Curatorial
Practice
🌑 Ethereal Garden: Curatorial Research Network
The process of a growing mycelium network.
Diagram found on the World Wide Web: https://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/mycelium.html.
︎ Collaboration and Communal Healing
︎ Networked Curatorial Model
︎ Interdisciplinary Exchange
Ethereal Garden is a decentralized curatorial network inspired by the resilience of mycelium. It brings together diverse contributors through peer-driven exchange, countering the dominance of single narratives in curatorial practice and fostering belonging across disciplines, from art to technology and sociology.
Rooted in collaboration and decentralization, Ethereal Garden envisions curation as a living system in which each contribution is a node, interwoven with others in an evolving network. It embodies adaptability and resilience, positioning curation as a transformative framework for collective learning and communal healing, and affirming the sustaining power of interconnected experiences.
Recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts with the Digital Greenhouse Strategic Innovation Fund.
︎ Networked Curatorial Model
︎ Interdisciplinary Exchange
Ethereal Garden is a decentralized curatorial network inspired by the resilience of mycelium. It brings together diverse contributors through peer-driven exchange, countering the dominance of single narratives in curatorial practice and fostering belonging across disciplines, from art to technology and sociology.
Rooted in collaboration and decentralization, Ethereal Garden envisions curation as a living system in which each contribution is a node, interwoven with others in an evolving network. It embodies adaptability and resilience, positioning curation as a transformative framework for collective learning and communal healing, and affirming the sustaining power of interconnected experiences.
Recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts with the Digital Greenhouse Strategic Innovation Fund.
March 2023 / On-going
Haroon Mirza, Solstice Star, installation view, Lisson Gallery.
︎Physical Art × Digital Experience
︎ Communal Ritual
︎ Collective Resonance
︎ Communal Ritual
︎ Collective Resonance
Solstice Star Gif(t) is a hybrid model of physical installation and digital artwork infused with the healing frequency of 111 Hz. Blending Daoist philosophy with collective participation, the project embodies a curatorial healing journey, guiding audiences into resonance across spiritual, technological, and artistic frequencies to foster collective balance.
Distributed as part of the exhibition ||| at Lisson Gallery, Solstice Star is a gif(t) created by Haroon Mirza and initiated by Sha Li. In the physical space, it appears as a vinyl QR code on the wall; upon scanning, an augmented 3D sculpture is activated. Recontextualized on the blockchain, the work extends into digital space, where anyone can own the GIF version as an NFT. This enables the artist to track ownership, remain creatively engaged, and continuously evolve the work within an expanding network, while allowing collectors to become active participants in its unfolding.
Embedding Solstice Star with the healing frequency of 111 Hz, a central element of the exhibition, aims to inspire audiences to attune to their own frequency. Token holders may later contribute their frequency back into the work, transforming it into a co-created piece of collective resonance.
Led by Haroon Mirza and Sha Li, in collaboration with Greg Hilty (curatorial director and partner, Lisson Gallery), George Cunliffe (creative technologist), and colleagues at Lisson Gallery and Verse.
Distributed as part of the exhibition ||| at Lisson Gallery, Solstice Star is a gif(t) created by Haroon Mirza and initiated by Sha Li. In the physical space, it appears as a vinyl QR code on the wall; upon scanning, an augmented 3D sculpture is activated. Recontextualized on the blockchain, the work extends into digital space, where anyone can own the GIF version as an NFT. This enables the artist to track ownership, remain creatively engaged, and continuously evolve the work within an expanding network, while allowing collectors to become active participants in its unfolding.
Embedding Solstice Star with the healing frequency of 111 Hz, a central element of the exhibition, aims to inspire audiences to attune to their own frequency. Token holders may later contribute their frequency back into the work, transforming it into a co-created piece of collective resonance.
Led by Haroon Mirza and Sha Li, in collaboration with Greg Hilty (curatorial director and partner, Lisson Gallery), George Cunliffe (creative technologist), and colleagues at Lisson Gallery and Verse.
May 2021 / On-going
Pak, The Fungible Collection, part of the burn.art ecosystem in collaboration with the sotheby’s.
︎ Community Value Exchange System
︎ Social Experiment
︎ Digital Ecosystem
[burn.art] introduces an exclusive “burn” mechanism using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to establish a new value system for digital art. NFTs represent unique digital assets linked to real-world objects, securely stored on the blockchain as part of the internet’s value layer.
Within this system, collectors of Pak’s NFTs, including The Fungible Collection launched by Sotheby’s, may choose to permanently remove their works from circulation. In return, they receive “Ash,” a social currency created by the artist. This process transforms the artwork into a new form of value, raising the question: What holds greater worth—art or money?
Once generated, Ash functions as a legitimate digital currency, incentivizing knowledge exchange and fostering cross-sector collaboration. This experimental ecosystem demonstrates how destruction can become creation, and how value can be redefined through participation and community.
The curatorial frame turns destructive action into regenerative practice, healing the anxieties of a purely capital-driven art world by reimagining exchange as creative, communal, and interdependent.
