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Programme:

History of Art - MPhil/PhD/MSc by Research

Start date:

Oct-17

Mode of study:

Full time

Research title:

Technological Body in Becoming: Posthuman, Technology, and Chinese new media art

Biography

Shiyu Gao is a PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh, studying History of Art. Her research focuses on the body, new media art, and technology in contemporary East Asian art.

Shiyu's doctoral thesis is tentatively titled 'Technological Body in Chinese New Media Art.'  It investigates the approaches in which contemporary Chinese artists have deployed new technologies of body representation to explore individual subjectivities and national identities engaging with China's transforming society.

Shiyu obtained her MSc in Modern Art: History, Curating, and Criticism at Edinburgh after receiving a B.A. in art history from China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Before beginning a PhD, Shiyu worked as curator for museums and galleries in China and the UK, including Stills Gallery in Edinburgh, CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Art Museum of China. She contributed to art magazines and auction companies as well. Her recent publications include About the Body and Thinking of Art – A Dialogue Between Geng Xue and Gao Shiyu and The Representation of the Space in Chinese Painting and Poetry.

Shiyu has presented her research in the 34th CIHA World Congress of the History of Art in September 2016. Other conferences and events Shiyu presented include Peking University's History of Art Research Seminar (December 2017), Xu Beihong Study: Young Scholar Forum at Renmin University of China (June 2017), Inter media, Creative arts and Curating TED Conference at China Academy of Arts (April 2016).​

Research

Research Interests

  • New Media Art
  • Modern and contemporary East Asian art
  • Technology and Art
  • The body in art

 Selected Publications

  • "Synthesis and Transformation: The body representation in Xu Beihong's painting" in Collected Essays on Xu Beihong Study 2017, Renmin University of China Press (Forthcoming).
  • "Body as Landscape: Body representation in contemporary Chinese art" in Collected Essays on 34th World Congress of History of Art, Peking University Press(Forthcoming).
  •  "About the Body and Thinking of Art – A Dialogue Between Geng Xue and Gao Shiyu." In Fire Within: A New Generation of Chinese Women Artists. Michigan: Michigan State University, 2016,  pp. 100-105.
  • "The Memory of Sunflowers." Oriental Morning Post Art Review, 7 Jan 2015, p. 14.
  • "The Representation of the Space in Chinese Painting and Poetry." Journal of Culture and History,Vol. 10, 2012, pp.123-124.
  • "Does the 798 Art District Need the Beauty?" Art Magazine, April, 2010, p. 12.

Conferences

  • "Body as Cityscape," History of Art Research Seminar Series, Peking University, 15 December, 2017.
  • "Synthesis and Transformation: The body in Xu Beihong's painting," Xu Beihong Study: Young Scholar Forum, Renmin University of China, 10-12 June 2017.
  • "Body as Landscape: Body Representation in Contemporary Chinese Art", Session 8 "Art and Taboo", The 34th CIHA World Congress of Art History , 16-22 Sep, 2016.
  • "How Did Ai Weiwei Think About Your Exhibitions: Rethinking Curating Chinese Art Outside China", Inter media, Creative arts and Curating TED Conference, China Academy of Arts, 15-16 April 2016.