Join us for an illuminating conversation with Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now artist Cao Yu and independent curator Yang Zi lead by exhibition curator H E Wilco. 

From ancient folklore to everyday rituals, belief continues to shape how we understand ourselves and the world around us. Join artist Cao Yu and curator Yang Zi as they explore the role of philosophy, ritual, symbolism and cultural memory in contemporary Chinese art, revealing how these enduring ideas continue to inspire artistic practice today.

This event is free. Seating is not reserved, so we recommend arriving early to select your seat.

The conversation will be held in English, with a translator available to provide support if needed, and will be followed by an audience Q&A.

Book now

 

Yang Zi’s visit is made possible with support from Asia New Zealand Foundation.

H E Wilco

H E Wilco is a curator, writer and exhibition developer with nearly three decades of experience delivering major museum projects in New Zealand and China. Based in Shanghai for almost a decade, he worked in the city’s private art sector before founding an exhibition development practice specialising in curatorial research and exhibition strategy. He has curated exhibitions for leading museums and galleries across China, with a particular focus on post-1980s Chinese artists, and writes regularly for international arts publications.

 

Yang Zi

Yang Zi received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religious studies from Nanjing University and is an independent curator based in Beijing. From 2012 to 2014, he was an editor at LEAP and has since written extensively for a range of publications.

Yang joined Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in 2015 as Chinese editor, curating exhibitions and public programmes before becoming curator and Head of Public Programs in 2018. His curatorial projects include La Chair, Secret Chamber, Pity Party, Land of the Lustrous, In Younger Days, Zhuang Shi, Uncanny Valley, White Hole, Two Sides of One Coin and Submerged Harmonies, alongside numerous solo exhibitions.

He was a finalist for the Hyundai Blue Prize in 2017 and a primary judge for the Huayu Youth Award in 2019 and 2021. In 2020, he received the inaugural Sigg Fellowship for Chinese Art Research from M+ Museum, Hong Kong.

 

Cao Yu

Cao Yu works across video, performance, photography, installation, sculpture and painting, blending conceptual rigour with irony, subtle feminism and surrealist elements. Central to her practice is her own body, used both as subject and instrument to confront social conventions, taboos and gendered expectations. From works created with breast milk after giving birth to neon texts and performative video declarations, Cao transforms intimate experience into charged visual statements. Through minimal gestures and deliberately excessive forms, she interrogates power, identity, historical memory and what she calls ‘inferior values, aesthetics and culture’. Her uncompromising, cross-disciplinary approach has positioned her among the leading figures of a new generation of Chinese women artists. Cao’s works are held in various collections, including M+, Hong Kong; CAFA Art Museum, Beijing and the Erlenmeyer Foundation, Basel. Selected exhibitions include those held at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016); Artspace, Sydney (2017); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2022); the 7th Guangzhou Triennial (2022); Museum der Moderne, Salzburg (2023) and TANK Shanghai (2024).