Asymmetry Fellow Weitian Liu Examines Overlooked Crossovers Between Chinese and Western Art Practices

Writer and researcher Weitian Liu, recipient of the Asymmetry PhD Scholarship for Goldsmiths' 'Advanced Practices' Programme, analyzes persistent asymmetries between Chinese and Western contemporary art. While Chinese artists remain active globally, the category 'Chinese contemporary art' has lost generative potential. Western curatorial interest in China's art scene has waned over the past decade, despite increasing numbers of Chinese artists and curators receiving Western training. Travel restrictions and complex entry requirements have created a 'new normal' of separation between China and other nations. Liu identifies overlooked parallels: Chinese artists' survival tactics in a corporatized, censored ecosystem resonate with Western artists' anxieties under neoliberalism. Western artist collectives and commoning practices during austerity mirror Chinese self-organization methods. Mutual aid and care have emerged as themes in both contexts. These crossovers lack frameworks for recognition within global artworld structures dominated by market forces and critical discourses. The article calls for renewed cultural politics addressing new forms of exclusion, moving beyond tokenistic representation or nationalist cultural soft-power narratives. Liu envisions interstitial spaces where transnational experiences can foster discussions of shared struggles.