Date: 18 May 2022 - 18 May 2022
UMAG Lecture Series: Re-examining Modernity and Contemporaneity through Chinese Art (2022/23)
Nationalist Internationalism: International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935
Date: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Time: 1:00 pm–2:00 pm (HKT)
Mode of delivery: Online via Zoom, registration required
Language: English
Speaker: Dr Xing Zhao | Assistant Professor of Art and Design, Nanjing University
Discussant: Prof. Selina Chui Fun Ho | Assistant Professor and Acting Head, Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University of Hong Kong
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Abstract
This presentation focuses on the International Exhibition of Chinese Art (1935) in London, which deployed art for public diplomacy and spoke a modern international language that embodied the rising awareness of national culture as promoted by the League of Nations. While the Republican government lacked the fundamental economic and military infrastructure critical for navigating the modern world, the alternative system of soft power and brand nationalism rooted in culture, tradition, and morality assumed the responsibility of communicating a unified image of China as a modern nation-state to the domestic and global audiences.
Speaker
Dr Xing Zhao is an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Nanjing University. She received her PhD in Art History, Theory and Criticism from the University of California, San Diego in 2021. She specialises in modern and contemporary Chinese art and visual cultures.