# Mycelium · Origins of Artist Residencies in China: Another Pathway to Contemporary Chinese Art — Hu Chao 胡超

Source: https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/mycelium/

## English

[Selected curatorial projects](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/) / [“Borrowing the Shell”](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/) / Mycelium

[Exhibition](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/)[Curatorial note](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/curatorial-note/)[Foreword](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/foreword/)[Residency history](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/residency-history/)[Selected works](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/works/)[Installation views](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/gallery/)[Press & media](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/media/)[Visit & contact](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/visit/)[Catalogue PDF ↓](https://www.huchaocurator.com/downloads/shell-exhibition/catalogue-origins-of-artist-residencies-in-china.pdf)

03 / Mycelium

# Mycelium

Since 2009: residencies grow into an open network

[01 Transplantation](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/transplantation/?lang=en)[02 Grafting](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/grafting/?lang=en)[03 Mycelium](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/mycelium/?lang=en)

Three historical stages

Exhibition wall text: Hu Chao

[Full exhibition foreword ↗](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/foreword/?lang=en)

Around 2009, Crystal Ruth Bell and Kira Simon-Kennedy, who met while working around the Red Gate Residency, began systematically surveying this scattered field. In 2013 they founded China Residencies, a non-profit information platform: a bilingual website cataloguing the country's programs and institutions, and an annual report (2014–2021) that documented the field year by year and remains its most extensive public record. The scattered nodes were drawn, at last, into one open map. China Residencies hosts no residents of its own and receives no artists — what it does is the connecting itself.

This network appeared, in part, because these were the years when residency programs multiplied fastest in China. Three Shadows Photography Art Centre's international residency (2008); A4 International Residency Art Center in Chengdu (2011); the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai (2011); the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute's residency for young artists (from 2012); Dimensions Art Center in Chongqing (2013); Chronus Art Center (2013) — museums, academies, a commercial brand, independent spaces: each a node.

Local forces were building on their own account. The poet Cheng Xiaobei, with more than twenty poets and artists, initiated Shangyuan Art Museum in 2000; run by volunteers, it opened to international residents in 2007 and later extended to Hainan, Huangshan and Jingdezhen. The artist Zheng Xuewu, supported early on by Red Gate among others, took up residencies in the United States, co-founded a program in Beijing in 2006, and around 2018–2019 founded the Hudson Art Center in New York, with residencies designed for Chinese artists — passing the borrowed shell, in turn, to the next ones setting out.

After nearly three decades of running residencies, Asialink shifted its focus to institution-to-institution partnerships in 2020. Programs emerge, transform, disappear, or continue in new forms — that is how the mycelium grows: no single center, spreading across platforms, institutions, artists and regions.

What this exhibition presents are only some of the nodes in that network. We salute every institution, organizer and artist who has pushed residencies forward; more programs, archives and historical threads can be found in the exhibition catalogue.

[

Image: Zheng Xuewu, The East, 2009. Acrylic on canvas, 146 × 86 cm.

](https://www.huchaocurator.com/assets/shell-exhibition/zheng-xuewu-the-east.webp)

Zheng Xuewu, The East, 2009. Acrylic on canvas, 146 × 86 cm. Courtesy of Red Gate Gallery.

[Continue to selected works ↗](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/works/?lang=en)

## Image use & credits

Images may be reproduced free of charge for editorial coverage of the exhibition, provided the specified credits are retained.

Artwork images: Courtesy of Red Gate Gallery.

Installation photographs (excluding opening views): Photo: Zhang Guozhong. Courtesy of Hu Chao.

Artwork copyright remains with the respective artists and rights holders. Copyright in the installation photographs (excluding opening views) belongs to Hu Chao. Opening-view credits are listed separately; please contact Hu Chao for reproduction enquiries.

[Bilingual image captions CSV ↓](https://www.huchaocurator.com/downloads/shell-exhibition/image-captions.csv)

GALLERY & RELATED CHANNELS

This project archive brings together Hu Chao’s curatorial research, the exhibition foreword, works and installation views. See the gallery’s channels for its announcements and visitor updates.

