In correlation with Mulvane exhibition Unpacking Chinese Apartment Art, Professor Madeline Eschenburg will present her research on a unique urban art movement in China during the 1980's and 90's. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, the creation and exhibition of contemporary art was limited or even outlawed by the Chinese central government. Lacking institutional support and vulnerable to police raids, Chinese avant-garde artists sought alternative spaces and media to share their work with a small yet burgeoning contemporary art world. Unpacking Chinese Apartment Art explores the creative strategies of seven artists working within this context, despite political and economic barriers. The exhibition features a video of interviews and archival photographs documenting the artistic practices of individuals who participated in this urban art movement.

Madeline Eschenburg is a lecturer in art history at Washburn University. She earned her Master’s degree in art history from SUNY Buffalo and her PhD in art history from the University of Pittsburgh. Her primary research topic is contemporary Chinese art with a special focus on social practice artworks designed to improve the lives of marginalized rural communities. Recently she has published articles in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art and a chapter in the edited volume Critical Distance: New Explorations in Documentary Theory and Practice.