Starting Over: “The River Divides, The World Connects” In-Depth Curatorial Workshop

The question of “how reality enters painting” is often simplified to discussions of technique or style—working from life, photography, documentary modes, or representation. In Liu Xiaodong’s practice, however, reality is not an object to be “represented”. Rather, it functions as a structure of perception—one that is continuously inserted, tested, and recalibrated.

Liu Xiaodong’s paintings are often marked by a strong sense of immediacy. Figures appear as if momentarily interrupted, gestures left unfinished, the air still in motion. This palpable quality of “the ongoing” transcends the realism of subject matter. Instead, it points to a mature and composite mode of perception—How does a painting capture time? How are figures situated within relationships? And how can painting, in an era dominated by news, images, and narrative saturation, reclaim its capacity to judge reality?

The exhibition “The River Divides, The World Connects” does not seek to arrive at an overarching conclusion about reality, least of all about “Chinese reality”. Instead, by moving across changing geographies, shifting relations and on-site experience, it approaches painting as a continually operative “method”. This is precisely the core question the Advanced Curatorial Workshop aims to address: when we intervene in Liu Xiaodong’s works through curatorial practice, what exactly are we intervening in?

Over the course of two days, situated within the exhibition site of “The River Divides, The World Connects”, you will experience:

Retrospection: The Scene of Decision-Making
Led by the curatorial team, participants are taken back to the point at which institutional decisions were first made. The focus is not on interpreting individual works, but rather the curatorial choices “compelled” by practical constraints, spatial logic, and narrative ambitions.

Confrontation: Methods Rather Than Answers
In in-depth conversations with mentors Liu Tian and Zhai Liang, the focus shifts away from abstract art theories toward what painting means today and how painting can preserve its resistance within the repetitive cycle of viewing.

Simulation: Reweighting Hypothetical Factors
If you were to reorganise these works within Taikang Art Museum, how would the narrative emphasis shift? As curating becomes an act of judgment on reality, which positions are you willing to take risks for?

Refinement: Questioning and Rewriting
Through 3-4 rounds of intensive proposal development, we will debate: What defines curatorial judgment? What are value options? And in what areas is curating unable to make decisions for you?

Conclusion: Award-winning Presentation Without Standard Answers
The final presentation serves as a retrospective of individual judgment. Within defined boundaries, participants will articulate how their own curatorial logic has been gradually constructed.