Director's Seminar - 'Archives of Ancient Chinese Paintings and the Mnemosyne Atlas: Curatorial Work for the China Pavilion at the Venice Biennale'

Dr. Jun Jiang (Curator & Art Critic, Tongji University, Shanghai & Troy House Art Foundation, London): 'Archives of Ancient Chinese Paintings and the Mnemosyne Atlas: Curatorial Work for the China Pavilion at the Venice Biennale'

The theme of the 2024 Venice Biennale is Foreigners Everywhere, showcasing the art of the global South and marginalized groups, inheriting the criticism and reflection on colonialism that contemporary art has engaged in for many years. The theme of the China Pavilion is Atlas: Harmony in Diversity, emphasizing the commonality of humanity behind diversity. Our curatorial work starts from art history and is based on an ancient Chinese painting archive project, The Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings, which has been in progress since 2005. On one hand, our curators have transformed this archival tradition of Chinese art collection since ancient times into a critique and reflection on the history of colonialism under modernization. On the other hand, we have cited Warburg's Mnemosyne Atlas, emphasizing that we can still find human emotional commonality in today's world full of confrontation and disputes. "Harmony in diversity" is also a pivotal idea in Chinese philosophy. In dialogue with Warburg, we hope to liberate half a century's attention from the imprisonment of the philosophy of difference and to explore the commonality of human beings through similarity, dialogue, and communication.

Jun Jiang is Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, and a Researcher for Troy House Art Foundation, London. He is Co-Curator of the Chinese National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Atlas: Diversity in Harmony (2024). Previously he was Co-Curator of The Gravity of Time at the 2023 Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu Art Museum; Co-Curator for the 4th China Design Exhibition and Public Art Thematic Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Shenzhen (2023); and Co-Curator of the 7th Guangzhou Art Triennial (2022), Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou. He is a founding member of the Experimental and Science Art Committee, Shanghai Artists Association (2020)

This event is part of the Warburg Director's Seminar series, which brings leading scholars and writers to the Institute to share new work and fresh perspectives on key issues in their fields.

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image: Venice Biennale 2024