the Editorial Committee

Led by GONG Yan, the Power Station of Art (PSA) is the first state-owned museum of contemporary art in mainland China and is the main venue for the Shanghai Biennale. Dedicated to fostering a constructive dialogue between the Chinese and global contemporary art scenes, it emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement. The museum serves as a vital platform for contemporary cultural production and intellectual exchange in China, as well as a major cultural institution with international influence. 

GONG Yan has actively promoted cultural cooperation between Chinese state-owned cultural institutions and international cultural organisations. For example, in 2021, the “New Cultural Producers” project, jointly launched by PSA and the CHANEL Culture Fund, provided a platform for international exposure and expression for scholars who have long been dedicated to the study of Chinese culture and the arts. In 2024, PSA signed a strategic partnership with CHANEL to engage in long-term, in-depth collaboration in areas such as museum space enhancement and collection research, among others. 

ZHANG Lei is a Chinese designer, born in 1980, and the founder of PINWU Design Studio. His core philosophy is focused on “A Future of Tradition” and is dedicated to revitalizing traditional Chinese crafts through contemporary design. Among his key projects is the Rong Design Library, a non-profit institution dedicated to researching and reinterpreting traditional Chinese materials such as bamboo, silk, and paper. 

In 2012, PINWU became the first Chinese design team to win the sole overall award at the Milan Design Week’s SaloneSatellite Design Report Award. ZHANG Lei led the PINWU design team to deconstruct traditional crafts, such as the pasting technique among the 72 steps of making oil paper umbrellas, to create iconic works like the Piao paper chair, giving endangered crafts new relevance. Through his work, he has successfully established a unique design language that is deeply rooted in Chinese culture while resonating globally, building a bridge between traditional heritage and modern life. 

LIN Tianmiao is one of the first contemporary Chinese artists to achieve international recognition. She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1984 from Capital Normal University in Beijing and, in 1989, studied at The Art Students League of New York. From 1986 to 1995, she and her husband, Wang Gongxin, a video artist, lived in the United States. The couple returned in 1995 to Beijing, where Lin began to gain recognition as a leading Chinese artist. Her childhood memories of helping her mother sew and make clothes inspired her technique, which she calls “thread winding”. This is evident in her first major work, The Proliferation of Thread Winding (1995), a mixed media installation in which a bed is filled with 20,000 needles linked by threads to 20,000 cotton balls, a television, and a video player.

This work showcases the labour involved in making thread into cloth and gives a voice to the exploited women. She later applied her intensive winding technique in Bound and Unbound (1997), using white cotton thread to bind 600 household objects. The original objects were concealed, dysfunctional, and symbolized. In Focus (2001), she printed a digital C-type black and white image of herself on canvas using sewing, embroidery, and human hair. In Spawn (2001), an enlarged nude, she shaved her head and appeared as a confident, physically imposing woman. The depth of her long-term artistic exploration has forged a uniquely tactile and psychologically resonant language. Her sensitivity to materials and distinctive understanding of them transform thread, fabric, and daily objects into vessels of memory and meaning—the very core of her creative practice. 

Appointed Artistic Director of Lemarié—one of le19M’s resident Maison d’art specialised in featherwork, flower making, textile finishing, sewing and pleating— in 2010, Christelle KOCHER brings Lemarié’s heritage into the contemporary world. Having grown up amidst the flamboyant fashion of the 1990s and studied at the cosmopolitan Central Saint Martins in London, Christelle KOCHER’s approach is based on the notion that craftsmanship is a tool for inventing new aesthetic languages.

Under her leadership, new techniques such as laser cutting, dripping and digital printing have been added to the wide range of techniques used by Lemarié. Rhodoid, plastic, cork, and raffia have joined feather, tulle and organza in the alphabet of materials available to artisans. Innovations that place Lemarié at the forefront of today’s and tomorrow’s creativity.