On April 25, 2025, New York University Shanghai hosted the symposium Whose East, Which West? – Triangulating Culture in China, Spain, & Latin America, organized by Professors Anna Kendrick and Allen Young. As part of the program, Leo Lee (founder of Proyecto CELA) joined fellow art practitioners Xiang Zairong, Marina Camargo, and Yao Pengyu for the roundtable International Circuits of Art, moderated by Victoria de Arvizu. The discussion centered on the presence of contemporary art from Spain and Latin America in China, offering critical insights into the artistic exchange and cultural dialogue between the three regions.

[Venue]
New York University
Shanghai

[Date]
04/25/2025

Xiang Zairong
at the symposium

Xiang Zairong is a professor of literature and art at Duke Kunshan University whose research, teaching, and curatorial work explore themes of cosmology and cosmopolitanism. As a curator, he has co-curated several major international exhibitions, including the 14th Shanghai Biennale Cosmos Cinema (2023–24), the Guangzhou Image Triennial (2021), and Ceremony (Burial of an Undead World) at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin (2022). His current curatorial project, How to Be Happy Together?, is on view at Para Site in Hong Kong, and he is also co-curating a forthcoming research and exhibition project at ICA Philadelphia (2026) with Denise Ryner. He is the author of Queer Ancient Ways: A Decolonial Exploration (Punctum Books) and is currently completing his second book.

Xiang’s deep connection to the Spanish-speaking world, in his own words, was shaped “half by fate, half by coincidence.” During his master’s studies, an Erasmus scholarship brought him to the University of Granada—a move he sees as the beginning of a shift in his cosmological perspective: raised within Confucian traditions and holding a BA in English Literature, his encounter with the Spanish language marked a new cultural turning point. Later, during his PhD, another Erasmus program took him to Mexico City, which he describes as the place where his curatorial practice began to crystallize: “Being a curator means learning how to bring things together, how to tell a story, how to create new meaning. Mexico, at least for me, is where everything converged—different temporalities, cultures, and definitions of art. It’s where my literary background and curatorial practice finally found their connection.”

As Xiang reflected on the transregional links, he humorously noted that his journey began with learning Spanish in Andalusia, only to later follow the historical path of the Conquista to Mexico. In Mexico, he observed striking parallels with Chinese artistic practices, citing his longtime friend Abraham Cruzvillegas, whose use of discarded materials reflects a shared instinct for creating under precarious conditions. Having grown up in 1980s–90s China, Xiang recognized a familiar resilience born of scarcity—resonances across time and place that he found remarkable.

Artistic exchange between China and Mexico can actually be traced back to earlier moments, such as the 1956 exhibition of the Mexican Plastic Arts Front at the Beijing Artists’ Association. Xiang particularly highlighted the pivotal figure of David Alfaro Siqueiros—a communist muralist who visited China in the 1950s at the invitation of the Chinese Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. During his visit, Siqueiros delivered lectures on the role of Indigenous traditions in his work. For Chinese artists increasingly disillusioned with socialist realism, his approach offered both aesthetic inspiration and a compelling rationale for turning to local folk traditions rather than adhering to Soviet models. His legacy can be traced in the 1979 murals at Terminal 1 of Beijing Capital Airport, where Chinese artists, shaped by his vision, reintroduced the human figure and elements of nudity into public art.

As a curator, Xiang values respecting local contexts while fostering innovative connections and reinterpretations between artists from different regions. In the exhibition at HKW in Berlin, he staged a dialogue between Chinese artist Huang Yongping and Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. Huang’s iconic Le Carte du Monde (2000), which visualizes the world as a peeled globe stretched into a serpent-like form, may seem disconnected from the realities of 2022. To revive this "serpent," Xiang incorporated a recording of Guillén’s poem Sensemayá: Canto para Matar una Culebra, a text rooted in Afro-Caribbean ritual, evoking a ceremonial snake-killing through its repetition and rhythm. Xiang values the freedom to forge such cross-cultural alliances and, as a Chinese curator, seeks to challenge the typical focus on Chinese artists, instead promoting a diverse range of voices, including those from Cuba. In doing so, he intentionally leans into the ambiguity of our globalized moment: are we merely replicating familiar models, or can we actively disrupt expectations and generate new forms of understanding?

Marina Camargo
at the symposium

Marina Camargo is a Brazilian visual artist whose practice spans drawing, installation, sculpture, and video. Camargo’s initial invitation to exhibit in China came from Xiang Zairong, an opportunity that was not entirely self-initiated. After participating in the Guangzhou Image Triennial (2021) and the 14th Shanghai Biennale (2023–24), the depth of her experience left a lingering impact, one she could not immediately define. Driven by this unresolved resonance, she later applied for a residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai to further immerse herself in the country. For Camargo, the sense of dislocation evoked by unfamiliar cultures, geographies, and histories offers a fertile ground for artistic inquiry—making China a particularly generative context for her ongoing explorations.

Camargo works extensively with maps and interrogates their assumed objectivity. Though often regarded as scientific and reliable sources of information, maps are in fact visual narratives shaped by geopolitical, economic, and ideological forces. Highlighting the difference between the sign and what is signified, Camargo’s soft and shifting maps illuminate the extent to which cartography is an act of translation that shapes our understanding of the world in which we live.

