Draft:Kate Wong

Kate Wong (王凯嵋) is a Vancouver-born, London-based curator, writer, and researcher in the fields of contemporary art and visual cultures.

Career

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wong holds a BA in Art History and International Development from McGill University in Montreal, and an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Early in her career, Wong served as an Associate Director at the modern and contemporary art gallery Timothy Taylor, where she worked on projects in the UK, Europe, the US, and China, with artists including Josephine Meckseper, Ding Yi, Alex Katz, the Estate of Philip Guston, Eddie Martinez, Kiki Smith, and Sean Scully. She developed numerous exhibitions and projects including West Broadway and Spring, a solo exhibition by Alex Katz in Shanghai in 2016, co-edited Ding Yi: Appearance of Crosses 2016-5 (designed by OK-RM and published by Timothy Taylor), and supported the gallery in opening its first location in New York on 19th street. As a Director at Sadie Coles HQ, Wong worked with artists including Martine Syms, Uri Aran, Yu Ji, and Katja Seib. Her last project with the gallery was a large-scale retrospective exhibition by Sarah Lucas at the Red Brick Art Museum in Beijing.

Wong was the Program Curator at V.O Curations, where she developed an interdisciplinary program of artist residencies, exhibitions, public programs, publications, and print materials. While at V.O, Wong worked with artists and curators including Emma Prempeh, Richard Ayodeji Ikhide, Nour El Saleh, Motoko Ishibashi, Angel Bat Dawid, Anupa Mistry, Emily Pope, Gray Wielebinski, Reem Shadid, Rhea Dillon, Michael and Chiyan Ho, and R.I.P. Germain. The residency program developed by Wong provided artists and cultural practitioners with the time and space to research and develop new ideas and work, connecting them with mentors from across the arts ecosystem, who included: Pope.L, Margot Norton, and Matt Williams. While at V.O, Wong curated exhibitions including Homeplace, featuring the work of artists including Larry Achiampong, Patty Chang, Shezad Dawood, Mohammed Sami, and Urara Tsuchiya, as well as solo exhibitions by Motoko Ishibashi, Michael and Chiyan Ho, and Rhea Dillon, the latter named one of the Top 10 Shows in the UK by Frieze Magazine.

Wong worked at Serpentine Galleries where she co-curated Alienarium 5 by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, and Park Nights 2022, which took place is Theaster Gates' Black Chapel, and featured Linton Kwesi Johnson with Caleb Femi, Roscoe Mitchell with Dudú Kouate and Simon Sieger, Josiane M.H. Pozi, and Standing on the Corner Ensemble, led by Gio Escobar. Her work at Serpentine and V.O Curations can be characterized by an experimental, site-responsive, and interdisciplinary approach, bringing together artists, curators, musicians, writers, designers, architects to develop engaging exhibitions, programs, and publications.

In 2022, Wong became the Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto where she co-curated Dancing in the Light with architect, Farida Abu Bakare. This was an exhibition of over 40 works drawn from The Wedge Collection, Canada's largest private collection depicting Black contemporary life, featuring Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Timothy Yanick Hunter, Tau Lewis, and Sandra Brewster. Wong co-curated Greater Toronto Art 2024 with Ebony L. Haynes and Toleen Touq, the museum's triennial exhibition featuring over 25 artists and artistic duos, 14 newly commissioned installation and programs, and including G.B. Jones, Jes Fan, Lotus L. Kang, Matthew Wong, Nobuo Kubota, Richard Fung, Sin Wai Kin, Tim Whiten, and Theo Jean Cuthand. Wong's final project at MOCA Toronto was Interface Remix, a solo exhibition by Tishan Hsu comprising work made between the 1980s and 2024, including a newly commissioned multimedia installation titled ear-skin-screen with casts: Toronto (2024).

Wong has taught on the New Politics and Afrufuturisms MA program delivered jointly by The University of the Underground and Sandberg Instituut. She has been a guest lecturer and critic at the University of Toronto, University of Guelph, Queen's University, and OCAD U. She has been an invited speaker at the Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museum, and has facilitated numerous talks and panels both on and offline with artists including Amanda Ba, Sasha Gordon, Sin Wai Kin, Jes Fan, Tenant of Culture, and Tau Lewis. Wong currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Gallery TPW, a non-profit artist-run centre founded in 1977.

Publications

Wong's writing on contemporary art and culture has appeared in a number of publications including frieze magazine, Yishu Journal, e-flux, TANK Magazine, Heichi Magazine, Twin Magazine, and AnOther Mag. Her essays and creative writing have also been published in Greater Toronto Art 2024 (MOCA Toronto), Oscar Yi Hou (James Fuentes Press, 2022), Clay Pop (Rizzoli, 2022), Donald Dahmer (V.O Curations, 2021), Educating Girls of Rural China (EGRC, 2021) Yiya (V.O Curations, 2020).