esea contemporary, formerly the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, is a contemporary art gallery based in Manchester, England. In the mid-1980s, Amy Lai, an artist and radio producer based in Manchester, thought there was a general lack of Chinese cultural activities compared to events arranged by the Asian and Caribbean communities. The aim of the festival was to "engage the local ethnically Chinese community with arts and education programmes that worked to explore Chinese cultural identity". a charitable organisation with the mission to "advance the education of the public in all forms of Chinese culture". Working under the remit of the CVAA, Lai organised cultural activities across Manchester and north west England working with a group of local artists of Chinese heritage. Lai's philosophy at the time was that the activities had to be "open door, inclusive, and involved in the mainstream community". To address this concern, they opened a Chinese cultural centre. The centre would provide cultural activities, aimed at both the local community and the wider population, to promote an appreciation of "Chinese life, culture, philosophy, and values", and act as a regional focus for information and advice about Chinese culture. The centre was officially opened on 17 January 1990, by Diana, Princess of Wales.

The centre was originally built upon an ethos of fostering community cohesion between the local Chinese community in Manchester and other communities in the north west of England. The centre's educational programme was part of its commitment to promote Chinese culture to the local community and the north-west.

The centre also held exhibitions and events which promoted Chinese arts and culture. Up until then, most exhibitions of "Chinese Arts" in Manchester had been curated and displayed by British collectors at venues such as the Manchester Art Gallery. The leaflet for the exhibition stated that it was "the first exhibition of its kind researching the innovative works of contemporary artists of Chinese origin living in Britain" and worked to "challenge the stereotypes" of the Chinese community. The centre was relaunched in October 1993 with a renewed mission to promote a wide range of traditional and contemporary art forms and would use its artistic and education programmes to progress how Chinese culture was perceived in the UK. The centre also programmed the Journey's West exhibition, which was initiated by the Lambeth Chinese Community Association.

In 1994 the CVAA introduced an arts worker training scheme and activities targeted at the local community to address its staffing problems and to strengthen its links with the local community. The new ways of working were tested between September 1995 and March 1996 whilst the centre was one of the hosts of the British Art Show 4 and during their lunar new year activities. During the British Art Show, the centre displayed works by British artist Mat Collishaw. The hosts of the show had no say in the artists selected for their venues, but the acting director of the centre at the time, Kwong Lee, later stated that the increased exposure and the chance for the centre to have a temporary place at the centre of the art world justified programming an exhibition which did not feature the work of an artist of Chinese heritage. It was agreed that the centre could no longer operate in its current form, and the Board of the CVAA began to look for a new venue and strategic lead for the centre. In June 1996, Sarah Champion became the centre's Arts Development Coordinator. The centre's new mission and objectives were finalised and five key development areas were established: education; artists development; the Chinese community; arts promotion; and advocacy and lobbying.

A national agency for Chinese arts (1997–2003)

Champion became the director of the centre when it moved to new premises on Edge Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter in 1997. This was a period of great change in the centre's functions and focus. and the increased interest in Chinese culture due to the upcoming Handover of Hong Kong. By moving away from Chinatown, the centre also became less focused on the local Chinese community; instead focusing more on contemporary art. It was also Champion's aim that the centre would work towards becoming the UK agency for Chinese arts and culture. The centre would operate as an agency from 1999 and the charity was renamed the Chinese Arts Centre Ltd in September 2000.

UK-based artists remained the main focus of the centre's exhibition programme during this period. Initially, the centre's programme largely featured solo shows of existing works by artists such as Adam Hongshan Wei and Anthony Key, or touring exhibitions, such as Nora Fok's Galaxies. When the venue was refurbished after a fire in 1998, the centre began to commission new site specific works by UK-based artists of east Asian heritage to use the new space to its best advantage. Between 2000 and 2003, the New Commissions scheme produced eight exhibitions by emerging artists such as Suki Chan, Lisa Cheung, Gayle Chong Kwan, and Jiang Jiehong.

As part of its agency work, the centre extended the scope of its educational workshops to a national audience and acted as a focal point for other businesses and art organisations who wanted to know more about Chinese culture. The centre began to contribute to debates regarding Chinese arts by arranging conferences such as A New Vocabulary for Chinese Arts?, held in London in 1998, Developed in collaboration with the Courtyard gallery, Beijing, the exhibition was seen by approximately 250,000 people,

In June 2001, the centre was informed that it had been accepted on to the Arts Council of England's lottery programme and £2.1 million was reserved for the centre to purchase and outfit a new building, as well as fund the operations and marketing of the new venue.

