Public Lecture The Space of Negotiation: Xiao Lu's Art Across Borders

The Institute of East Asian Art History was delighted to welcome pioneering contemporary Chinese artist Xiao Lu for a public lecture, The Space of Negotiation: My Art Across Borders. The event opened with a nine-minute video introducing some of Xiao's most visually striking performance works, setting the stage for a lecture on artistic authorship, feminist practice, censorship, and the shifting meanings artworks acquire across different cultural and political contexts.

During the discussion, Xiao spoke candidly about resisting labels and explained that her work always begins with an experience or stance she feels compelled to express, with the choice of medium following naturally from that impulse. Curator Juan Xu described Xiao as an artist who continually defies categorization, highlighting the singularity of her practice.

For students of art history, the lecture offered more than an encounter with a living artist. It prompted critical reflection on the relationship between artists' own narratives and the ways their work is interpreted through historical, institutional, and theoretical frameworks—an essential part of art historical inquiry.