The Centre of Chinese Contemporary Art closed in 2021 after a series of controversies. Now it\u2019s been relaunched under a new name \u2013 and with a new mission<\/p>\n
In March 2020, the visual artist JJ\u00a0Chan was assembling video footage for a group exhibition scheduled at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art in\u00a0Manchester. Centred on family VHS tapes, and titled A New Constellation: Chinese Diaspora Now, the artwork was an exploration of Chan\u2019s emotionally complex relationship to Hong Kong, their parents\u2019 birthplace. When Chan asked\u00a0for guidance after the sudden departure of the initial curator, the artist discovered that the gallery did\u00a0not employ anyone who was Chinese: 12 out of the 13 staff members were white, while most of the front-facing (unpaid) volunteers were of Chinese descent.<\/p>\n
Fearing their art would be shaped through a white lens, Chan withdrew and published an open letter to the centre, writing: \u201cMy experience, and my trauma, are being used as a leg-up into an industry for an already overrepresented demographic.\u201d Later that year, the organisation recruited seven artists of Chinese heritage to\u00a0address the lack of diversity before that initiative was cancelled when the artists raised issues surrounding institutional racism with the gallery. The artist-led working group subsequently petitioned for an international boycott of the institution resulting in the resignation of six board members and several employees. After closing due to Covid in 2020, the arts space never reopened.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/4f780e7e679d58dd9b08c89af973058ec2ee5754\/153_0_1066_853\/master\/1066.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=670ba8d0b19c9fde213d21b8194e6060\" "\\"\u2018The")
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"