Advocacy

Expertise and academic leadership through the UNSW Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art adds significantly to UNSW’s global excellence in Asian studies and expands our critical understanding of Chinese contemporary art in its local, regional, and global contexts.

International network

Paul Gladston's research and critical writing have impacted significantly on the development of critical Chinese contemporary art and cultural studies. This is evidenced by the incorporation of his publications into academic curricula worldwide, translations of his writing into various languages, and his supervision of ground-breaking Ph.D. theses by candidates from China and across the globe. Paul has collaborated with major academic and cultural institutions inside and outside China, including UNESCO, the Southbank Centre London, Sotheby’s Institute, the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, Tsinghua University Beijing, Oxford University, the University of Maryland, the journal Third Text, Tate Modern (Tate Papers), the ShanghArt Gallery Shanghai, Chambers Fine Art New York, the New York-based visual arts, culture, and politics magazine Brooklyn Rail, the UK National Committee on China, and the Asia Society in Australia and the US. In his professorial role at UNSW Paul is dedicated to establishing a global network for contemporary art and cultural studies.

Collaborate with us

Supporting Asian Studies in Australia

The UNSW Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art supports contributions by UNSW researchers to professional scholarly associations such as the Asian Studies Association of Australia and the Australian Society for Asian Humanities.

Brooklyn Rail

The Brooklyn Rail, established in October 2000 and published 10 times a year, serves as an independent platform for arts, culture, and politics, emphasising local reporting, critiques of various art forms, and a strong focus on contemporary visual art, within New York City and beyond. Paul Gladston has curated online discussions for the Brooklyn Rail's New Social Environment series since 2021 and in his role as Contributing Editor-at-Large is responsible for curating and presenting diverse decolonising perspectives on the contemporary art world to the public under the title "Post-West" Arts and Visual Cultures.

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Publications

(PR) = Peer Reviewed; (PA) = Published Article; (FC) = Forthcoming

Monographs
Edited collections
Journal articles
Book/Anthology chapters

(PR) (PA – invited publication) Paul Gladston (2023), Художественные группы "Авангард" в Китае - 1979-1989 [‘Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979-1989], Boston MA: Academic Studies Press. [Contemporary Eastern Studies in the Russian Language]. https://www.academicstudiespress.com/contemporary-eastern-studies-books/9798887191966

“I am very appreciative of your book ’Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979-1989, for which my editors gave enthusiastic reviews, and I think that translating this volume could be a great addition for our new series. I am positive that, if translated, this book would attract the interest of readers in Russia and various Asian countries.”

– Igor Nemirovsky, Director Academic Studies Press.

Review and part republication in Russian:
The Art Newspaper Russia #111, opens in a new window
Art Guide Russia online, opens in a new window

Revised Russian language translation of Paul Gladston (2013), ‘Avant-garde Art Groups in China, 1979-1989, Bristol: Intellect and Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

“Gladston’s writing strategy serves well in stimulating the reader’s critical thinking and this was precisely what he aimed for: to deconstruct a phenomenon and give the right to speech and judgment to the reader.”

– Art Zip online (2017), opens in a new window

(PR) (PA – invited publication) Haiping Yan, Haina Jin and Paul Gladston eds. (2023), Translation Studies and China: Literature, Cinema and Visual Arts, London and Beijing: Routledge. Transcultural Studies in China Series (Tsinghua University – UK-China Humanities Alliance).
https://www.routledge.com/Translation-Studies-and-China-Literature-Cinema-and-Visual-Arts/Yan-Jin-Gladston/p/book/9781032563978, opens in a new window
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/WzEF0tSaS1n5YV38FizBxw, opens in a new window

Output of the 2022 three-day international online forum, Chinese Cultures, Translation and Contemporaneity: Literature – Cinema – Performance - the Visual Arts. Co-organized by Paul Gladston and Minerva Inwald with Profs. Haiping Yan and Haina Jin, Tsinghua University, Beijing in association with Institute for World Literatures and Cultures (IWLC) International Forum Series ‘World Maps and World Cultures.’

"The essays comprising Translation Studies and China are path-breaking in their scope--from film dubbing and back translation, to theatre, exhibition, visual art and children's books, then to poetry and fiction. And for their dialectical subtlety, which simultaneously focuses on translation as repetition of values, to translation as the domination of one set of values over others, and finally to the free possibilities symmetrical between languages that translation can prompt. The book is exemplary in its focus on the uniqueness of individual translation instances rather than on the application of theory, while in some cases generating theory. In the book's emphasis on the global situatedness of China within the forest of languages, it is nothing if not cosmopolitan."

– Daniel Herwitz, Fredric Huetwell Professor, Philosophy, Comparative Literature and History of Art, University of Michigan
(PR) (FC – in press) Paul Gladston, Lynne Howarth-Gladston, Jason Kuo and Chang Tzong-zung eds. (2023), Rethinking Displays of Chinese Contemporary Art: Cultural Diversity and Tradition, London and Singapore: Palgrave. (Contemporary East Asian Visual Cultures, Societies and Politics series).

