Who Cares? 16 Essays on Curating in Asia

Sunday, October 24, 4pm

at OV Gallery . 19 Shaoxing Road . Shanghai

Arthub Asia, a non-profit foundation devoted to contemporary art creation in China and rest of Asia, and OV Gallery, an art gallery dedicated to creating a dialogue on contemporary issues, team up to host the launch of Who Cares? 16 Essays on Curating in Asia, a book commissioned by Para/Site Art Space, co-edited by Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya and Michael Lee, and published by Para/Site, Studio Bibliothèque and seed | projects.

The launch will feature a presentation by Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya of Para/Site’s mission and projects, including the context of this book, and then an introduction to this book by Michael Lee, followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session.

About Who Cares?

Who Cares? is an anthology that compiles 16 essays on curating art in and of Asia. One of the themes addresses the politics of care, commonly understood as the basic role of curators, with regards to art and artists, across time and contexts. Another theme revolves around markers of success in the realm of contemporary curating. A third recurring theme deals with curating in the globalised art world of advanced travel and communication technologies. A fourth theme reconsiders the audience as active producers in a curated experience. Through a variety of perspectives and literary styles, these texts constitute primary notes towards ‘curatorial criticism,’ a subfield of art criticism that identifies the new in curating today.

About the Editors

Alvaro Rodriguez FOMINAYA is Executive Director/Curator at Para/Site Art Space (Hong Kong). He has developed his professional career in Hong Kong, London and Spain. He was Chief Curator at Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno (CAAM) in Spain, where he curated exhibitions like Scrabble: Video, Language and Abstraction; Weather Report: Climate Change and Visual Arts, and Viva la Muerte! Art and Death in Latin America or Catherine Yass. Filmography. At Para/Site Art Space, he has organised projects with Shahzia Sikander, Surasi Kusolwong, Tatsumi Orimoto, Ai Weiwei+Acconci Studio, Tsang Kin-Wah and the Gao Brothers, among others. He is frequent lecturer and writer on contemporary art.

Michael LEE is an artist and curator based in Singapore. His research addresses representations of the built environment, especially the contexts and implications of its lost elements. His observations are mainly transformed into objects, diagrams, situations, curations or essays. His exhibition/festival participations include The 8th Shanghai Biennale 2010 (Shanghai Art Museum), The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial 2008 (Independent Projects section; Guangdong Museum of Art), The 2005 World Exposition (Singapore Pavilion; Nagoya) and International Film & Video Association Film Award & Festival 1997 (Winner, Experimental Category; Texas). His curatorial projects include Between, Beside, Beyond: Daniel Libeskind’s Reflections and Key Works 1989-2014 (Singapore Art Museum, 2007). His accolades include the Young Artist Award (Visual A rts) 2005, conferred by the National Arts Council, Singapore.

About the Publishers

Para/Site Art Space is a contemporary art space located in Hong Kong Island and founded in 1996. We host an ambitious programme of exhibitions, screenings, talks and events that bring into Hong Kong some of the leading practitioners in the international arena, encourage the visibility of artists from Hong Kong, and facilitate East-West dialogue. We have a satellite venue located at Hanart TZ Gallery which showcases a younger generation of artists. Para/Site Art Space has organized the official representation of Hong Kong in Venice Biennial in years 2003 and 2009, has also participated in Gwangju Biennial, Guangzhou Triennial, among others. Para/Site Art Space exhibitions and programmes have traveled to Germany, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia. Para/Site Art Space is run by a Executive Director/Curator, a Manager, a Programme Coordinator and an Educ ation and Development Officer and governed by a board of directors. Para/Site is supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council as well as vital contributions from patrons and Founding Friends of Para/Site.

Studio Bibliothèque facilitates experiments in making, writing, curating and publishing. The studio has an ongoing project series Things Artists Do, which addresses the gap amidst the onslaught of survey, thematic art projects by focusing on the being, consumption and activities of artists.

seed | projects is the resource and project management branch of seed, the thinking and working space of Singapore-based artist Brendan Goh, created to incubate creative processes between art and design. seed is about sowing ideas wherever they might sprout, catalysing their germination into better things, and welcomes collaborations between like-minded individuals and groups working in any discipline.

About OV Gallery

Established in 2006, OV offers a diverse program of thematic exhibitions which target issues in contemporary China often using history as a point of reference and analysis. OV works with a broad
spectrum of emerging contemporary Chinese artists and foreign artists living in Shanghai along with more established contemporary Chinese and foreign artists. We take great pride in creating a real dialogue and supplement our exhibition program with curatorial tours, art workshops and talks artist and experts in Chinese contemporary art.

About ArtHub Asia

Founded in 2007, ArtHub Asia is a multi-disciplinary organization devoted to contemporary art creation in China and rest of Asia. In collaboration with museums and other public / private spaces and institutions, it initiates and delivers ambitious art projects through a sustained dialogue with visual, performance, and new media artists. Directors: Davide Quadrio, Defne Ayas, Qiu Zhijie. ArtHub Asia is a Network Partner of the Prince Claus
Fund 2008-2010.


Arthub Asia is a Network Partner of Prince Claus Fund 2008-2010.