Feeling Political: Art as Public Sphere in the Cross-Strait Worlds скачать в хорошем качестве

Feeling Political: Art as Public Sphere in the Cross-Strait Worlds

February 18, 2026 - The recent boom-and-bust of art museums in China has attracted worldwide attention. Revealing the industry’s instability (rooted in entanglements with the financial sector), the wave of museum closures in the People's Republic of China indicates the changing horizon of art institutions as public spaces for political cacophony. I-Yi Hsieh's talk draws on her book "Flora and Fauna: Domestic Nature and Private Collecting in Reform Era Beijing" (2025) and the exhibition "Contested Waters" (2024–2025) to further the conversation by addressing art as public sphere in the cross-strait worlds. Hsieh introduces her book’s ethnographic lens capturing the rise of private collecting as an alternative to the diminishing public realm for political expression, while, on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese artists and art institutions increasingly showcase projects with a focus on geopolitical tensions. It is the worst of times and the best of times for political art in the cross-strait worlds. Speaker: I-Yi Hsieh, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Visual Studies, Taiwan National Yangming Chiaotung University Moderator: Nick Bartlett, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society, AMEC/EALAC, Barnard College This event is part of the Andrew J. Nathan Taiwan Lecture Series and hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.