Staff profile

I am a PhD researcher in the Department of Geography at Durham University. My PhD research project investigates value formation in the contemporary art market in the domain of affect. Professor Ben Anderson and Professor Anna Secor supervise me.

My project addresses the gap in how value is formed through affects, focusing on the Euro-Asian landscape of global contemporary art space, which occupies nearly half of the international contemporary art market, based on transaction value.  This research project engages with ethnography, auto-ethnography, and in-depth interviews to investigate the affective dimensions of value formation in the contemporary art market, taking a transdisciplinary approach between affective geographies, curatorship, and cultural economies.

I am also an independent curator. My curatorial practices are embedded in and influenced by contemporary geography and gender studies. Curatorial practice for me is a method to decentralise culture and history so that something that was once hidden can be seen. My curatorial strategy emphasises the decentralisation and de-authoritarianization of exhibitions, viewing them as open invitations to public dialogue. The curator is no longer the sole interpreter of meaning and history, but rather the initiator of conversations; the audience is no longer a passive receiver, but an active participant in resonance and meaning-making. I view the exhibition as a site for showcasing art and a space that inspires reflection, evokes response, and encourages dialogue and co-creation. Exhibitions for me are affective spaces that connect the spatial and temporal structures of the world, culturally, historically, and economically. My practice explores the relationships between representation and non-representation, between the human and the non-human. In my work, artworks are not endpoints of meaning but initiators of dialogue—catalysts for inner resonance and activation within the audiences. As visible objects, artworks are not final destinations but gateways to more profound experiences. The conclusion of seeing an exhibition is not an end, but an arrival—and the beginning of another inquiry. I believe the exhibition only unfolds when something is sparked within the audience. My exhibitions aim to be energetic fields where scholarship, visual art, and metaphysical experience converge.

I am also engaged in teaching activities:

2023-2024: PGTA for Level 1 Human Geography, Climate Change - Geography Perspective, Introduction to Human Geography Research Methods, Level 2 Political Geography

Nov 2024: Guest Speaker to BA Fine Art Students at Zurich University of Arts

• Creative Geography, Cultural Geography, GeoHumanities, Art & Visual Culture, Affective life, Economies of Affect, Feminist Geography, Creative Research Methods

Journal Article

• Towards Affective Geography: The Temporality and Spatiality of Contemporary Art
  
  Zhang, L. (2024). Towards Affective Geography: The Temporality and Spatiality of Contemporary Art. 画刊杂志社, 09.2024, 52-55.