UCL History of Art student Wen Xiao curates "Kissaten/Tea Room" exhibition in UCL's Japanese Gardens

24 June 2022

The exhibition took place on Friday 10th June & featured six emerging London-based Asian artists: Bo Sun, Kimie Minobe, 00 Zhang, Nanzhen Yang, Rieko Whitfield & Yudai Ono. The History of Art department was delighted to support this event, which was curated by finalist Wen Xiao.

Featured Image: Dr Emily Floyd, Wen Xiao and Professor Bob Mills, UCL History of Art.

[Adapted from the original exhibition press release, written by Wen Xiao]

“Kissaten/Tea Room” was the first ever art exhibition to be held at UCL Japanese Garden and the adjacent Student Centre, which opened in 2019. The exhibition title speaks to the cultural entanglements between East and West, as “Kissaten” is a Japanese appropriation of the aesthetic of European cafés, whereas “tea” is woven into the fabric of Western lifestyle through colonialism in Asia.

The Japanese Garden epitomises a history of exchange, adaptation, and assimilation. At its fringe stands the memorial of “Choshu Five” and “Satsuma Fourteen”, the earliest Japanese students in the UK who studied under Alexander William Williamson at UCL during the 1860s. It is easy to say that it all started here, when these young men risked their lives to travel to the UK for its epistemological promises. Such knowledge obtained in the West, of course, was utilized to usher Japan into nationalised “modernisation”.However, overlooked are Asia’s traumatising encounters with Western imperialism and the Eurocentric discourse of “modernity”; left out are the voiceless Asian women who were coerced into progressivism and victimized by expansionism.

“Kissaten/Tea Room”, therefore, worked to reconsider the narrative articulated by UCL Japanese Garden. The legacies of these Japanese alumni, as historically impactful as they are, necessitate an up-to-date re-interpretation from within. As current East Asian students at UCL, we asked where we have come from, what we have learnt, and what is left to say. We questioned the glorious yet, for many, painful stories triggered by these men, who were forerunners, revolutionists, criminals— whatever titles that have been appended by historiography— who were once students just like us.

Spanning across the Mezzanine floor of Student Centre and the Japanese Garden, “Kissaten/Tea Room” diffused into the daily routines of current UCL students and resonated with existing public art projects in these spaces. Featuring six emerging London-based Asian artists, Bo Sun, Kimie Minobe, 00 Zhang, Nanzhen Yang, Rieko Whitfield and Yudai Ono, this exhibition strove to amplify the voices of historically marginalized groups within the university and drew linkages between the past and present. By telling a story of migration, transformation and coming of age, it shed light on the unspoken experiences of Asian students who have been present since the institution’s early days.

Featured Artists

BO SUN

Bo Sun’s work bespeaks the convergence of anatomy and mechanics in the post-human era. He reconstructs biomorphic forms from industrial materials, such as aluminium, perspex and metal fixtures. Through a fusion of incompatible materials, Bo re-evaluates the articulation between bone structures and fabricated objects, with an emphasis on insectile exoskeletons and patterns within industrial design. Bo has exhibited at Ridley Road Project Space, Changing Room Gallery, 213 Kupfer Project and other creative venues across England.