A collapsed spying trial and an ongoing row over a proposed new “mega” embassy near the Tower of London have put relations between the UK and China at the top of the political agenda. While some politicians bemoan the creep of Chinese influence and talk of threat and tension fills the Commons, London’s culture sector has become fertile ground for a far more nuanced exercise in cross-cultural exchange.
A new generation of non-profit contemporary arts spaces hopes to move beyond “east versus west” tropes, while serving as hubs for the UK’s Chinese diasporic communities, which numbered over 500,000 at the 2021 census. October saw the opening of YDP, a privately funded contemporary arts project space devoted to Asian and Asian diasporic art.
Founded by the collector and philanthropist Yan Du, the venue occupies a Grade I-listed Georgian building in Bloomsbury, London. Behind its historic facade lies a vast architectural space that will host exhibitions and programming aimed at contributing new narratives about the region that move away from exoticising stereotypes.
The inaugural exhibition, Yúqiáo, features Chinese painter and writer Duan Jianyu. Growing up in the post-Mao period after China’s cultural revolution, Jianyu’s work questions tradition and modernity with humour, riffing on traditional Chinese painting motifs such as the woodcutter and fisherman. The series is a bricolage of painterly styles, from traditional Chinese ink painting, fused with aspects of Euro-American art and the propagandist visual language of Chinese socialist realism.
YDP’s artistic director, Billy Tang, is interested in how the space can address “blind spots shared between the west and Asia in relation to one another”. He wants YDP to expand conversations about Asia beyond stale binaries, and to recognise intergenerational histories and pioneers who are often forgotten in conventional narratives of Asian art history.
“There have been iconic and important shows about Asia,” he explains. “What we represent is a sustained dialogue and momentum. We want to be a global network so that these stories last beyond the lifespan of one show.”
Having returned to London after a decade in Asia, Tang has noticed a positive expansion in the demographic of British culture workers from Asian backgrounds in a sector he felt had been closed off to people of Asian heritage.
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The nurturing of a globally diverse community in the arts and culture sector is behind the work of Asymmetry, a non-profit arts foundation based in Hackney in London. Also founded by Yan Du, it supports researchers, curators, and scholars with Chinese or Sinophone diasporic heritage. Recent achievements include a funded post-doctoral fellowship in contemporary Chinese art with the Courtauld Institute of Art, and a partnership with Tate Modern, which has yielded two curatorial positions at the institution.
Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, director, says there are persistent challenges: “There is still a polarity between China and the west, as these blocs that have existed in the 20th century. It’s a disconnection and fear of the unknown. Because Chinese artists face their own challenges within their arts ecosystem, understanding each other has historically been very different.”
At the heart of the foundation’s headquarters is a small, non-lending library, open to the public by appointment. Books and other paper matter form a core component of Asymmetry’s project work. Once a year, the foundation hosts a “librarian-in-residence” programme, most recently held by NYC-based publishers Te Editions between May and July this year.
Among their activities was the “Drifting Backpack” project – a curated selection of 10 to 15 books contained in an everyday backpack, symbolic of diasporic and immigrant experiences. The backpack was circulated among a basketball team in Chinatown, New York and also to Baes FC, a London football team of women, trans, and non-binary people of Asian heritage.
Inside the backpack were texts on the topics of departure, trauma, memory and community, while annotations and the insertion of written responses and reflections were encouraged to create layered conversation.
Chinese art and culture continues to enjoy a considerable platform beyond the capital, too. In Manchester, ESEA Contemporary has specialised in platforming east and south-east Asian art and art practices since the late 1980s, while this summer, Edinburgh hosted China Focus, staging nine original Chinese productions across the main festival and the fringe. Meanwhile, a textile exhibit telling the story of a 700-year-old Chinese weaving practice made its European debut in the Scottish Borders at the Great Tapestry of Scotland.
These projects all underscore the potential of cultural dialogue that transcends simplistic geopolitical narratives around tension and mistrust. When it comes to the UK and China right now, politics may divide, but culture can still connect.
Duan Jianyu: Yúqiáo is at YDP, Bedford Square, London until December 20. Catherine McCormack is the author of Women in the Picture: Women, Art and the Power of Looking
