‘Re:orient’: online art exhibition curated by Nicole Ching asks what it means to be Chinese
Through the exhibition, the co-founder of Museum 2050 explores the ever-changing, expansive and diverse experience of being ‘Chinese’ while connecting artists directly with gallerists and collectors
Nicole Ching Teen-yee is best known for her work with private museums. In particular, the 25-year-old co-founder of Museum 2050 has been working with the region’s many family-owned galleries to ensure they mature into cultural institutions.
Starting this week, works by artists selected by Ching will be up for sale on AucArt, an online auction site founded in London three years ago to help emerging artists sell their work without intermediaries. Her main criteria, apart from geography, is that the artists are either enrolled in or recently graduated from postgraduate studies, and that their works question what it means to be Chinese today.
“It has been a difficult year for everyone,” Ching says. “But the lack of exhibition opportunity has really taken a toll on people coming out of grad school or going into an MFA [master of fine arts] programme overseas. They have paid the fees but they haven’t been able to use the studios and other facilities on campus, and their graduation exhibitions are all online.”
Called “Re:orient”, the online exhibition not only aims to connect collectors and gallerists with artists, it is also a reminder that being “Chinese” is an ever-changing, expansive and diverse experience that is too often overshadowed by stereotypes.