Forging ‘Ephemeral Architectures’: The Wu Hung Contemporary Chinese Video and Performance Art Archive

This proposed panel presentation offers an in-depth case study of the Wu Hung Contemporary Chinese Video and Performance Art Archive at the University of Chicago, a collaborative project between the Center for the Art of East Asia and the Visual Resources Center. Established in 2023, the Wu Hung Contemporary Chinese Video and Performance Art Archive is composed of seldom and never before seen video documents of performance art from the 1990s, exhibition views from groundbreaking exhibitions staged throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as works of early contemporary video art. This presentation traces the institutional processes and practical considerations involved in establishing this unique archive, from initial vision to ongoing development.

Central to this discussion are the ways in which archives can foster meaningful forms of pedagogical and curatorial engagement—both within and beyond the university setting. The paper will address how the archive has become a catalyst for innovative teaching practices, interdisciplinary research, and dynamic exhibition strategies. I consider how the archive’s “ephemeral architectures”—its focus on time-based media and performance—prompt us to rethink traditional archival paradigms and invite more experimental approaches to preservation, access, and collaboration.

Ultimately, this presentation explores how content-driven art archives such as this can generate new possibilities for research, institutional partnership, public engagement, and creative responses from living artists, offering an innovative model for building and sustaining collaborative archives within the field of global contemporary art.