In conversation with Liwon Lim (ACC - National Asian Culture Center, Gwangju), Silke Schmickl & Kelly Li (M+, Hong Kong), Alistair Hudson & Clara Runge (ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe)

How can media art act as a mediator – between histories and futures, institutions and publics, local struggles, and global conversations? This session brings together curators from ACC – National Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, M+ in Hong Kong, and ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe to discuss their experiences of co-curating “Manifesto of Spring” – an exhibition that is currently showing at ACC, and is on view until February 2026.  

The show features 16 new co-commissioned media works that explore capitalism, globalisation, and climate change through lenses of regionality and biodiversity. It also sheds light on the history and context of Gwangju – a city that is known for its democratisation movement and uprising in 1980, and to this day stands for civic resistance and solidarity. Alongside these new works, the show also includes important pieces from the collections of M+ and ZKM. 

In this Museum Mutuals session, the speakers of the three institutions will reflect on how co-curation between Asia and Europe has informed the commissioning process, as well as the challenges and opportunities of presenting works across different institutional and historical contexts. Rather than treating media art as simply a medium, the discussion considers its role in mediating protest and civic memory, and its capacity to act as a shared language.

Speakers 

Liwon Lim is currently a curator at the National Asia Culture Center (ACC) in Gwangju, South Korea. She studied French literary criticism and art theory at Chonnam National University. Her career includes working as an exhibition coordinator for the Gwangju Biennale, and as a producer and curator at both the Gwangju Museum of Art and the Asia Culture Center. She has contributed to major projects such as Burning Down the House (Gwangju Biennale, 2014), the ACC Opening Festival (ACC, 2015), Liam Gillick's Solo Exhibition (Gwangju Museum of Art, 2020), and the ZKM Collection Exhibition (Gwangju Museum of Art, 2021). Based in Gwangju—the city where South Korea’s democracy took root—she explores, through the lens of contemporary art and the humanities, the intersections between locality and globality.

Silke Schmickl is the CHANEL Senior Curator, Head of Moving Image at M+ in Hong Kong. She was previously curator at the National Gallery Singapore and the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, a researcher at the German Center for Art History in Paris, and the co-founding director of Lowave, a Paris-based curatorial platform and publishing house for moving image artists. She has initiated and directed numerous art and film projects focusing on emerging art scenes in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and has curated exhibitions in partnership with museums and biennials around the world.

Kelly Li is the Assistant Curator, Moving Image at M+ in Hong Kong. Educated in film and Japanese language & literature, she began her career in the United States with her early experience spanning film production, film festivals, and translation before she transitioned into cultural institutions. At M+, she has programmed screenings, live events, and interactive media displays for the Moving Image Centre. Her curatorial practice is informed by her interest in examining pop culture and counterculture iconography with a focus on East Asia and its global connections.

Alistair Hudson is the Scientific-Artistic Chairman of the ZKM | Karlsruhe since April 1, 2023. Hudson is a curator and museum director with broad-ranging international experience. He combines contemporary curatorial expertise with a profound knowledge of the relationship between art, technology and society. From 2018 to 2022 he served as director of two museums in Manchester: the Manchester Art Gallery and The Whitworth. The latter is the art museum of the University of Manchester, where he was also Professor of Useful Art. His concept of a »useful museum« envisions artistic institutions and cultural institutions as centres of social responsibility and transformation. He believes that they should be run artistically, as works in progress in their own right. Together with the artist Tania Bruguera he heads the Asociación de Arte Útil, a growing international network which collaborates with other institutions such as the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, INSTAR in Havanna and YBCA San Francisco.

Clara Runge is a curator at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany. Most recently she curated the exhibition The Story That Never Ends – a presentation of the ZKM collection that not only provides an overview of the development of media art, but also focuses on media art restoration and strategies for preserving digital cultural heritage. Her curatorial practice is strongly influenced by international collaborations, especially in Southeast Asia. Before entering the ZKM, she studied at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) in the field Art Research and Media Theory with Philosophy and Exhibition Design/Curatorial Practice as minors.