Yuen Fong Ling: A Changing Appetite [Artist Talk]

Join us for A Changing Appetite – A Reflection on 'British-Chinese' Art Making and Curating from the Late 1980s to the Early 2000s, a talk with artist and curator Yuen Fong Ling, who will reflect on a period of creativity, hybridity, and possibility centred around Manchester, when artists of ESEA heritage were building connections across a widely dispersed and often fragmented artistic community.

The event will begin with a talk by Ling as he reflects on personal inspirations and motivations, the changing appetite for Chinese art, and more broadly on how these histories are being held today. A moment of rumination, Ling will talk about his early involvement with the Chinese Arts Centre, where he volunteered and later worked as Exhibition Curator through the Woo Arts Traineeship in partnership with North West Arts Board and Cornerhouse, before becoming Curator and later Co-Director at Castlefield Gallery. This will be followed by a Q&A session, offering the audience the opportunity to engage with the artist and curator directly.

Drawing on his own artistic and curatorial practice, Ling revisits the networks, collaborations, and critical friendships that developed through artist-led exhibitions, research projects, and strategic initiatives during the 1990s and early 2000s. Through selected exhibitions and projects – including New Generations (1996), How the West Was Won (1999), FLIP (2000), Dog and Partridge (2003), and Arrivals and Departures (2007) – Ling will explore how his artistic and professional identity developed during this time, and how artists navigated the politics of race, gender, sexuality, and class while challenging perceptions of Chinese art and artists in the UK.

Revisiting these histories today, the talk considers how artists and curators might reappraise their work alongside peers and collaborators, examining how these experiences might help reframe art histories and reclaim representation for future generations.

Advance booking is required to attend this event.

Find out more info or book your tickets on https://www.eseacontemporary.org/events/a-changing-appetite-a-reflection-on-british-chinese-art-making-and-curating-from-the-late-1980s-to-early-2000s