The work Distance within Space (2023), commissioned for the Shanghai Biennale, is a magic lantern show in which a light is shone through a standing brass cutout to cast a shadow projection of Shanghai onto the wall. Yet closer inspection reveals that while the brass panel describes the city’s street map, its shadow depicts Shanghai’s lakes and rivers: these representations of the city are closely related but not the same.

Distance within Space (2023)
Shanghai Biennale
2023-24

Soft-Map (Fractions of Space)
(2020)

In another exhibited work Soft-Map (Fractions of Space) (2020), drawings of continents cut out in flexible material are arranged in a linear way: suspended side by side in a geometric order that is at a distance from the representation used in world maps. It also refers to geographic space as a process that is in constant transformation. The unpredictable folds and creases of these drooping land masses might seem to undermine not only the fixity of borders but the permanence of even the most fundamental geological formations.

Yao Pengyu
at the symposium

Yao Pengyu is the Cultural Coordinator at the Instituto Cervantes in Shanghai. Originally trained in Chinese Literature, Yao had the opportunity to translate works by some of her favorite Latin American writers, including Borges and Cortázar. Her passion for language led her to teach herself Spanish and travel extensively throughout Latin America to deepen her understanding. What began as a personal interest led to professional involvement: after years of attending events at the Instituto Cervantes, she was invited to lead a workshop, eventually joining the institution to curate diverse cultural programs. In this role, she has facilitated collaborations with major cultural institutions including the Prado Museum, Madrid’s Teatro Real, the Museum of Art Pudong, and the West Bund Art & Design Fair. Her work centers on fostering cross-cultural dialogue through exhibitions, performances, and literary initiatives that bridge Chinese and Spanish-speaking audiences.

Established to promote Spanish culture internationally, the Shanghai Spanish Culture Center – Instituto Cervantes – is supported by the Spanish government and public institutions. Central to its mission is the idea of Hispanidad—a shared cultural space uniting people through language, while respecting the distinct identities of each Spanish-speaking country. At Instituto Cervantes, the artistic collaborations extend beyond established names to include emerging artists whose practices reflect contemporary global trends. As Yao notes, this year’s programming featured a strong focus on women artists, aligning with broader cultural conversations. At the same time, the center remains attuned to the local context—situated on Anfu Road, a hub of lifestyle and pop culture in Shanghai, its curatorial choices are open to influences shaped by the city's cosmopolitan character.

Although Instituto Cervantes has branches around the world, Yao acknowledges that there are still people interested in Spanish who are unaware of the institution. Looking ahead, she envisions expanding partnerships with both public and private organizations to share resources and amplify the center’s reach. “Building a broader platform benefits not only the institution, but the wider public as well,” she says.

Leo Lee
at the symposium,
with moderator
Victoria de Arvizu

Leo Lee studied Spanish Philology and has since worked with galleries, museums, and cultural agencies across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. His experience includes roles at Sabrina Amrani Gallery (Madrid), known for its commitment to artists from the Global South and its active participation in major Asian art fairs such as Art Basel Hong Kong, Taipei Dangdai, and Art SG. He has also worked with Vanguard Gallery (Shanghai), one of the few galleries in China representing Spanish artists, including Antoni Muntadas, and maintaining long-standing collaborations with institutions like Instituto Cervantes and Loop Barcelona. Currently, Lee is part of the curatorial team at Aranya Art Center, where he contributes to broadening the visibility of artists beyond the traditional Euro-American canon.

Lee spent over four years living and traveling extensively across Spain and Latin America, an experience that profoundly shaped his understanding of the cultural and artistic diversity within the Spanish-speaking world. Rather than viewing it as a singular entity, he came to see the region as a complex constellation of distinct national contexts. For instance, discussions around contemporary art in Mexico often intersect with issues such as urban gentrification and the country’s geopolitical ties to the U.S. and China. In contrast, in Chile, the legacies of neoliberal economic policies and resulting social divides play a central role in shaping both artistic production and curatorial approaches. At the same time, he has come to recognize shared concerns between Latin America and China—particularly in the ways artists respond to their own political and economic structures. His ongoing research is rooted in an interest in how communities across the Global South are forging alternative models for development and cultural expression.

Lee’s personal project, Proyecto CELA, can thus be understood as the culmination of both his personal journey and professional experience. Rather than adopting a Western-style model of “by me, for me,” the project emphasizes collective authorship and mutual support: a platform developed “by the community, for the community”. CELA is committed to expanding its network through meaningful partnerships, including potential collaborations with institutions such as the Tanoto Foundation in Singapore, known for its support of Southeast Asian and Latin American artists, and Aranya, which has already presented a solo exhibition by Gabriel Kuri and is deepening its engagement with artists from Latin America. As Aranya prepares to launch a new space in Guangzhou this October with a focus on Southeast Asian practices, it is also building connections with institutions across the region—from the Thailand Biennale to the Museo Reina Sofía in Spain. Lee views these collaborations not only as timely, but as essential steps toward shaping more inclusive and globally responsive cultural infrastructures.

[External links] New York University Shanghai Instituto CervantesXiang Zairong Marina Camargo

[External links]

New York University Shanghai
Instituto Cervantes
Xiang Zairong
Marina
Camargo

Symposium Whose East, Which West?

Symposium
Whose East, Which West?