Wu Hung

Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Chinese Studies (2011-2012)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Chinese Studies is one of the leading voices in the study of China within the U.K. Ambitious in its scope, the initiative holds Visiting Professorships that engage with many aspects of a country and culture that has become of increasing global importance, yet has not traditionally received the study it merits. The Visiting Professorship in Chinese Studies is hosted by St Catherine’s College, Oxford. It has been made possible by the generous support of Sir David Tang.

Wu Hung is a Professor of Art History, and East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Professor Wu spoke on ‘contemporaneity’ in present-day China, delivering three lectures and participating in a colloquium, all on the topic of ‘Reading Absence in Chinese Art and Material Culture’.

The first lecture on ‘Absence and Subjectivity’ focused on the treatment of largely material culture – especially on mirrors and pillows- where the absence of the body is part of the object’s conceptualisation and display. The second on ‘Absence and Memory’ looked at mainly seventeenth-century paintings and the use of ghostly figures, blank steles, and empty landscapes. The final lecture, ‘Demolition Projects: Absence as Contemporaneity’, focused on the avant-garde art of the 1980s and 1990s in Beijing and its engagement with tradition and particularly with architectural destruction.

In the concluding symposium, Professor Wu was joined by other prominent experts in the field: Professor Craig Clunas (History of Art, University of Oxford), Alfeda Murck (an independent scholar from Beijing), Dr Adam Chau (Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge), Dr Joseph McDermott (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge), Dr Shane McCausland (History of Chinese Art, SOAS), and Professor Tim Barrett (East Asian History and Research, SOAS).

Each of the speakers made a valuable contribution on the general theme of the lecture series. The discussion was extended, and the event ended with a guided tour of the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition on Chinese mortuary art.