Zhu appointed Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art director

XIAOWEN ZHU will take up leadership of Manchester’s Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) in June.

She will take over from interim Executive Director THANH SINDEN, who has held the post since recruitment for a new director began last autumn, after the organisation faced accusations of "organisational yellowface" earlier in the year.

Zhu was formerly assistant director at Times Art Centre Berlin and has worked as a director, author and lecturer in Shanghai, New York, Los Angeles and London.

CFCCA says it will strive to “widen its outreach in the art world and across society through a re-envisaged, transcultural programme and a re-activated, dynamic research framework,” under Zhu’s leadership.

Its galleries are due to reopen to the public next year after closing in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

Zhu says she is thrilled to join and lead the centre.

“I can’t wait to work closely with the board to set our goals for the coming years and to form a new team that’s at once committed to our mission and creative in thinking and making things happen.”

The organisation is also welcoming five new trustees – PHILOMENA CHEN, SIMON LI, YUNG MA, aaajiao (aka XU WENKAI) and BONNIE YEUNG – to its board.

Board chair NICK BUCKLEY WOOD says the new trustees will help the institution enter the next stage of its development, focusing on “diversity, digitalisation, sustainability, cross-cultural dialogue and, most importantly, great exhibitions for the public”.