical responses to the present? What are the possible ways to relate subjectivities to multiple modes of historicities and temporalities? The symposium provides a multi-format forum that includes curatorial talks, performative lectures, film screenings and a workshop. By bringing experienced curators and artists in conversation with the younger generation, the symposium hopes to not only reflect on the recent projects, but also facilitate the formation of future practices.

Contributing Speakers: Chao Jiaxing, Zian Chen, James T. Hong, Kristine Khouri, Li Jia, Li Ran, Liu Chuanhong, Shen Boliang, Su Wei, David Teh, Thu Van Tran

Workshop participants: Matter Group, Guo Yun, Huang Danyi, Liu Di, Lu Chuan, Xiaoshi Vivian, Vivian Qin, Yan Zi

Curated by: Nikita Yingqian Cai, Mia Yu

Coordinated by: Li Xiaotian

Announcement of selected projects of All the Way South Research Fund 2017-18

Guangdong Times Museum is happy to announce that The Business of African “Ambassadors” (working title) by Marie Voignier and A Candy Factory Project / Chocolate City Guangzhou by Mike Bode (Sweden) and Takuji Kogo (Japan) are selected as the research residency of All the Way South Research Fund in November 2017 and the first half of 2018. These two projects will both focus on the lives and diaspora of the African community in Guangzhou.

Marie Voignier starts her residency in Guangzhou from November 27th, 2017. During her stay, Voignier will carry out field research and meet with representatives of the immigration traders, who form a challenging, entrepreneurial community in a global trading hub with both businesswomen and businessmen. Her research will be supported by a series of lectures, workshops, screenings of invited researchers and local artists who share affinity in such topic. The invitation to Marie Voignier are co-extended by Guangdong Times Museums and Biljana Ciric as part of her work-in-progress project in three-year span.

The proposal of Candy Factory Projects centers around the urban research of the African community of Guangzhou. The term “Chocolate City” was first used by local Chinese cab drivers and later became popular after having been picked up by media reports. This name is intriguing, denoting not only the exotic flavor of the place—but also involving the issue of skin color. It shows a problematic imagination, representation and articulation of this identifiable ethnic group by the local society and highlights its status of socio-spatial segregation.