I am delighted to pass along information about the upcoming Conference: The Art of Chinese Social Media. It will take place 27-28 November at the School of Art, BCU, Birmingham, UK. The organizers describe the event this way:
Welcome to The Art of Chinese Social Media! Join us at the Birmingham School of Art for two- day filled with insights, networking, and creativity. This conference seeks to explore the artistic strategies and visual cultures generated from Chinese social media to reflect broader sociopolitical dynamics in the context of Xi Jinping’s increasing digital censorship and control. How do platforms like Weibo, Douyin/TikTok, and WeChat construct new forms of artistic practice and cultural expression within the new age of ‘digital China’ and the deglobalising world? In what ways do contemporary artists and communities remediate social media to challenge power asymmetries, and foster digital democratisation through reclaiming agency and individual empowerment?
The conference welcomes contributions that can develop disciplinary perspectives and critical inquiries on the art and aesthetics of Chinese social media in the fields of visual arts, digital media, design, performing arts, and cultural studies. Part of Dr. Shiyu Gao’s Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship research project, Emerging Surveillance Culture, which explores the intersection of expanded media art and technology in the context of ‘digital China’.
The Conference Program follows. Registration through this LINK.
The 18th CCVA Annual Conference
The Art of Chinese Social Media
We are pleased to announce the programme of the 18th CCVA Annual Conference, themed ‘The Art of Chinese Social Media’, will be held in School of Art, BCU, Birmingham 27th and 28th November this year. It is now open for registration.
Date: 27-28 November 2025
Venue: Lecture Theatre, School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham B3 3BX, UK
Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-art-of-chinese-social-media-the-18th-ccva-annual-conference-tickets-1858395965359?aff=oddtdtcreator
Day 1 — Thursday, 27 November 2025
9:30-10:00 Registration
10:00-10:15 Welcome Speech (University Representatives)
Conference Introduction (Conference Convenors)
10:15-11:15 Keynote Speech
Prof. Margaret Hillenbrand (University of Oxford)
11:15-12:45 Panel 1: Geopolitics of Social Media in the Transnational Perspective
- Bhavna Singh (Shaanxi Normal University), Discourse, Online Propaganda and Media Control: China’s Race against Democracy
- Prachi Aggarwal (University of Delhi), The Role of Social Media in India–China Relations: Structure and Dynamism
12:45-13:45 Lunch
13:45-15:15 Panel 2: Digital Diaspora and Urban Imaginaries in Social Media
- Biwei Cong (XJTLU), RedNotable? The City Image of China in the Age of Technological Mediation and Digital Reproduction
- Yitao Qian (SOAS, University of London), Staging Shanghai Aesthetics: A Digital Crossover of Wong Kar-wai’sBlossoms Shanghai and Duoyunxuan’s Woodblock Printing
- Teresa Irigoyen-Lopez (University of Oxford), Virtual Qiaoxiang: The Mediated Hometown as a Site for Intergenerational Negotiations of Chinese Belonging
Coffee Break (15:15-15:45)
15:45-17:15 Panel 3: Resistance in Social Media
- Chen Xiaolingtong (University of Cologne), Visual Codes of Rejection: Feminist Aesthetics and Gendered Discourse on Xiaohongshu
- Hairong Wang (University of Edinburgh), Participating from the Margins: Hmong/Miao Cultural Expression Across Chinese and Global Social Media
- Linfei (Faye) Xu (University of Amsterdam), NutBrother’s “Hotpot Fish” and co-created playful dissent on DianPing/Chinese platforms
17:15-17:30 Closing Remark
Day 2 — Friday, 28 November 2025
09:30–10:00 Coffee & Arrival
10:00-11:00 Keynote Speech
Prof. Bingchun Meng (The London School of Economics and Political Science)
11:00–12:30 Panel 4: Art in Chinese Social Media
- Chao Yan (Birmingham City University), From Practice to Presence: How Social Media Reshapes the Chinese Artist’s Role
- Yan Zhou (PhD, University of Toronto), Media Tactics in Chinese Socially Engaged and Networked Art Practice (WeChat groups/Moments, Official Accounts, WeChatPay)
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30–15:00 Panel 5: Writings in Chinese Social Media
- Han Sun (University of Oxford), Between Dis/Nonappearance and Manifestation: Ghost Writing on the Wall in Contemporary China
- Marta Rosa Bisceglia (University of Bologna), Spray and Scroll: Chinese Graffiti and the Glocal Dynamics of Identity in the Digital Age
- Martina Benigni (Sapienza University of Rome), “Multimodal-multimedial Poetry Collections” on WeChat: A Case Study of The Flâneuses
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30–17:00 Panel 6: New Aesthetics in Chinese Social Media
- Jing Wang (University of Oxford), Vertical Aesthetics: Chinese Social Media as a New Dynamics of Cinema
- Cong Chen & Xunnan Li (University of Leeds), Micro-Short Dramas in China: The Art of Immersion and Interaction in the Age of Social Media
- Jiahui Zhou (University of Edinburgh), Miao Ying and the Aesthetics of Kitsch and Sentimentality Today
17:00-17:15 Closing Remark
17:15-18:00 Wine Reception
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