The circulation of texts and ideas across national boundaries has been central to the debates over the reception of culture.

The University of Exeter and the Shanghai Theatre Academy will jointly host a workshop in Shanghai.

The workshop, entitled, Cosmopolitanism, World Cities, and the Circulation of Visual Culture between China and Great Britain, will bring together scholars from China, the UK, and Hong Kong to discuss the reception of cultures across national boundaries. 

The circulation of texts and ideas across national boundaries has been central to the debates over the reception of culture. However, the way in which knowledge is disseminated through multiple channels and to different publics at the same time has been less explored.

This conference explores the mix of traditional and modern, foreign and local cultures through drama, film and image in cities such as London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It explores what drives and conditions the circulation of visual culture, as a form of knowledge, between China and Britain in the past and at the present, particularly questioning how cities serve as nodes connecting and defining the knowledge in circulation.

The visit, taking place on 23 June, has been primarily organised by Dr Ting Guo, from the University of Exeter’s Modern Languages department. Dr Guo received funding from the Sino-British Fellowship Trust to organise this event. The Trust is a registered charity, which provides small grants of funding to encourage collaboration between British and Chinese scholars on issues of cultural importance. The event will be free to attend and anyone can book a place by emailing Dr Guo with their details.

Dr Guo said of the event: Jointly funded by Sino-British Fellowship Trust, University of Exeter and Shanghai Theatre Academy, this workshop initiates an interdisciplinary inquiry of the translation and consumption of visual culture across languages and cultures, and opens up discussions on the connections between visual culture and world cities.

As one of the most prestigious research institutions on Chinese theatre, Shanghai Theatre Academy has the richest documentary resources on the development of modern Chinese drama in Shanghai. Its internationally renowned research strength in Chinese drama and the exchange of Chinese and international theatres make it a unique base for such an event to take place.

STA and the College of Humanities have worked together on a number of projects in recent years, with both universities offering significant expertise in performance and visual culture. You can read about other collaborations between the College and STA in the two news articles below:

Beauty and the Beast in collaboration with Shanghai Theatre Academy

Interpretations of Shakespeare in Chinese opera and traditional Chinese puppetry

Date: 6 June 2017

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