Overview
Exhibitions: making places
Hou Hanru is curator of the 5th Auckland Triennial 2013.
He is Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and Chair of
Exhibition and Museum Studies, San Francisco Art
Institute.
For the last decades, exhibition curating has become a central
component of the system of art production and distribution. With
the growth of new forms of exhibitions such as biennials and public
interventions and their proliferation across the globe, curatorial
practices are going through intense processes of experimentation
and innovation.
Exhibitions are not only expanding to cover creations from all
around the world, but they are also turned into sites of production
of new artistic visions, concepts and forms as well as social
relationships. Ultimately, they form a driving force of making of
new cultural localities in the age of globalisation. Having curated
numerous exhibitions of various scales and in diverse venues, Hou
Hanru's practices are among the most remarkable in this trend.
Born in 1963, Guangzhou, China, Hou has lived and worked in
Paris, France, as an art critic and curator since 1990, and in San
Francisco since 2006. He has independently curated or co-curated
numerous exhibitions and biennials including Cities on the
Move with Hans Ulrich Obrist (1997-2000), Lyon Biennale
(2009), Istanbul Biennal (2007); and the Venice Biennale's Chinese
(2007) and French (1999 and 2003) pavilions.
Hou has advised prestigious art museums including Tate Modern,
London and Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York. He has acted as a
collection consultant and contributed to major exhibitions,
including Yokohama Triennale. He is a frequent contributor to
exhibition catalogues, art and architecture magazines and
books.
Hou Hanru's visit is supported by Te Manu Ka Tau : Flying
Friends - Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa incoming friends
programme, Asia New Zealand Foundation and Auckland Art Gallery Toi
o Tāmaki.
Wednesday 29 February - 6pm
Auckland Art Gallery Auditorium - free entry
Easy Listening: Talks in Art and Culture is a collaborative
project by ARTSPACE, Elam School of Fine Arts and Auckland Art
Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
