鄭美雅

Cheng focuses on the exchange mechanism of labor and value, and the crucial issues in art production. She is attuned to the potential of creating open structures in institutions as a model and mechanism for effecting changes within the system. Such interests drove her to participate in the founding and operation of Taipei Contemporary Art Center (2010-2020), an experimental art association and independent art space. From 2010, Cheng has made teamwork an operating principle for an alternative art practice that examines institutional conditions within democratic structures. As the chair of the association (2012-2014), she initiated several projects in the form of exhibitions, workshops, forums, residencies, and publications, with the contribution of active Asian art workers, which were presented in Taipei, New York, and Southeast Asia.    

As an independent curator, Cheng considers curating to be the collaboration and exchange of knowledge between art peers sharing common concerns, and a process of assembling an art community for all participants. Most of her previous curatorial projects are collaborations, such as Trading Futures (co-curated with Pauline Yao, Taipei Contemporary Art Center), 6th Queens International (co-curated with Hitomi Iwasaki, Queens Museum, NYC), and The Great Ephemeral (co-curated with New Museum team, New Museum, NYC). Her research on Southeast Asian art was presented in the exhibition Public Spirits (Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdówski Castle, Warsaw).

Cheng’s articles have been published in art magazines such as ARTCO and ART INVESTMENT. She is the editor/co-editor of her curated exhibition and project catalogs and readers, and was invited by Barbara Steiner to be the editor of “Does Europe Matter?” as part of the project Europe (to the power of) n.    

• Selected Exhibitions

• 2019

  Migration- Speak Nearby (co-curated with 8 curators from Asia), hosted by Goethe Institute and ACC, Gwangju, South Korea

• 2019

  4th Ulaanbaatar Media Festival (co-curated with 8 curators from Asia), hosted by Goethe Institute and Arts Council of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

• 2017

  Screening: All the Light We can not See, hosted and presented by Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea

• 2016

  Public Spirits, hosted and presented by Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdówski Castle, Warsaw, Poland

• 2015

  The Great Ephemeral (co-curated with New Museum educational Dept., New Museum, NYC), hosted and presented by New Museum, NYC, USA

• 2013

  6th Queens International (co-curated with Hitomi Iwasaki), hosted and presented by Queens Museum, NYC, USA

• 2012

  Trading Futures (co-curated with Pauline Yao), hosted and presented by Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2011

  Augmenting the World, The 6th Taipei Digital Art Festival, international section, hosted by Digital Art Foundation and presented in Bopiliao historical block, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2010

  Urban Nomad Video Selection, hosted and presented by Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

• Selected curated/executed programs

• 2019

  Migration Narratives, residency program and presentations, co- hosted by Goethe Institute and Arts Council of Mongolia, presented in Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2019

  Learning from Peers, co-hosted by Taipei Contemporary Art Center and Gudskul, presented in Gudskul, Jakarta, Indonesia

• 2016

  Going Public- Common Tasks, residency programs hosted by Taipei Contemporary Art Center, forum presented in Museum of National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2014

  Burning Issue Residency, hosted and presented by Taipei Contemporary Art Center, presented in Osaka, Japan; Manchester, United Kingdoms, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2014

  Open Curatorial Workshop, hosted by Taipei Contemporary Art Center, presented in Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Treasure Hill Artist Village, Polymer, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2013

  Curating Now and the Institutions, hosted and presented by Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2001

  MA. Visual Culture, Middlesex University, London, U.K.

• 1998

  BA. LL.B., Soochow University, Taiwan

• 2015-2020

  Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Auditor

• 2012-2014

  Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Chair

• 2006-2008

  MoCA Taipei, Curator

• 2004-2006

  ET@T, Exhibition manager

• 1998-1999

  ET@T, Journalist

• Editorial works

• 2020

  2010-2014: TCAC, institution book, Taipei: Taipei Contemporary Art Center

• 2019

  Learning from Peers, workshop reader, co-editor with participants, Taipei: Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Jakarta: Gudskul

• 2016

  Going Public- Common Tasks, forum reader, Taipei: Taipei Contemporary Art Center

• 2016

  Public Spirits, exhibition reader, Warsaw: Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdówski Castle

• 2013

  Does Europe Matter?, Feature edition, Taipei: ARTCO Magazine

• 2013

  6th Queens International, exhibition catalog, co-editor with Hitomi Iwasaki, New York: Queens Museum

• 2012

  Trading Futures, exhibition catalog, co-editor with Pauline Yao, Taipei: Taipei Contemporary Art Center

• 2011

  Augmenting the World, exhibition catalog, Taipei: Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government

• Grants and sponsorships

• 2019

  Migration Narratives, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan and Goethe Institute

• 2019

  Learning from Peers, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan

• 2016

  Public Spirits, sponsored by National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan

• 2015

  The Great Ephemeral, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan

• 2013

  Does Europe Matter?, publication sponsored by Goethe-Institut in Munich, Germany

• 2013

  6th Queens International exhibition, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan

• 2012

  ISCP Residency, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan

• 2008

  Curators’ Incubator Program, sponsored by National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan

• Selected Talks

• 2022

  Space as an reaction: Taiwan’s experience after 80s, C-Lab, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2019

  Curator’s talk, 4th Ulaanbaatar Media Festival, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

• 2017

  Dynamics of Supporting Emerging Artists in Asia, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China

• 2015

  Curator in residence talk, NTU Contemporary Art Center, Singapore, Singapore

• 2014

  In Practice: Models of Cultural Exchange and Reciprocity, symposium, St. Paul Gallery, New Zealand

• 2013

  ACIA resident mentor talk for artists, Gwangju, South Korea

• 2012

  7th Asia Pacific Triennial: Two Decades of Exchange, Queensland Gallery, Australia

• 2011

  Future Institution, Manchester Asian Art Triennial, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, United Kingdoms