The Pulse of Art History Lecture Series - Nancy P. Lin
9.28.21, 4:45pm Goldwin Smith Hall G22
Sites at the Periphery: Making Experimental Art Spaces in Beijing
Developing without the official support of state institutions, 1990s experimental art in China has often been described as “underground” or “independent.” In this talk, I suggest that the term “peripheral” is a much more apt description as it simultaneously refers to the actual spaces in which art has flourished at the urban fringes of the city and the spatial dynamics of experimental art’s alternative positioning. Exploring how site-based art activities in Beijing’s urban periphery interfaced with the city’s physical expansion, I show how art practices transformed overlooked urban spaces to connect local sites to global art networks.
Nancy P. Lin is a 2021 Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in Art History at Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from The University of Chicago. Her research considers modern and contemporary Chinese art and architecture from a transregional perspective. Her current book project focuses on the intersection between art and urbanism in examining locally situated, yet globally oriented site-based art practices in China. Lin’s publications include a forthcoming chapter in the edited volume The Allure of Matter: Materiality Across Chinese Art (2021), an article in the Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (Winter 2021), and a chapter in the edited volume Visual Arts, Representations and Interventions in Contemporary China: Urbanized Interface (2018).
Image on poster: RongRong, East Village Beijing, No. 1, 1994, black-and-white photograph, Beijing. Courtesy of the artist.
