Institutional Critiques by Chinese Artists in London

This series of screenings/panel discussions accompanying the SOAS Gallery exhibition ‘In-/Visible Spectrums: Contemporary Video Art from the Sinosphere’ showcases contemporary video artworks by Sinophone artists along with in-depth discussions about their making and significance with the artists and experts in the field of Chinese contemporary art studies. The screened artworks are aesthetically and technically diverse. They also address a range of issues, including institutional critique, patriarchy, resistance to authority, queer identity, social control, climate change and well-being. Panel discussions at the screenings will be followed by extended audience Q&A.

The videos featured in this series of screenings contrast aesthetically in many cases with those included in the exhibition ‘In-/Visible Spectrums.’ While all the videos in the exhibition are lyrical, poetic and conceptually abstract most of those featured in the screenings involve more explicit narratives and/or forms of social engagement.

This talk will be with Yique 一鹊 and Xu Ziyi 徐子奕 with Professor Paul Gladston.

This screening/panel showcases videos by the mainland China-based artists, Yique and Xu Ziyi. Both videos involve site-specific institutional critiques: in Yique's case an intervention with the graffiti zone at East London's Brick Lane (which became a focus for intense media interest and online); and in Xu's with the capital's National Gallery and a recent protest event there.

Exhibition and screenings/panels produced and financially supported by the University of New South Wales Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art (JNCCA).

The event is being held at the Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT) at SOAS, University of London. When you arrive at SOAS, you will need to sign in at the front desk, then you will be directed to the KLT.

Paul Gladston

Paul GLADSTON is the inaugural Judith Neilson Chair Professor of Contemporary Art, University of New South Wales, Sydney, a Distinguished Affiliate Fellow of the UK-China Humanities Alliance, Tsinghua University, Beijing and a member of the governing board of the journal Third Text. His book-length publications include Contemporary Chinese Art: A Critical History (Reaktion 2014), awarded ‘best publication’, Awards of Art China (2015), and Contemporary Chinese Art, Aesthetic Modernity and Zhang Peili: Towards a Critical Contemporaneity (Bloomsbury 2019). He is the founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (Intellect) and the book series Contemporary East Asian Visual Cultures, Societies and Politics (Palgrave) as well as being the editor of numerous collected editions and special journal editions, including Rethinking Displays of Chinese Contemporary Art: Cultural Diversity and Tradition (Palgrave 2024) and Visual Culture Wars at the Borders of Contemporary China: Art, Design, Film, New Media and the Prospects of “Post-West" Contemporaneity (Palgrave 2021). He was the curatorial director of the exhibition ‘Yique’s Way – Mutuality in Extremes’ (Ugly Duck, London 2024), organizer of a scholarly roundtable accompanying the exhibition ‘Strange Wonders: Jizi and Pioneers of Contemporary Ink Art from China’, SOAS Gallery (2024) and an academic advisor to the internationally acclaimed exhibition ‘Art of Change: New Directions from China’ (Hayward Gallery-South Bank Centre, London 2012).

Yique

Yique is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London and a Hangzhou-based artist and curator. He is known internationally for his art action East London Core Socialist Values (2023) which attracted conflicting high-profile commentary in the press, in situ and online when it was staged at London’s graffiti art quarter on London’s Brick Lane. Yique and Lin Zi recently co-curated a group exhibition in Hangzhou titled ‘No Resume.’ Yique and Lin have strong connections with emerging artists in mainland China specializing in video art. Yique has curated two events related to the SOAS exhibition ‘In/Visible Spectrums’: a three-day closed screening of videos and discussion panels ‘Absent Participation–Moving Images as Art’ at the Creativity and Innovation Center, Longgang District, Shenzhen City, and with Paul Gladston and Lin Zi a public screening of the work of four video artists from mainland China at the Sea World Culture and Arts Center (SWCAC), Shenzhen (both 2025).

Lin Zi

LIN Zi is an independent critic, curator, and Co-founder of YounGo Cutlure and Art Agency. He is dedicated to fostering international art exchanges, improving the ecology of localized art scenes and integrating psychoanalytic discourse into curatorial and critical practices. In 2017, Lin earned a Master of Arts with honors degree in Art Criticism and Writing from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York, USA. He also holds dual bachelor’s degrees in history and psychology from Acadia University in Canada. Since 2017, he has curated over 80 exhibitions and art events globally. Between 2016 and 2020, Lin organized 15 exhibitions in New York including ‘When Black Swallows Red’ at La Mama Galleria, showcasing emerging New York-based artists (2019). More recently he curated ‘ArtParking’ in the Capital Free Trade Cultural Zone, the ‘Facade 798 Gallery Tour Exhibition’ in Beijing’s 798 Art District and the group exhibition ‘Those Men Came from the Moon’ in association with the ShanghArt Gallery, Shanghai’ (all 2024) in addition to the public art project ‘Artists Without Resumes’ at the Rice Mill Art District, Hangzhou (2025). He also organized and curated the public art festival ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors Art Carnival’ at DHGE and Art Flow Art District, Shanghai (2025). Lin’s practice as a curator and critic bridges interdisciplinary methodologies, global perspectives and experimental public engagement, redefining contemporary art’s role in cultural and social discourse.

In-/Visible Spectrums: Contemporary Video Art from the Sinosphere is a landmark exhibition of eleven Sinophone artists working across mainland China, Hong Kong and the diaspora. Featuring lyrical and conceptually rich video works, it explores transcultural aesthetics, everyday experience and shifting identities within the fluid, global Sinosphere. The exhibition opens on Thursday 16th April and is on until 20th June 2026 at the SOAS Gallery. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:30am-5pm and late on Thursdays until 8pm. Free and open to the public, no booking required.

Header image: East London Core Socialist Value (2023), Single-channel video, colour, sound, 46’00’’ by Yique

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Host or Publisher Brunei Gallery, SOAS