OCCA Office of Contemporary Chinese Art

14/06/2026

LI YI-FAN Taiwan Pavilion in Venice.
Fantastic work - very interesting and multi-layered.

24/05/2026

16/11/2024

MOMO 默墨 - Silent Ink

An incredible new work by the amazing with and - a stunning, deeply moving performance yesterday . Commissioned by OCCA.

Photography by and videography by

The work was a remarkable response to Jizi's 40-metre ink scroll, depicting the primordial chaos of the universe. It connected intergenerational suffering and trauma overcome through spiritual resilience and the power of nature. The expression of spoken and written word, accompanied by a unique soundscape created by Beibei and Cheng Yu produced a multi-layered aesthetic experience.

I was privileged to be there and excited to see this come about to enrich the exhibition 'Strange Wonders. Jizi and pioneers of ink from China', which explores languages of ink in contemporary art and Daoism as an artistic strategy for survival. The exhibition is on until 14th December.

**a

04/11/2024

We are proud to present:

MOMO - SILENT INK
默墨
by Xie Rong (aka Echo Morgan)
Date: 15th November

Location: SOAS GALLERY

Address: SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square,
London, WC1H 0XG

Time: 5 pm - 6 pm

(NB. please arrive 10 mins early)

Curated by Katie Hill FRSA
Portrait by Jamie Baker

Momo 默墨 - Silent Ink draws inspiration from Jizi’s cosmic ink paintings and his struggles as an intellectual navigating political and historical turmoil, reflecting the silence of generational trauma and evoking today’s forbidden Heaven Songs from Afghanistan.

Renowned musicians Beibei Wang and Cheng Yu will perform live with Xie Rong, standing in solidarity with Afghan women’s unimaginable realities, embodying the call from within the burqa.

Fragmented sounds from the Silk Road, contributed by Uyghur musician Turkish double-neck baglama player , Afghan drumming recorded by , and Kazakh kui by , weave into a powerful soundscape composed by Wang Beibei, echoing Rong’s own childhood struggles and amplifying the silenced voices and songs of freedom.

This performance reimagines ink as a vessel for the female voice, exploring the search for refuge in cosmic energies and the healing found through shared, broken silences. Here, the live performance becomes a journey into communal resilience, uncovering solace and strength within the collective voice.

13/10/2024

It was a pleasure and a privilege to discuss the theme of Daoism in contemporary Chinese art at SOAS with Professor Paul Gladston, Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art at UNSW, Sydney and Prof Wang Chunchen from the Central Academy in Beijing yesterday.

Huge thanks to Paul and Chunchen and to all those who came along!

07/10/2024

Strange Wonders: Jizi and other Pioneers of Ink is underway at SOAS Gallery✨️

Opens Wednesday 9th October 6-8 pm. Runs to 14th December.

Generously supported by the Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art, UNSW, Sydney.

See you there!

17/01/2024

Looking forward to working on this with Mao Yan - an essay and panel discussion to follow at a later date.

Mao Yan
New Paintings

Jan 19 – Mar 9, 2024
Pace Gallery, London

Marking his first solo presentation in the UK, the forthcoming show in London follows Mao’s large-scale survey at the Song Art Museum in Beijing, which provided a panoramic view of his in-depth explorations and experiments with artistic language. At Pace, Mao’s most recent representative portraits and abstractions will be brought together in dialogue, exemplifying the artist’s latest investigations into media, practice, and dynamic stylistic and pictorial relationships.

21/11/2023

Installing calligraphy works by Liu Hongzhi - opens 22nd November. Bankside Gallery London.

21/11/2023

New forms of Zodiac horror by He Weimin.

21/11/2023

In our new exhibition at Bankside Gallery, Wang Chunjie's ink painting depicting isolated human figures captures forms of loneliness and anxiety. -xiang 三相