[Red Gate Gallery exhibition link](http://redgategallery.com/exhibitions/origins-of-artist-residencies-in-china/)[Red Gate Gallery · exhibition archive](https://redgategallery.com/category/exhibitions/past-exhibition/)[WeChat exhibition announcement](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nj66l7sie7GpGiTNcvHg0A)[Red Gate Gallery · WeChat post](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/VgR8BZMSK3L5910GM1ctQA)[Red Gate Gallery · opening review](https://redgategallery.com/news/opening-review-origins-of-artist-residencies-in-china/)[Red Gate Gallery website](https://redgategallery.com/)

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## 中文

[主要策展](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/) / [《借壳》](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/) / 菌丝网络

[展览详情](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/)[策展人语](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/curatorial-note/)[展览前言](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/foreword/)[驻留历史](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/residency-history/)[精选作品](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/works/)[展览现场](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/gallery/)[媒体资料](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/media/)[参观与联系](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/visit/)[图册 PDF ↓](https://www.huchaocurator.com/downloads/shell-exhibition/catalogue-origins-of-artist-residencies-in-china.pdf)

03 / Mycelium

# 菌丝网络

2009年至今：艺术驻留进入网络化发展的新阶段。

[01 移植](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/transplantation/?lang=zh)[02 嫁接](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/grafting/?lang=zh)[03 菌丝网络](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/chapters/mycelium/?lang=zh)

三条历史路径

展览墙面文字：胡超

[完整展览前言 ↗](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/foreword/?lang=zh)

2009年前后，在红门驻留项目中认识的 Crystal Ruth Bell 与 Kira Simon-Kennedy 开始系统考察全国散落各处的驻留计划。2013年，两人创办 China Residencies——一个非营利的驻留信息平台：中英文双语网站收录全国的计划与机构，年度报告（2014–2021）逐年记录这个领域的变化，至今仍是这一领域最系统的公开档案。散落各地的节点，由此连成一张开放的地图。China Residencies 自己不设驻留、不接待艺术家——它做的是连接本身。

这个网络的出现，也因为这一时期正是驻留计划在中国生长最密的年份。三影堂摄影艺术中心的国际艺术家驻地（2008）、成都A4国际驻留艺术中心（2011）、上海斯沃琪和平饭店艺术中心（2011）、四川美术学院的青年艺术家驻留计划（2012起）、重庆十方艺术中心（2013）、新时线媒体艺术中心（2013）——美术馆、学院、商业品牌、独立空间，各自成节点。

本土的力量同时在自建。诗人程小蓓与二十余位诗人、艺术家于2000年共同发起上苑艺术馆，以志愿者方式运营，2007年起接待全球艺术家驻留，其后扩展至海南、黄山、景德镇；艺术家郑学武在包括红门在内的机构支持下赴美驻留，2006年在北京联合创办驻留计划，2018至2019年间又在美国纽约创办哈德逊艺术中心（Hudson Art Center），为中国艺术家量身设计驻留内容——把借来的壳，转手递给下一批出发的人。

运营驻留三十年后，Asialink 于2020年将重心转向机构间合作。项目出现、转型、消失，或以新的形式继续——菌丝网络正以此方式生长：不依赖单一中心，在平台、机构、艺术家和地域之间蔓延。

本展览呈现的，只是这张网络中的一部分节点。我们向所有推动过艺术驻留的机构、组织者与艺术家致敬；更多驻留计划、机构资料与历史线索，见展览图册。

[

Image: 郑学武，《东方之境》，2009年。布面丙烯，146 × 86 cm。

](https://www.huchaocurator.com/assets/shell-exhibition/zheng-xuewu-the-east.webp)

郑学武，《东方之境》，2009年。布面丙烯，146 × 86 cm。 图片由红门画廊提供。

[继续观看作品 ↗](https://www.huchaocurator.com/exhibitions/borrowing-the-shell/works/?lang=zh)

## 图片使用与署名

图片可免费用于本展览的新闻与编辑报道，使用时须保留指定署名。

作品图片由红门画廊提供。

展厅照片（不含开幕现场）：张国钟 摄影，胡超 提供。

作品版权归各艺术家及相关权利人所有。展厅照片（不含开幕现场）版权归胡超所有。开幕现场图片另列署名，转载事宜请联系胡超。

[中英文图片图注 CSV ↓](https://www.huchaocurator.com/downloads/shell-exhibition/image-captions.csv)

画廊与相关发布

这里汇集胡超的策展研究、展览前言、作品与现场资料。画廊的展讯与参观安排，也可通过以下官方渠道查看。

[红门画廊展览链接](http://redgategallery.com/exhibitions/origins-of-artist-residencies-in-china/)[红门画廊 · 展览档案](https://redgategallery.com/category/exhibitions/past-exhibition/)[微信展览发布](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nj66l7sie7GpGiTNcvHg0A)[红门画廊 · 微信推文](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/VgR8BZMSK3L5910GM1ctQA)[红门画廊 · 开幕回顾](https://redgategallery.com/news/opening-review-origins-of-artist-residencies-in-china/)[红门画廊官网](https://redgategallery.com/)

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