借壳：驻留计划溯源与中国当代艺术进程
Origins of Artist Residencies in China: Another Pathway to Contemporary Chinese Art

展期 / Dates: 11 October–1 November 2026
开幕 / Opening: 11 October 2026, 15:00–17:00 (Beijing time)
开放时间 / Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 09:00–17:00; closed Mondays
地点 / Venue: Red Gate Gallery / 红门画廊
798 Art District, No. 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
北京市朝阳区酒仙桥路2号院798艺术区
Curators / 策展人: Hu Chao 胡超; Brian Wallace 布朗·华莱士
Telephone: +86 137 010 787 21
Exhibition website: https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/
Media: https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/media/
Contact: huchao.beijing@gmail.com; brian@redgategallery.com

Short exhibition notice

Origins of Artist Residencies in China: Another Pathway to Contemporary Chinese Art explores how artist residencies helped shape contemporary Chinese art. Curated by Hu Chao and Brian Wallace, the exhibition takes place at Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, from 11 October to 1 November 2026. Through artworks and historical material, it traces three stages: Transplantation, Grafting and Mycelium. These follow organised exchanges from the early 1990s, the development of locally rooted programmes from 2001, and the growth of a wider residency network. The exhibition asks how living and making work in unfamiliar places changed artists’ knowledge, methods and relationships—and why these experiences deserve a place in art history. The opening takes place on Sunday, 11 October, from 3 to 5 pm.

Full exhibition introduction

Origins of Artist Residencies in China: Another Pathway to Contemporary Chinese Art examines artist residency as one of the practices through which contemporary Chinese art took shape. Curated by art historian and curator Hu Chao and Red Gate Gallery founder Brian Wallace, the exhibition runs at Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, from 11 October to 1 November 2026.

The Chinese title, “Borrowing the Shell,” connects two meanings: entering an existing structure and drawing on its resources, and the biological processes of inhabitation, adaptation and growth. A residency gives artists time to stay and make work in an unfamiliar environment. Through everyday life and cross-cultural encounters, they acquire embodied knowledge that changes their understanding of their position, their methods and their relationship to the world. Such experience also travels through conversations, exhibitions, discussions and teaching.

The exhibition follows three stages. Transplantation traces organised exchanges from the early 1990s, when Australia’s Asialink began sending artists to China and Red Gate Gallery helped them find accommodation, studios and connections within Beijing’s art community. These exchanges opened channels through which Chinese and international artists could encounter one another’s working environments.

Grafting focuses on the development of locally rooted programmes from 2001. Red Gate launched its own residency in Beijing, while the Chinese European Art Center began its programme in Xiamen. Their international connections took new forms through local cultures, workshops, social resources and artistic communities.

Mycelium considers the growth of a wider network from 2009 onward. Founded in 2013, China Residencies connected programmes and institutions through a bilingual platform and annual reports. Artist-led initiatives, including Shangyuan Art Museum and Zheng Xuewu’s Hudson Art Center, also developed in response to artists’ needs.

Bringing artworks together with artists’ recollections and institutional histories, the exhibition asks why these experiences have received limited attention in accounts of contemporary Chinese art. It proposes a history attentive to the practical support that made movement possible, and to the knowledge artists gained by staying somewhere else. The opening takes place on Sunday, 11 October 2026, from 3 to 5 pm.
