As the Academic Director of Sotheby's in Asia, Katie Ho has always been committed to continuously exploring and interpreting the complexities of Chinese culture for Western audiences, and actively promoting cross-cultural exchanges between Chinese artists and their Western counterparts.
As early as the 80s of the 20th century, she went to Xi'an for exchange Xi at the University of Edinburgh to further her Xi Chinese culture. Over the years, thanks to her extensive travels and close relationships with the Chinese artist community in Europe, her connection with the Chinese contemporary art scene has developed naturally.
In the interview, Katie Ho elaborated on her exploration in the field of contemporary Chinese art. Looking back on past projects, she discusses artist migration in a rapidly evolving global context and shares insights into her engagement with this unique theme.
A life-changing study tour in Xi'an.
Katie Ho. Photo by Fraser Watson
People's Daily Online: In the 80s of the last century, you came to China for the first time in order to study XiChinese in order to study in depth, and you visited Xi'an. What made you decide to embark on this cultural journey?
Katie: I've always been a lover of languages since I was a child, and I studied French, German and Italian as a student. The main reason I became interested in Chinese was the visual elements contained in the text. To be able to decipher them, I decided to study Chinese at the University of Edinburgh.
From 1986 to 1987, I spent a life-changing year in Xi'an as a visiting student. At that time, there were not many high-rise buildings in Xi'an. The city surrounded by loess is windy and sandy and can sometimes look gray, but you can see mosques in the Muslim section of the old city. Most of the locals speak with a strong Shaanxi accent, and it is difficult for us to understand what they say when we first start learning Chinese, and we cannot communicate easily. For us, the most important thing is to see the city itself with our own eyes, observe people's daily activities, experience street culture and taste street food. We even saw donkeys and camels in the streets. Xi'an is quite exotic.
People's Daily Online: With years of continuous contact, how has your impression of China changed?
Katie: I witnessed the changes in urban regeneration in the 90s, and every time I go back, it changes so much that it's almost unbelievable. Beijing, in particular, has been rebuilt on a large scale and has become particularly large. Between 2007 and 2008 we lived for a period of time near Beijing's 798 Art District. We visited artists such as Liu Xiaodong, Yu Hong, and Huang Rui, who have been there since the inception of 798. Amazingly, this group of people during this period almost laid the cornerstone of Chinese contemporary art.
When Chinese artists come to the West.
Katie Ho. Photo by Fraser Watson
People's Daily Online: You have a deep connection with Chinese contemporary art and have always been an active participant in this field. How did you come into contact with Chinese contemporary art?
Katie: After graduating from Edinburgh in 1989, I was fortunate enough to find a job at the National Library of Art in London, where I was responsible for cataloguing books on Chinese art. When I was living in Rome, I began to meet artists who had emigrated to Europe from China. When Professor Kruger left the Victoria and Albert Museum, I followed him to the School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of Sussex for a PhD. I came to realize that there was a new group of artists moving from China to Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. It's an interesting phenomenon because it raises a series of questions about their activities in the art world, how they practice it, who they interact with and how they are presented. All of these questions are woven into my **, making it almost a very contemporary ethnographic study.
People's Daily Online: You have contributed to the visibility of Chinese artists in Europe, with a particular focus on Chinese artists living in Europe. Can you tell us about some of the key topics and collaborative projects you have been involved in, and how they have helped to deepen the understanding of Chinese artists in Western audiences?
Katie Ho: Interviews with artists are one of the most important ways of my research, and one of my chapters is a conversation with Huang Yongping. His works deal with traditional Chinese culture, but they are combined with many concepts of contemporary philosophy, which is quite abstract and has a fairly high threshold for understanding. After that, I met Cai Yuan in London. I collaborated with him on curating performances, exhibitions, and group exhibitions. I also became a curator of the Chinese Poster Collection at the University of Westminster in London. We focus on how these posters are produced and disseminated, and the relationship between the medium and contemporary art. I was very interested in how artists at the time used their bodies to convey ideas in their performances.
People's Daily Online: You have always played the role of an interpreter, translating and conveying deep cultural connotations to people with different backgrounds. In the process, have you tried to study Chinese artists alongside local British artists?
Katie Ho: In 2009, I curated a major exhibition at Tang Contemporary Art Center in Beijing called "The English Living Room". The concept of living room, or lounge, comes from airport lounges and is associated with global migration and travel. We invited a lot of artists to come to Beijing and asked them to create a huge mural on the spot, depicting the airport and the flight**. The idea was to include some Chinese artists in the UK. From my initial research, the research I did was all about globalization, transnationalism, and immigration status. It is very important to expand this research and put it to life in real life that I have a nuanced understanding of "positioning".
Contemporary art across borders.
Katie Ho with her students. Photo by Fraser Watson
People's Daily Online: How do you experience working with artists?Each artist has their own references and opinions, how do you quickly understand and assimilate them?
Katie Ho: When working with artists, it's important to maintain a genuine and lively relationship. It's an experience that makes you open up to the other person, and you can't impose anything on the artist. For example, I am currently teaching at Sotheby's School of Art, where I am responsible for Asian activities. In September of this year, during the Frieze Art Fair in London, we held a course on art collecting in Seoul. The course includes modules on Indian Art, Japanese Art, Korean Art, Southeast Asian Art, and more. I also want to learn Xi other people's areas of expertise, and these preparations allow me to play a bigger role in working with Chinese artists in the UK. Many times we don't do enough to interpret the nuances between cultures, and it's just as important to have a true two-way dialogue as it is to build a simple partnership.
People's Daily Online: Can you share with us your recent concerns?
Katie Ho: I've been working with ink painters lately. A few years ago, I held an exhibition in Hong Kong with Wang Huangsheng. Knowledgeable as a scholar, museum curator, and artist, he often draws inspiration from ancient philosophies such as the Tao Te Ching, and integrates his understanding of the universe and the spiritual world into contemporary philosophical interactions. A larger view of history is essential to understanding these works. On the project side, I am working to revitalize my personal company called the Office of Contemporary Chinese Art, an institution dedicated to curatorial consulting for museums or collectors.
People's Daily Online: What do you think is the most unique aspect of studying Chinese art?
Katie: I'm particularly fascinated by the intersection of the Global South and China, and my vision is to foster collaborations between artists from these different regions. Over the past few years, I've had the opportunity to visit Thailand and South Korea, where I've discovered some of Beijing's biggest galleries that are expanding their reach by setting up spaces in Bangkok and Seoul. Each of these countries has its own history, but their interactions with China can be found in common cultural elements such as porcelain, calligraphy, and Eastern philosophical ideas that permeate Asia. Chinese culture is extremely rich in connotations, and I have to keep learning Xi and expanding my knowledge to accommodate these complexities. Because it is a source of knowledge and creativity, you will never lose interest in it.