Hou Hanru
STOCKHOLM 27 MARCH 2015 AT 6 PM
Museum: between laboratory and public forum
In the Auditorium, admission free
In English
Hou Hanru is a prolific writer and curator based in Rome, Paris and San Francisco. He is currently the Artistic Director of MAXXI (National Museum for 21st Century Art and National Museum of Architecture), Rome, Italy.
Hou Hanru: ”It’s a challenging moment for public museums of contemporary art today, in a time of globalization driven by Neo-liberalism and the collapse of public institutions. How to take the challenge to develop the museum as a public sphere and to encourage experiments, to create an innovative dialogue with a society in mutation, are central tasks for museum professionals to reflect on. A museum should also be a site of deep reflections on the relationship between its program and the world, especially the current social, economic and geopolitical changes… As the artistic director of the MAXXI, the national museum for 21st Century arts, Rome, and through introducing a new program, I propose to explore and discuss on these issues.”
He received degrees from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in the 1980s and moved from China to France in 1990. After working as an independent curator and critic based in Paris, he became Director of Exhibitions and Public Program and Chair of Exhibition and Museum Studies, at San Francisco Art Institute from 2006 to 2012. His main program at SFAI has been summarized in his book “Paradigm Shifts, Walter and McBean Galleries Exhibitions and Public Programs, San Francisco Art Institute” (2011, SFAI).
Hou Hanru has curated and co-curated around 100 exhibitions for last two decades across the world including: “China/Avant-Garde” (National Museum of Art of China, Beijing, 1989), “Cities On The Move” (1997–2000), The 2nd Johannesburg Biennial (Hong Kong, etc.) (1997), Shanghai Biennale (2000), Gwangju Biennale (2002), Venice Biennale (French Pavilion, 1999, Z.O.U. — Zone Of Urgency, 2003, Chinese Pavilion, 2007), Nuit Blanche (2004, Paris), the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial (2005), the 2nd Tirana Biennial (2005), The 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), “Global Multitude” (Luxembourg 2007), “Trans(cient)City” (Luxembourg 2007), EV+A 2008 (Limerick), “The 10th Biennale de Lyon” (2009), “By Day, By Night, or some (special) things a museum can do” (Rockbund Art Museum, Rockbund, Shanghai, 2010), “Power of Doubt” (PhotoEspagna 2010, Madrid, Times Museum, Guangzhou, 2011), “Dirty Realism, Liu Xiaodong in Hotan” (organized by Today Art Museum, Beijing, Urumqi, 2012, Beijing, 2013), “Zizhiqu – Autonomous Regions” (Times Museum, Guangzhou, 2013), etc. “If you were to live here…” – The 5th Auckland Triennial, Auckland, New Zealand, May – August 2013. “Open Museum Open City”, Oct.-Nov. 2014, MAXXI, Rome, Italy.
He is a consultant for numerous cultural institutions (museums, foundations, collections, etc.) internationally including Deutsche Bank Collection, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, Times Museum, Guangzhou, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, Power Station of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, Kadist Foundation, San Francisco, etc. He frequently contributes to various journals on contemporary art and culture and lectures and teaches in numerous international institutions including “Flash Art International”, “Art in America”, “Yishu”, “Art Asia Pacific” and “LEAP” while serving as jury member for art prizes including the recent “Hugo Boss Prize Asia Art” and Venice Biennale of Architecture (2014), etc.
His books include “Hou Hanru”, (Utopia@Asialink, and School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, 2014), “On the Mid-Ground” (English version published in 2002, by Timezone 8, Hong Kong, and Chinese version published in 2013, by Gold Wall Press, Beijing), “Curatorial Challenges” (conversations between Hou Hanru and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, in “Art-It magazine” as “curators on the move”, Japan, 2006-2012, Chinese version, Gold Wall Press, Beijing, 2013), etc.
