Assembly | Curator Floor Talk

An ‘assembly’ can be a temporary collective with a shared sense of purpose, or a creative, resilient (and sometimes precarious) construction. Assembly brings together eight Hong Kong-born artists from different generations of the diaspora. Amid the current wave of migration, this exhibition explores the act of ‘making sense’ of layers and fragments, of memories and stories, told or untold. Assembly embraces the resonance and dissonance between the diverse creative practices of these artists, questioning readymade notions of diasporic identity.

About the curator

Dr Olivier Krischer is a historian and curator of modern and contemporary art and photomedia from East Asia and its diasporas. He is currently a lecturer in the MA Curating and Cultural Leadership at UNSW Art and Design, and lecturer of modern and contemporary Asian art history at the National Art School, Sydney. Previous curatorial projects include Wei Leng Tay – Abridge (2021) and Wayfaring: Photography in 1970s-80s Taiwan (2021, co-curated with Dr. Shuxia Chen); and he is editor and co-editor of John Young: The History Projects (Power Publications, 2024), Zhang Peili: from Painting to Video (ANU Press, 2019) and Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation Across Borders (2013, with F. Nakamura, M. Perkins).

Visit the exhibition webpage for further information on Assembly and the latest public program.