Chinese Art Centre, Thomas Street, (2003–2013)

thumb|Chinese Art Centre on the left in 2008

The new venue on Thomas Street opened on 28 November 2003, after the organisation had received a £2.2 million lottery grant from Arts Council England. The new building, designed by OMI Architects and awarded a RIBA prize for architecture in 2004, featured a large gallery space, teahouse, shop, offices, resource area, and studio and living area for resident artists. The centre opened with a specially-commissioned work by New York-based artist, Xu Bing.

Between 2005 and 2007, the centre developed a relationship with Live Art UK to promote the work of performance artists from China and the Chinese diaspora. As a result, the centre organised the China Live tour in collaboration with Shu Yang, director of the DaDao Live Art Festival, Beijing., and the VITAL Festivals in 2006–2007. The Festivals presented Live Art performances, film screenings, and artists' talks, presentations, and a conference associated with performance artists from China and of Chinese heritage.

Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (2013–2020)

In October 2013, the Chinese Arts Centre became the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), cementing the organisation position as: During this period the centre focused its programming and curatorial activities on "The Chinese Century", an idea that the 21st century would be one dominated culturally and economically, not by western powers, but by China. Becky Kennedy observes that this notion calls for a shift away from considering Britain or the West as the centre of contemporary cultural thinking, and as suggested by the CFCCA's new mission statement, implies that issues of diversity and representation in the context of 21st century Britain are outmoded and/or have even been reversed.

Revisioning and rebranding as esea contemporary (2020–present)

Following public accusations of racism made against the centre in early 2020, and the withdrawal of several artists from exhibitions in 2020, CFCCA embarked on a 'Revisioning' project to help shift the organisation towards better practices and positive change. As part of this project, CFCCA appointed a working group of artists to help co-design the new organisation. The group, who were all of East or Southeast Asian heritage, was formed of Enoch Cheng, Whiskey Chow, Yuen Ling Fong Gayle Chong Kwan, Eelyn Lee, Erika Tan, and Jack Tan. The artist working group was later dismissed after raising concerns of institutional racism, and following an accusation from the centre that the artists' complaints were harmful and threatening to white staff. The artists highlighted a concern previously raised by the artist JJ Chan, that CFCCA normalised racism within its own organisation and contributed to the normalisation of racism in British society more widely.

Controversies and criticisms of the centre

The centre has faced criticism over its focus and the content of its programme:

  • In the early 1990s, the centre made an effort to remain politically neutral so as not to exclude any member of the east Asia diaspora due to their origins. However, the review in 1993 highlighted that this had affected the status of the centre as it had developed a reputation of not dealing with anything political. The criticism was expanded further in an article in ArtAsiaPacific magazine.
  • In May 2021, an international panel of artists, who were recruited to an Artist Working Group set up by the centre to help revision the organisation, called for a public boycott and immediate defunding of the centre by Arts Council England, after the group was ousted from their roles after raising issues around institutional racism at the centre. All seven artists appointed to the Artist Working Group cited CFCCA's refusal to acknowledge a culture of racism within the organisation following the writing of a public report on the organisation's work, as the reason for their public campaign. The group claimed that the centre was not fit for purpose as a public arts organisation.

Collections

Art collection

Since 2013, the centre has worked in partnership with the University of Salford to build a collection of Chinese contemporary art works. The collection is held by the Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

Archive and library

Following a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the centre opened its library and archive to the public in 2018. The library contains publications collected by the centre relating to Chinese contemporary art, including exhibition catalogues, artist monographs, and festival publications. The archive collections contain the record of the centre and its predecessors, covering the development of the centre, and its programme history.

Notable artists who exhibited at the centre

  • Cao Fei
  • Carol Yinghua Lu
  • Chen Man
  • Chen Shaoxiong
  • Chow Chun Fai
  • Conroy Sanderson
  • Ed Pien
  • Gordon Cheung
  • Lesley Sanderson
  • Mad for Real
  • He Chengyao
  • Suki Chan
  • Xu Bing

References

  • Chinese Art Centre/Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibitions (1989–2015)
  • Chinese Art Centre artist programme (1995–2013)