THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE NOT-FOR-PROFIT ART ORGANIZATION Friday, 25 March 2016 12pm – 1pm Conducted in English This panel addresses the role of the not-for-profit organisation in contemporary Asian art. These small but nimble organisations play critical roles in the discourse of contemporary art through their programs. This discussion features four leading not-for-profit organisations within the region as they address the roles they play within the ecology of the contemporary Asian art world. There is a responsiveness, flexibility and criticality to our organisations that enable us to operate in a much different manner than a museum. In contemporary Asian art we are have been clear leaders when museums have struggled to maintain a sense of longevity and the commercial world has had little focus on displaying consistent clear critical exhibitions. SPEAKERS:

CHRISTINA LI / Director, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong Christina Li is the Director of Spring Workshop, Hong Kong. She graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a degree in Fine Arts (Art History) and Comparative Literature, and completed de Appel Curatorial Programme in 2009. She was involved with the research and project management of the international contemporary art and research project FORMER WEST between 2011-2012 and was the co- curator for the 3rd FORMER WEST Research Congress, Part One: Beyond What Was Contemporary Art in Vienna (2012). Li was part of the editorial team of SKOR’s debut public program: Actors, Agents and Attendants: Speculations on the Cultural Organisation of Civility (2010) and curating the accompanying artist projects and film program. As a writer, she has contributed to catalogues and publications such as Yishu Journal of Contemporary Art, LEAP, and Art Forum. She previously worked as a curator of Para/Site Art Space (Hong Kong) between 2005-2008, and was the assistant curator of Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams, the Hong Kong Participation of the 53rd Venice Biennale.

DOMINIQUE CHAN / Head of Gallery and Exhibition, Asia Society Hong Kong Center Dominique Chan is the Head of Gallery & Exhibition for the Asia Society Hong Kong Center and responsible for the public art installations and exhibitions in the Chantal Miller Gallery. Chan has brought a diverse range of acclaimed exhibitions to Hong Kong, including Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art (2012), Light before Dawn: Unofficial Chinese Art 1974-1985 (2013), Guggenheim’s No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia (2013), Light and Shadows: Caravaggio – The Italian Baroque Master (2013-2014), It Begins with Metamorphosis: Xu Bing (2013-2014) and Temple, Scrolls, and Divine Messengers: Archaeology of the Land of Israel in Roman Times (2014-2015). Chan was the recipient of a Hong Kong Arts Development Council 2013/14 Hong Kong International Scholarship to join the Clore Leadership Program in the United Kingdom, during which he was seconded to Tate Modern in London.

COSMIN COSTINAS / Director, Para Site Hong Kong Cosmin Costinas is the Executive Director of the Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong’s leading non-profit organisation dedicated to contemporary visual art. He was born in Satu Mare, Romania in 1982. His was previously curator of BAK in the Netherlands; co-director of the 2010 Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, ; and editor of the magazine documenta 12. Major exhibitions include Taiping Tianguo: A History of Possible Encounters: Ai Weiwei, Frog King Kwok, Tehching Hsieh, and Martin Wong in New York for Para/site (2012); Spacecraft Icarus 13. Narratives of Progress from Elsewhere and In the Middle of Things for BAK (2011), and I, the Undersigned, a touring exhibition at the Institute of International Visual Arts in London, the Lunds Konsthall in Lund, tranzit+display in Prague, and Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart (2010–2011).

YOU YANG / Deputy Director, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art You Yang joined Ullens Centre of Contemporary Art in 2011, becoming Deputy Director in 2012. His main responsibilities include enhancing the Center’s long-term growth and building its audience through special projects, public relations, and marketing. He works particularly on UCCA’s communication strategy, social media positioning, image development, and messaging, overseeing communication with domestic and overseas media as well as with the general public. Prior to joining UCCA, You Yang was the marketing director of the Chinese-language version of Time Out Beijing and the deputy general manager of the China International Gallery Exposition (CIGE), the first large-scale contemporary art fair in China. In 2010 and 2011, he also served as Asia consultant for the ART ASIA art fair in Miami, Florida. Complementing his wide range of marketing and management experience, You Yang is also a published author and art critic with more than one hundred journal articles and catalogue essays to his credit. He holds a master’s degree in business management from the University of Hull.

MIKALA TAI (moderator) / Director, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney Mikala Tai is the Director of 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney. She is a curator, researcher and academic specialising in contemporary Asian art and Australian design, who over the past decade has collaborated with local, national and international organisations to strengthen ties between Australia and Asia. Curatorial projects include Closing The Gap: Contemporary Indonesian Art (2011) at Melbourne International Fine Art (MIFA) when she was director; Yang Yongliang (2009) at 45 Downstairs, Melbourne; public programs for Swimming in Sand; Growing Rice under an Umbrella (2014) at No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne. As an academic Mikala has taught at both RMIT and the University of Melbourne in both undergraduate and graduate programs in Contemporary Art, Modernism and Exhibition Management, in addition to having devised and delivered the inaugural Contemporary Asian Art syllabus at RMIT (2012 –) and the first China Fieldwork Course (2015 –) with Rebecca Coates and Kate McNeill at the University of Melbourne. More recently Mikala was the founder and director of Supergraph – Australia’s Contemporary Graphic Art Fair, which has been held twice at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne and exhibited at Somerset House, London (2015). She was also part of the public programs team for Melbourne Now (2013) at the National

Gallery of Victoria, and previously the Cultural Program Manager for the Melbourne Fashion Festival (2009-2013). Mikala currently sits on the board of BUS Projects, Melbourne. In 2006 Mikala completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Melbourne and in early 2015 submitted her PhD at UNSW Art & Design examining the influence of the Global City on China’s local art infrastructure.