Contemporary Queer Chinese Art

Contemporary Queer Chinese Art is the first English-language academic book that explores the intersections of queer culture and contemporary Chinese art from the mid-1980s to the present. This book brings together 15 internationally renowned artists, activists, curators and scholars to explore heterogeneous expressions of Chineseness and queerness in contemporary art from China and Chinese diasporas in Asia, Europe and North America.

Examining contemporary visual art, performance and activism, this book offers a rich archive of queer Chinese artistic expressions. It provides valuable insights into the status quo and intersectional struggles of Chinese artists who identify themselves as queer and who have associated their work with queer positionalities and perspectives. By sharing personal experiences, art expressions and critical insights about what it means to be queer and Chinese in a transnational context, the book reveals multiple forms and potentialities of queer politics in the domains of art and activism.

Hongwei Bao is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he also directs the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies. He is also a research associate of the Birmingham School of Art. Bao is the author of Queer Comrades, Queer China and Queer Media in China.

Diyi Mergenthaler is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Art History at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Jamie J. Zhao is Honorary Professor and the Director of the Centre for Gender and Media Studies in the Department of Journalism and Communication at NingboTech University, China.