Memories of the Future: Queer Time and Space in the Art of Wang Zi
A virtual talk by Dr. Kris Imants Ercums for “Queer X Contemporary X China,” organized by the Task of the Curator
“What does it mean to remember someone you loved?” Through his multidisciplinary artwork, Beijing artist Wang Zi bends time and manipulates space to forge utopian realms that emerge from the forces of desire, vengeance, and imagination. This talk attempts to chart the art and life of Wang Zi through a conversation we had in March 2024, WeChat texts, old Weibo posts, photographs, round paintings, and found objects.
Biography
Kris Imants Ercums is Curator of Global contemporary and Asian art at Spencer Museum of Art. He completed his PhD “Exhibiting Modernity: National Art Exhibition during the Early Republican Period, 1910–1937” in art history at the University of Chicago in 2014. His exhibition Temporal Turn: Art & Speculation in Contemporary Asia (2016) explored varied manifestations of time, history, and memory through the work of over 20 artists working across Asia. His current research project examines queer artistic practices in contemporary East Asia through a series of interviews. He will is currently working with Maki Kaneko to curate Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani that will open at the Spencer Museum in 2026.
This event is co-sponsored by the East Asian Studies Center, the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts, the Department of Comparative Studies and the Department of History of Art.
Zoom information:
Meeting ID: 979 0007 6253
Password: 752498