"This is the first edited collection to critically address in its entirety questions related to the displaying of Chinese contemporary art. It includes chapters by scholars and cultural workers from diverse backgrounds involved in the interpretation of artistic as well as curatorial discourses and practices. Each of those chapters gives a detailed account of a particular, socio-culturally informed, approach to the making and showing of Chinese art - including in relation to queer identities, transculturality, the use of social media, artivism, social engagement, institutional critique, and neo-Confucian aesthetics. Together they present a vital intervention with established curatorship amidst the intensely interconnected and increasingly multi-polar cultural conditionalities of early 21st-century contemporaneity.”

Output of the 2021 UNSW/University of Maryland symposium, Rethinking the Curation of Chinese Contemporary Art: “post-West” artworlds, political economies, spatial practices and historiographies. Co-organised by Paul Gladston, Jason Kuo, Lynne Howarth-Gladston and Alec Tzannes.
(PR) (FC – in preparation invited publication) Haiping Yan, Laurent Dubreuil and Paul Gladston eds. (2024 – in production), Transculturality and China — in the World, London and Beijing: Routledge. Transcultural Studies in China Series (Tsinghua University – UK-China Humanities Alliance).

(PR) (PA) Paul Gladston and Lynne Howarth-Gladston (2023), ‘Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art and the Intertextual Traces of English Romanticism’, Journal of Curatorial Studies 12(1), 48-79.
https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jcs_00080_1, opens in a new window

(PR) (PA – invited publication) Paul Gladston (2023), ‘Dis-/Continuing Traditions: Chinese Contemporary Art, Polylogic Translation and the Traces of Confucian-literati Culture’, in Haiping Yan, Haina Jin and Paul Gladston eds., Translation Studies and China, London and Beijing: Routledge. Transcultural Studies in China Series, Yan, Haiping series ed. (Tsinghua University – UK-China Humanities Alliance).
(PR) (PA - invited publication) Paul Gladston (2023), ‘Other Ways of Seeing: Reading Transcultural Aesthetics through Images’, Bloomsbury Philosophy Library – London: Bloomsbury History of Modern Aesthetics.
(PR) (FC – in press, invited publication) Paul Gladston (2024), ‘Somewhere (and Nowhere) between Modernity and Tradition: Toward a Polylogue between Differing International and Indigenous Perspectives on the Significance of Contemporary Chinese Art’, in Carol Lu ed., China as an Issue, London: Palgrave - English and Mandarin Chinese language translation.

Originally published in English as (PR) PA) Paul Gladston (2014) ‘Somewhere (and Nowhere) between Modernity and Tradition: Towards a Polylogue between Differing International and Indigenous Perspectives on the Significance of Contemporary Chinese Art’, Tate Papers 21 (Spring 2014), no page numbers given.
(PR) (FC – in press) Paul Gladston and Lynne Howarth-Gladston (2024), ‘Inside/Outside the Yellow Box: Toward a Poly/Cacophonic Displaying of Chinese Contemporary Art’, in Paul Gladston, Lynne Howarth-Gladston, Jason Kuo and Chang Tzong-zung eds., Rethinking Displays of Chinese Contemporary Art, London and Singapore: Palgrave. Contemporary East Asian Visual Cultures, Societies and Politics series.
(PR) (FC – in press, invited publication) Paul Gladston (2024), ‘Humor/Youmo in Chinese Contemporary Art and Online Visual Culture: Oblique Resistances to Authority and the Traces of Confucian-literati Aesthetics’, in Mette Gieskes and Gregory H. Williams, eds., Humor in Global Contemporary Art, London: Bloomsbury.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/humor-in-global-contemporary-art-9781350415829/, opens in a new window
(PR) (FC – in preparation, invited publication) Paul Gladston (2024), ‘Retheorizing Chinese Contemporary Art: Transcultural Defamiliarization and the Traces of Syncretic Confucianism’, in Haiping Yan, Laurent Dubreuil and Paul Gladston eds., Transculturality and China — in the World, London and Beijing: Routledge. Transcultural Studies in China Series (Tsinghua University – UK-China Humanities Alliance).

In the media

August 2023 - advisor to Hayley Wong, article on Chinese artit’s intervention with graffiti art on London’s Brick Lane.

Paul Gladston cited in Wong, Hayley (2023), ‘Thousands of hate messages: Chinese artist behind London’s Brick Lane street art scandal reveals his work’s true meaning and his frustration over the response, opens in a new window,’ Hong Kong: South China Morning Post - Lifestyle | Arts and Culture (published online 30 September 2023).

'UNSW’s Professor Paul Gladston explains the social and cultural constraints graffiti art is subjected to in light of London’s Brick Lane street art scandal., opens in a new window'

Regular expert contributor to articles published in the Arts section of the South China Morning Post - Hong Kong’s ‘newspaper of record.
November 2021 – Paul Gladston quoted in Al Jazeera, Violet Law, ‘Hong Kong opens top art museum amid fear of cultural “dark ages”: The long-delayed launch of M+ comes as Hong Kong artists and performers struggle with the impact of the National Security Law., opens in a new window’

Al Jazeera is an independent news organisation funded in part by the Qatari government.

