CHENG Mei-Ya
Meiya Cheng (b. 1975,) is a freelance curator. She lives and works in Taipei. Her selected curated exhibitions include: Augmenting the World, (The 6th Taipei Digital Art Festival, international section, 2011)) Trading Futures, (co-curated with Pauline Yao, TCAC, 2012, 6th Queens International (co-curated with Hitomi Iwasaki, Queens Museum, NYC, 2013), The Great Ephemeral (co-curated with New Museum team, New Museum, NYC, 2015), Public Spirits (Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdów Castle, Warsaw).
Cheng focuses on the exchange mechanism of labor and value, and the structural issues in art production. She intends to discuss the possibilities of creating an open structure in institutions, and if such models could serve as a mechanism to create changes in the system. CHENG participated in the founding and operation of Taipei Contemporary Art Center since 2009. With teamwork as the working model, she tries to builds up an alternative model that constantly examines and self/examines institutional the conditions in art production.
She was invited to participate in forums and seminars include Asia Triennial Manchester, Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art, and Asia Pacific Triennial. She has contributed in magazines Artco magazine (Taiwan) and Art and Investment (China.) In 2013, she organized the forum “Curating Now and the Institutions” at TCAC; and in the same year she edited the reader “Does Europe Matters?”(Part of the projects in Europe to the Power of N.)
- Location USA / New York, NY
- Year of the Grant 2012
- Residency International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP)
- Work Research paper
The main goal for my research at ISCP was to study how small non-profit arts organizations function and their important roles in the local arts production scene. There were two motives for this research: one was to figure out the potential model for small Taiwanese arts organizations through studying similar organizations in New York City, and the other was to develop connections for future collaborations through my conversations and interviews. These two motives were related to my ongoing participation in the running operations of the Taipei Contemporary Art Center in Taiwan.
During my residency, I had visited and interviewed organizations inlcuding Apexart, Independent Curators International, Arts in General, Artist Space, Creative Time, Residency Unlimited, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Asia Art Archive NYC, Swiss Institutes, and etc. Researching the operational, positioning, and structural tactics of these organizations paved way to the type of non-profit organization that Taiwan needs. How could we expand our local arts production and create an environment in which non-profit arts organizations could function independently in the long run? These studies ultimately helped develop the residency program for the 2013 Taipei Contemporary Arts Center. The 2013 program referenced and adapted the operation model and concepts of the organizations I studied in the US.
I was invited to co-curate the Queens International 2013 biennial due to my research of the arts scene in NYC. In addition, the organizations, curators, and artists I met during my residency had internationally extended my network outreach and brought about resources for my current arts organization.