Tang Keyang
Associate Professor, School of Arts, Renmin University of China
Curator and Architectural Designer, Tang Keyang Studio
Ten Exhibitions: Types and Methodologies of Chinese Art Spaces
Fan Mu Art Museum, Chengdu, China. An instrument factory turned into an art space. Tang Keyang designed here a temporary exhibition setting that places the artworks in front of the outdoor landscape. Photo courtesy Tang Keyang.
Ten Exhibitions is a “show of shows.” It records 10 art exhibitions which Keyang Tang engaged himself in over the past decade and illustrates their points: 10 issues concerning the exhibition of contemporary Chinese art and the making of the nation’s art spaces. Its topics comprise both the “methods,” curatorial strategies, exhibition designs, museum architecture, and the “objectives,” addressing varied cultural significance and contribution of art exhibitions that have been burgeoning in contemporary China in increasingly diverse fashions.
__________________________
Tang Keyang is a curator and architectural designer based in both New York and Beijing. His studio is committed to making a unique blend of art and architectural designs that is multidisciplinary by its methodology and visionary by its goal.
Tang’s featured shows include Chinese Gardens for Living (at the German State Art Collection on behalf of National Art Museum of China) and The Paramount: A Collective Portrait of Contemporary Asian Arts (at the 2009 Boao Asian forum). He has been the curator of the Chinese Pavilion at the 12th Venice Architectural Biennale. The Glory of Classical Chinese Writing, one of his recent shows featured more than one hundred historical objects related to Chinese writing, this was exhibited at the Palace Museum from September-October 2010. Different from his peers, Tang not only designs the “software” part of his show but often makes the “hardware” for his projects. His curatorial approach is unmistakably contextual, boundary-crossing and architectural in an intrinsic sense.
As a dedicated educator and design critic, Tang has been involved in many pedagogic events for a number of Chinese and Western schools as well as institutions. He has been selected as the featured artist for New York City’s contemporary Asian art week and was among the first group of delegates to attend the Asia Society’s Young Leader Summits in Seoul. In 2009-2010, he served as the deputy director at Peking University’s Center for Visual Studies. Starting in September 2010, Tang also became a senior consultant to the National Art Museum of China and has remained as an active member on its advisory board.
Tang has written extensively on Chinese art and architecture for a wide variety of periodicals and catalogues. His recent publication includes A Garden Rising from Ruins and Delirious New York (author-designated translation). In addition to his scholastic works, Tang’s creative writings have been translated and published in several European languages.
Tang received his Doctor of Design in Architecture from Harvard University and his Master Degrees in art history/comparative literature from the University of Chicago and Peking University.
_____________________________________
Tuesday, Dec 9th, 4:30-6:30pm, CWAC 156
Persons with disability who may need assistance, please contact Tingting Xu tingtingxu@uchicago.edu.