 “I read your comments in the South China Morning Post with great interest.”

– Violet Law, Aljazeera journalist

November 2021 – Paul Gladston quoted in Nikkei Media, Pak Yui, ‘Hong Kong's M+ museum finally open despite censorship uproar: Controversial art house faces myriad challenges including national security law', opens in a new window.

For more than 145 years, Nikkei has been providing unparalleled coverage of Japan's economy, industries and markets. The group's business portfolio includes publishing, broadcasting and the Nikkei 225 stock index. Its flagship media, The Nikkei, has a circulation of approximately 2.83 million. With 36 bases globally and 1500 journalists, Nikkei is ideally positioned to provide Asian news and analysis to a global audience. The Financial Times (FT), the global business newspaper, joined the Nikkei Group in 2015. As content partners, the Nikkei Asia and the FT share select articles with their respective audiences and collaborate on joint editorial projects.

November 2021 - Paul Gladston quoted in Bloomberg City Lab, Kari Soo Lindberg and Stella Ko, ‘Hong Kong's New Museum Tries to Please Art World — and Beijing: the art world — and Beijing — are paying careful attention to what M+ puts on display, opens in a new window.’

Bloomberg Video, opens in a new window

Bloomberg Twitter, opens in a new window

Bloomberg Media’s mission is to empower business leaders and our brand partners by inventing the solutions, knowledge and connections they need to thrive in a transforming world. We do this through deep, smart, global reporting of the world of business, powered by unmatched data and the world’s largest newsroom.

“Many thanks for all your insights…really appreciate it!”

– Kari Soo Lindberg, Bloomberg journalist

April 2021 - Paul Gladston interviewed by Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD), opens in a new window. Audio included in a radio feature on arts and culture in Hong Kong for ARD. Several other radio stations within the ARD network also ran the feature, including RBB in the Berlin-Brandenburg area, SWR in the South-west of Germany, NDR in Northern Germany, SR in the Saar region, BR (Bavaria) and MDR (Saxony etc).

ARD is Germany’s biggest radio and television broadcaster, founded in 1950 (equivalent to the BBC in the UK)

“Your contributions made all the difference, providing a global perspective and context to make the story relevant to an audience thousands of miles away from Hong Kong.”

– Ruth Kirchner, ARD journalist

April 2021 - Paul Gladston quoted extensively in South China Morning Post, Enid Tsui, ‘Political storm raises stakes for Hong Kong museum M+ and its lofty ambition to be among world’s best., opens in a new window’

The South China Morning Post with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper founded in 1903. It remains Hong Kong's critical newspaper of record.

“Wow! Thanks for this very thoughtful reply.”

– Enid Tsui, SCMP Arts Editor
2019-2020 – Paul Gladston editorial and contributions to articles in China Daily

‘Cultural expression represents guiding force for China’ – World Watch op. ed. , opens in a new window

‘Galleries Go Online as World of Art Adjusts’, opens in a new window

‘Beijing exhibition reflects rising interest in global art’, opens in a new window

China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China (over 900,000 copies globally, of which 600,000 are distributed outside of China).

Translation & education projects

The UNSW Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art is pleased to support Brooklyn Rail’s New Social Environment Education Project, a collaborative initiative aimed at introducing the Brooklyn Rail’s archive to students inside the US and internationally. The Chair’s contribution to the project includes the addition of Chinese subtitles to the NSE’s “Post-West” Arts and Visual Cultures series of online panels and conversations as well as the promotion of the series in China through social media.

Find out more

International network

Supporting Asian Studies in Australia

Brooklyn Rail

Publications

In the media

August 2023 - advisor to Hayley Wong, article on Chinese artit’s intervention with graffiti art on London’s Brick Lane.

November 2021 – Paul Gladston quoted in Al Jazeera, Violet Law, ‘Hong Kong opens top art museum amid fear of cultural “dark ages”: The long-delayed launch of M+ comes as Hong Kong artists and performers struggle with the impact of the National Security Law., opens in a new window’

November 2021 – Paul Gladston quoted in Nikkei Media, Pak Yui, ‘Hong Kong's M+ museum finally open despite censorship uproar: Controversial art house faces myriad challenges including national security law', opens in a new window.

November 2021 - Paul Gladston quoted in Bloomberg City Lab, Kari Soo Lindberg and Stella Ko, ‘Hong Kong's New Museum Tries to Please Art World — and Beijing: the art world — and Beijing — are paying careful attention to what M+ puts on display, opens in a new window.’

April 2021 - Paul Gladston quoted extensively in South China Morning Post, Enid Tsui, ‘Political storm raises stakes for Hong Kong museum M+ and its lofty ambition to be among world’s best., opens in a new window’

2019-2020 – Paul Gladston editorial and contributions to articles in China Daily

Translation & education projects

November 2021 - Paul Gladston quoted in Bloomberg City Lab, Kari Soo Lindberg and Stella Ko, ‘Hong Kong's New Museum Tries to Please Art World — and Beijing: the art world — and Beijing — are paying careful attention to what M+ puts on display, opens in a new window.’