The University of Chicago Center for the Art of East Asia

CAEA is thrilled to announce that Seonghee Ha (second year PhD student in the Department of Art History) is the recipient of the 2026 Liu Cong Memorial Prize for the Best Essay on East Asian Art and Visual Culture.

Ha’s essay, “In Her Heart of Hearts: Reconciliation of the Erotic and the Intellectual in Sin Yunbok’s Beauty,” examines Beauty (see below) , a life-size portrait of a courtesan by Sin Yunbok (ca. 1758–after 1817). Although noted for its portrait-like qualities, it has not been linked to late Chosŏn portrait discourse due to its erotic connotations. This period saw growing skepticism about portraiture’s ability to convey the sitter’s spirit. This essay argues that Sin responds to this concern by mobilizing erotic sentiment—typically excised from the discourses on portraiture—as a source of vitality that animates the image. Positioning romantic feeling at the center of its signification, Beauty challenges the assumption that the erotic and the intellectual are mutually incompatible.

The Liu Cong Memorial Prize recognizes excellent scholarship in East Asian art and visual culture by graduate students at the University of Chicago and encourages the developing of writing skills for publishable essays. CAEA established the prize in 2010-11 in memory of Liu Cong (1979-2008), former graduate student, and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art History.

Thank you to all who attended the opening reception for “Fragmented yet Connected: Paths to Wisdom at the Zhihua Temple.”

“Fragmented yet Connected” is open at UChicago’s Hong Kong Center now through December 4, 2026.

“Fragmented yet Connected: Paths to Wisdom at the Zhihua Temple” is organized by Center for the Art of East Asia at the University of Chicago and curated by Dr. Mengge Cao . Co-organizers include the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University and Center for the Three-Dimensional Arts at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Generous funding support has been provided by Cyrus Tang Foundation, The University of Chicago campus in Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and University of Chicago Department of Art History.

First look at “Fragmented yet Connected: Paths to Wisdom at the Zhihua Temple.” On view at UChicago’s Hong Kong Center until December 4, 2026.

“Fragmented yet Connected: Paths to Wisdom at the Zhihua Temple” is organized by Center for the Art of East Asia at the University of Chicago . Co-organizers include the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University and Center for the Three-Dimensional Arts at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Generous funding support has been provided by Cyrus Tang Foundation, The University of Chicago campus in Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and University of Chicago Department of Art History.

CAEA was pleased to participate in a Hong Kong Palace Museum Talk Series | The Role of Digital Technologies in Heritage Preservation and Research in Museums and Universities.

The talk brought together leading museum professionals and scholars to explore how digital technologies are reshaping the preservation, study, and presentation of cultural heritage. Reflecting on new exhibitions on Egyptian art and Chinese culture heritage and research projects at the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the University of Chicago, the speakers shared insights into innovative digital cultural heritage projects, the contribution of digital technologies in the museum context and in transformative interdisciplinary research.

The talk was jointly organized by the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the University of Chicago.

Speakers:

Dr Wei-Cheng Lin, Associate Professor of Art History and the College, Chinese Art and Architecture, The University of Chicago
Dr Timothy P. Harrison, Professor of Near Eastern Archeology and Director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures , The University of Chicago
Dr Daisy Yiyou Wang, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum
Ms Yannick Ma, Assistant Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum

Moderator:

Ms Elizabeth O’Neill, Executive Director (Interim) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex |The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong

CAEA was thrilled to share a first look at “Fragmented yet Connected: Paths to Wisdom at the Zhihua Temple” with Bei Shan Tang Foundation CEO Ms. Lillian Kiang in advance of our opening reception, to take place this Friday, June 5 at UChicago’s Hong Kong Center .

June 5, 2026 Opening program:

4:45 PM – 5:00 PM: Guests check in
5:00 PM – 5:15 PM: Remarks by Prof. Wei-Cheng Lin and Dr. Ellen Larson .larson
5:15 PM – 6:15 PM: Exhibition tour and talk by Dr. Mengge Cao
6:15 PM – 7:00 PM: Reception

Register by visiting the link in our bio! 🔗🔗🔗

📍The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex | The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong
168 Victoria Road
Mount Davis, Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong SAR

Fragmented yet Connected: Paths to Wisdom at the Zhihua Temple is organized by Center for the Art of East Asia at the University of Chicago. Co-organizers include the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University and Center for the Three-Dimensional Arts at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Generous funding support has been provided by Cyrus Tang Foundation, The University of Chicago campus in Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and University of Chicago Department of Art History.

🐾 From China to the Farnsworth House, the Art Institute of Chicago, and finally the University of Chicago.

🦁Today, these stone guardian lions stand outside the Cochrane-Woods Art Center at the University of Chicago. But before arriving on campus, they spent decades at the Farnsworth House, the famous glass-and-steel retreat designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Dr. Edith Farnsworth.

For centuries, guardian lions protected the entrances of Chinese palaces, temples, and homes. Yet in the mid-twentieth century, Edith Farnsworth placed them beside one of the most celebrated examples of minimalist architecture in the world. Their weathered stone forms stood in striking contrast to Mies’s sleek geometry, creating an unexpected dialogue between Chinese tradition and modernist design.

After Farnsworth’s death, the lions entered the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago before finding their way to the University of Chicago in 1997. Art historian Wu Hung helped bring them to campus, believing they would once again serve as guardians at the entrance to the Cochrane-Woods Art Center.

Swipe to follow the journey of these stone lions across continents, collections, and nearly a century of history. ✨

🐾 From China to the Farnsworth House, the Art Institute of Chicago, and finally the University of Chicago.

🦁Today, these stone guardian lions stand outside the Cochrane-Woods Art Center at the University of Chicago. But before arriving on campus, they spent decades at the Farnsworth House, the famous glass-and-steel retreat designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Dr. Edith Farnsworth.

For centuries, guardian lions protected the entrances of Chinese palaces, temples, and homes. Yet in the mid-twentieth century, Edith Farnsworth placed them beside one of the most celebrated examples of minimalist architecture in the world. Their weathered stone forms stood in striking contrast to Mies‘s sleek geometry, creating an unexpected dialogue between Chinese tradition and modernist design.

After Farnsworth’s death, the lions entered the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago before finding their way to the University of Chicago in 1997. Art historian Wu Hung helped bring them to campus, believing they would once again serve as guardians at the entrance to the Cochrane-Woods Art Center.

Swipe to follow the journey of these stone lions across continents, collections, and nearly a century of history. ✨

Part of “Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart”, on view at the Smart Museum through July 5, 2026, Wu Wenguang’s 吴文光 video “Diary: Snow, November 21, 1998” captures the events that unfolded after a group show curated by Leng Ling “It’s Me” (1998) was abruptly shut down one day before its scheduled opening.
 
This video is part of the Wu Hung Video Art Archive, a digital collection spearheaded by the Center for the Art of East Asia at the University of Chicago. This archive belongs to a larger initiative committed to preserving and disseminating Wu Hung’s entire research corpus and includes collaborators from across the university. The continued development of this research archive underscores University of Chicago’s significance as a vital global node for the research and advancement of contemporary art from China. 
 
The Wu Hung Contemporary Chinese Video Art Archive features some of the earliest examples of video art in China, made by pioneering artists such as Song D**g, Qiu Zhijie, Yin Xiuzhen, Xing Danwen, and others. The archive also includes important footage documenting early works of contemporary Chinese performance art, along with rare installation views of several seminal exhibitions staged both in China and the U.S. from the 1990s to the turn of the century. 

The Archive is available through LUNA, the main image database for research and teaching at UChicago, stewarded by the Department of Art History’s Visual Resources Center (VRC) .