Shanghai’s Power Station of Art (PSA) has announced that curator and art historian Cuauhtémoc Medina has been appointed chief curator of the 12th Shanghai Biennale, which will open on 10 November 2018
Born in Mexico, Cuauhtémoc Medina has worked extensively in Europe, and currently serves as chief curator at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) in Mexico City. Medina has published extensively and between 1999 and 2013 he was in charge of the ‘Ojo Breve’ art critical section of the Reforma newspaper in Mexico City.
Among his curatorial projects, Medina was head curator of the Manifesta 9 Biennial in Genk, Belgium, titled The Deep of the Modern (with Katerina Gregos and Dawn Ades). At MUAC Medina has curated exhibitions by artists such as Harun Farocki, Raqs Media Collective, Jeremy Deller, Andrea Fraser, Vicente Rojo and Hito Steyerl. He has also recently curated Francis Alÿs A Story of Negotation, (2014-) a travelling show organized for museums in Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Canada and the USA.
Medina was selected by the PSA’s academic committee, whose current members are Homi K. Bhabha, Donna De Salvo, Chris Dercon, Ding Yi, Fei Dawei, Feng Yuan, Gao Shiming, Gong Yan, Hou Hanru and Mark Wigley.
Speaking of his appointment, Medina said, “Biennales are large scale exhibitions that, beyond offering a certain perspective on the potential of art and culture today, inscribe a city and an event as a provisory and symbolic artistic world center. That Shanghai hosts an exhibition of that kind is most appropriate for it provides a clear image of the current decentering of our cultural narratives and the significance that China and Asia have in the cultural and economic circuits of today.”
Opened in October 2012, the Power Station of Art (PSA) is the first and only state-run museum dedicated to contemporary art in mainland China, housed in a converted 1950s power plant, and has hosted the Biennale since its opening.
PSA also announced the appointment of Shi Hantao (Chief Coordinator) and He Huanhuan (Head of Administrative Affairs) to its management team. Shi Hantao has been involved in the producing exhibitions and public events in a number of Shanghai-based art and cultural organizations; He Huanhuan has previously worked with the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation and the Shanghai Art Fair.
15 November 2017
