Study Session: LuYang

Join this afternoon of talks, presenting new academic research into LuYang’s work, and discussing key elements of their practice.

Divided into three parts, the afternoon begins by exploring the relevance of the body’s relationship to technology in LuYang’s work, after which we unpack their connection to gaming. The event will culminate in a panel discussion positing the overlaps of the artist’s interests in Buddhism, neuroscience, and technology.

Please note, the Study Day will take place in the Middle Gallery, which will be closed to the public. The Main and Back galleries will be open to the public as normal until 6pm.

12pm Welcome from Antonia Blocker (Senior Curator: Performance & Engagement, Zabludowicz Collection)

12.10pm Jiang Jiehong (Head of Research at School of Art, Director of the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts, Birmingham City University) gives a brief introduction to contemporary art in China

Technology and the body

12.30pm Talk: Sophie Xiaofei Guo (Associate Lecturer; PhD student at The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London) presents ‘Doubting Sex: Examining the Biomedical Gaze in Lu Yang’s Uterus Man
(2013)'

1.15pm Talk: Shiyu Gao (University of Edinburgh), presents her essay ‘Reshaping posthuman subjectivity: Lu Yang’s representation of virtual bodies in the COVID-19 pandemic’

2pm break

Games and gameplay

3pm In conversation: Samantha King (Head of Programme, VIVE Arts), Maitreyi Maheshwari (Head of Programme, FACT) and Julia Greenway (Curator, Zabludowicz Collection) discuss the use of game structures and engines by artists – questioning what possibilities, complexities, and challenges this presents to curators and audiences.

4.30pm break

4.45pm Talk: Fred Shan (CHASE AHRC Doctoral Research Candidate at The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London) presents ‘An Otaku with Chinese Characteristics?: Localizing Japanese ACG Currents in Lu Yang’s The Beast’

5.30pm break

Thought experiments

6pm Panel Discussion: Neti Neti

Using LuYang’s work as a starting point, this discussion considers how key concepts from Buddhism and Neuroscience can be understood to overlap, interrogating how we define ourselves and our experience of being human. With Sophie Xiaofei Guo, Dr Nick Swann (MA Buddhist Studies course leader at University of South Wales), and neuroscientist Annie Sherred, chaired by artist and programming consultant Cassidy Putnam.

This event is FREE, booking is necessary. Please note, if you have booked a ticket for the afternoon, you do not need a separate booking for the evening panel discussion.