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In June and July 2025, Professor Paul Gladston, the UNSW Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art, led a delegation across several major Chinese cities—including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen—as part of a field-based investigation into the dynamic and fast-evolving landscape of contemporary video art in mainland China. The trip supports the curatorial research for an international exhibition provisionally titled ‘In/Visible Spectrums: Contemporary Video Art from the Sinosphere’, scheduled to open at the SOAS Gallery, University of London, in April 2026.

The delegation, supported by assistant curators Yique (the internationally renowned artist) and Lin Zi (one of China’s leading art critics), engaged directly with artists, curators, and institutions to explore current trajectories in video art across China. Through extensive studio visits and in-depth conversations, the team gained insight into how video artists—particularly emerging voices—are navigating and responding to China’s shifting cultural, political, economic and technological dynamics. The project was expertly co-ordinated by Chen Wen, the UNSW Judith Neilson Project Manager of Contemporary art.

As Professor Gladston tells us, “There were several memorable moments during this journey across China. We visited many world-class cultural and exhibition spaces. Among them, the How Museum, Shanghai, Ramp, Beijing, the 1979 Gallery at the Seaworld Cultural and Arts Centre, Shenzhen and the Springtime Centre at 798 Art District, Beijing. We were also privileged to visit Artron in Shenzhen, printers of the highest quality for artworld publishers world-wide. All the visits to artist’s studios were stimulating. It’s uplifting to see how artists in China continue to strive for critical creativity and technical innovation under increasingly repressive political and economic conditions both domestically and internationally. The standout artistic moment for me was my video recorded conversation with the esteemed painter Wang Xingwei at the URS Miele Gallery, 798 Beijing. I was also impressed by the intensely hi-tec environment in China’s futuristic mega-cities. One aspect of which are the robots in the hotels we stayed at which can deliver all manner of things to one’s room day and night via a phone app.”

While this journey shapes the 2026 exhibition, it extends beyond curatorial planning, forming part of a broader inquiry into the ideological, institutional, and sociopolitical dimensions of video art practice in China today. By foregrounding fieldwork and direct engagement, the project reinforces JNCCA’s commitment to fostering rigorous, transnational research that critically responds to the evolving conditions of contemporary art.

As Professor Gladston explains, “As curators and researchers, I’m strongly of the opinion that we must meet contemporary artists first-hand where they are located—geographically, practically and intellectually. This trip is not just about curation, but also the scholarly extension of knowledge.”

The 2026 exhibition ‘In/Visible Spectrums’ will showcase video works by artists from across the Sinosphere—including mainland China, Hong Kong-Macau, Taiwan and related diasporas. It builds on a series of ground-breaking exhibitions of contemporary Chinese video art led by members of the JNCCA team Paul Gladston and Lynne Howarth-Gladston, including ‘New China/New Art’ (University of Nottingham, 2015) and ‘Dis-/Continuing Traditions’ (Salamanca Arts Centre, 2021). There will be an accompanying publication in physical and e-form as part of the JNCCA editions series as well as documentary video of the exhibition’s staging and associated events.