Installation view of Home and Beyond, ©Power Station of Art.
The Power Station of Art (PSA) presents Home and Beyond in Shanghai, which is the inaugural chapter of Hou Hanru’s long-term curatorial series Making Places – Hou Hanru’s Curatorial Journey, as an integral part of the opening of the Museum’s third-floor Espace Gabrielle Chanel. Taking the library space as both a site of contemplation and a laboratory, the exhibition initiates an extended research project on artistic creation, cultural circulation, and imagination of the globalised world.
Making Places revisits the fundamental question of what curating entails: curating is not only the fabrication of exhibitions, but, more importantly, the creation of conditions that allow art to emerge, provoking encounters and generating energies among art, society, and history. Throughout this process, the conception, production, and presentation of art become interwoven, forming an open and continuously unfolding structure—a sensitive space where the public may access the artist’s imagination and critique (le partage du sensible). This methodology echoes the metaphor of ikebana: flowers, removed from nature and interrupted in their natural life cycle, are granted renewed forms and meanings through rearrangement, continually reborn through the intervention of a public gaze.
Installation view of Home and Beyond, ©Power Station of Art.
Thus, the exhibition becomes a “Temporary Autonomous Zone” (T.A.Z.): a brief yet liberated experimental field carved out within reality—resisting established orders and proposing alternative visions. While global communication networks reinforce dominant values, they also open pathways for artists and curators to articulate resistance. The task of curating, in this sense, is to allow suppressed desires and memories to re-enter and reshape the real.
Home and Beyond builds on this perspective to examine the migrations, confrontations, and regenerations of contemporary art under globalization. For Hou Hanru, “home” is not merely a physical dwelling, but a provisional space in which art can fully unfold—a point of convergence between thought and creation. By interpreting and reconfiguring curatorial practices, the exhibition explores how art may construct bridges across cultures, and how, through the spirit of “being at home everywhere,” it may locate possibilities of belonging and resistance within a world on the move.
Installation view of Home and Beyond, ©Power Station of Art.
Taking this exhibition as a point of departure, the library will continue to present document-centered exhibitions and research programs that expand the horizons of public knowledge. Following the first chapter of Making Places, the library will develop an annual sequence of thematic exhibitions focusing on artist archives, architectural and design studies, histories of cross-cultural circulation, and the production of knowledge around cities and the public realm. In parallel, the library will collaborate with international academic institutions and artists to advance residency and publishing initiatives, establishing itself as an open platform that connects public learning, artistic research, and interdisciplinary inquiry.
Installation view of Home and Beyond, ©Power Station of Art.
About the Curator
Hou Hanru is a prolific writer and curator. Based in Paris and Rome, he served as the Artistic Director of MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2013-2022). He has held advisory roles with institutions including the Power Station of Art (PSA), Shanghai, Times Museum, Guangzhou, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the West Bund Museum, Shanghai. He is a frequent contributor to leading contemporary art journals, serves on juries for major international awards, and lectures widely at at universities and cultural institutions. He has taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, and the School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York.
Over the past three decades, Hou has curated or co-curated nearly 150 exhibitions worldwide. Key projects include China/Avant-Garde (National Art Museum of China, 1989), Cities on the Move (1997–2000), the 3rd Shanghai Biennale (2000); the Gwangju Biennale (2002), the Venice Biennale (French Pavilion, 1999; Zone of Urgency, 2003; China Pavilion, 2007), the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial (2005), the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), the 10th Lyon Biennale (2009), and the 5th Auckland Triennial (2013). His curatorial projects at the PSA include Huang Yong Ping’s Bâton Serpent III: Spur Track to the Left (2016), Chen Shaoxiong: Prepared (2016), Zhang Enli: A Room That Can Move (2020–2021), and Liang Shaoji: A Silky Entanglement (2021–2022).
About the Exhibition Designers
Shui Yanfei is among the leading independent architects of China’s post-1980s generation. He founded Yanfei Architects in 2012. His practice centers on forms of social collaboration within the context of China’s rapid transformation, spanning regional research, experimental installations, community engagement, and on-site construction—through which he explores new possibilities for contemporary life. His work has received numerous honors, including the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Design Excellence Award and an invitation to the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018. He was awarded the Building with Nature · Architecture China Award – Young Exploration Award in 2023 and presented the exhibition Focusing the Familiar at Whitestack, Shanghai, in 2024. In 2025, Shui received the Kazuhiro Kojima Award, the highest honor for emerging independent architects in Japan.
Zhang Da is a Shanghai-based fashion designer and the founder of [Boundless], a brand focused on womenswear collections. His work is regularly showcased and ordered through platforms such as MODE, LABELHOOD, and NOT during Shanghai Fashion Week. In his design practice, Zhang integrates a distinctive range of elements and visual languages—including ambiguity, flatness, natural forces, and everyday urban imagery—into the identity of [Boundless]. His works have been exhibited at museums and design institutions across China and internationally, and are included in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), UK. Beyond his ongoing womenswear practice, Zhang is actively involved in design research, consultancy, and collaborations across multiple fields.
About the Graphic Designer
Liu Zhao (born in Guangzhou) is a graphic designer, type designer, and brand visual consultant. He is the founder and creative director of another design, based in Guangzhou. His practice spans brand identity, typography, publication, and exhibition design, characterized by a precise structural sensibility and a keen awareness of form, exploring the relationship between text and visual language. His works have received numerous international awards, including the Tokyo TDC Prize, the ADC Bronze Cube, the D&AD Graphite Pencil, the Asia’s Most Influential Design Award, and multiple Gold, Silver, and Bronze prizes at the Graphic Design in China (GDC) Awards. In 2018, he was selected as one of the “TDC Ascenders” by the Type Directors Club in New York. Beyond his design practice, Liu Zhao is also active in international juries and design education, having served as a juror for the China International Poster Biennial, One Show Asia, TDC Ascenders, and Topawards Asia, as well as a contributing editor for the Asia-Pacific Design Annual. He is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and Vice Chairman of the Shenzhen Graphic Design Association.
About the Exhibition
Dates: 25/11/2025 — 25/01/2026
Venue: Espace Gabrielle Chanel, 3F, Power Station of Art
Curator: Hou Hanru
Organizer: Power Station of Art
Courtesy of Power Station of Art, edited by CAFA ART INFO.