︎ Social Experiment
︎ Digital Ecosystem
[burn.art] introduces an exclusive “burn” mechanism using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to establish a new value system for digital art. NFTs represent unique digital assets linked to real-world objects, securely stored on the blockchain as part of the internet’s value layer.
Within this system, collectors of Pak’s NFTs, including The Fungible Collection launched by Sotheby’s, may choose to permanently remove their works from circulation. In return, they receive “Ash,” a social currency created by the artist. This process transforms the artwork into a new form of value, raising the question: What holds greater worth—art or money?
Once generated, Ash functions as a legitimate digital currency, incentivizing knowledge exchange and fostering cross-sector collaboration. This experimental ecosystem demonstrates how destruction can become creation, and how value can be redefined through participation and community.
The curatorial frame turns destructive action into regenerative practice, healing the anxieties of a purely capital-driven art world by reimagining exchange as creative, communal, and interdependent.
June 16th, 2020 to June 21st, 2020
Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi, SETS AND SCENARIOS ACT II, Image List: Actions to Relate to Oneself and The World, 2020.
︎ Online Public Programme
︎ Participatory and Interactivity
︎ Digital Storytelling
In recent years, the development of media has dramatically transformed our experience with moving images. We find ourselves entangled in a perpetual cycle of image production and consumption, with images that haunt, invade, and shape us. Within this post-cinematic regime, our cultural identities, established subjectivities, and embodied sensibilities are continuously reshaped.
Sets and Scenarios delves into this heightened proximity to images and explores the implications of living under their influence. Originally designed to blur institutional boundaries within Nottingham Contemporary's private and public spaces, the program featured sculptural installations, sound works, videos, and live performances by artists such as Adam Christensen, Eva Gold, Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi, and Aaron Ratajczyk. The project was built around a mobile viewer, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in various atmospheric environments. At its core, Sets and Scenarios sought to experiment with the ephemeral encounter between viewers and artworks, emphasizing the dynamism of the experience in relation to its contingent nature and the collective engagement with physical space.
In response to the pandemic lockdown, Sets and Scenarios was reimagined as a digital experience as part of Nottingham Contemporary's online public programme. Each night featured different films and video works, reflecting the curatorial intent to capture the impact of moving images and to contemplate the endless feedback loops that surround us.
︎ Participatory and Interactivity
︎ Digital Storytelling
In recent years, the development of media has dramatically transformed our experience with moving images. We find ourselves entangled in a perpetual cycle of image production and consumption, with images that haunt, invade, and shape us. Within this post-cinematic regime, our cultural identities, established subjectivities, and embodied sensibilities are continuously reshaped.
Sets and Scenarios delves into this heightened proximity to images and explores the implications of living under their influence. Originally designed to blur institutional boundaries within Nottingham Contemporary's private and public spaces, the program featured sculptural installations, sound works, videos, and live performances by artists such as Adam Christensen, Eva Gold, Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi, and Aaron Ratajczyk. The project was built around a mobile viewer, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in various atmospheric environments. At its core, Sets and Scenarios sought to experiment with the ephemeral encounter between viewers and artworks, emphasizing the dynamism of the experience in relation to its contingent nature and the collective engagement with physical space.
In response to the pandemic lockdown, Sets and Scenarios was reimagined as a digital experience as part of Nottingham Contemporary's online public programme. Each night featured different films and video works, reflecting the curatorial intent to capture the impact of moving images and to contemplate the endless feedback loops that surround us.
Feb 7th, 2020 to March 31st, 2020
Lu Shan, The Great Plague 2020, screenshot from the unfinished video animation.
︎ Collective Portrait
︎ Emotional Resonance
︎ Digital Archive
Post from the First Lockdown is an archive of artists' responses to the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in the Hubei region, spanning from the 7th of February to the end of March 2020. Led by Gaia Fugazza, Luigi Galimberti, and Sha Li, the project served as a self-organized community blog post with the intention of igniting further discussions among the public and fostering community solidarity. Its main objective was to establish direct contact with artists in China who were creating art while under quarantine. We sought to listen to their voices in order to gain a better understanding of a story that had been narrated in numerous contradictory ways by various countries' media, with each accusing the other of cover-ups and propaganda.
Given that the artists personally witnessed the Covid-19 epidemic at a time when its origins and unprecedented impact on society were still unknown, this series of works has been organized chronologically in retrospect. Through the act of listening and recording lived experiences, curation becomes a practice of care, transforming individual trauma into shared memory and offering emotional grounding for the community.
In collaboration with the MA programme at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, led by Dr. Wenny Teo, the project invited her cohort to respond to each participating artist. In the following year, the project hosted an online public event at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, featuring updated artists' responses and reflections as part of the Frank Davis Memorial Lecture of 2021.
︎ Emotional Resonance
︎ Digital Archive
Post from the First Lockdown is an archive of artists' responses to the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in the Hubei region, spanning from the 7th of February to the end of March 2020. Led by Gaia Fugazza, Luigi Galimberti, and Sha Li, the project served as a self-organized community blog post with the intention of igniting further discussions among the public and fostering community solidarity. Its main objective was to establish direct contact with artists in China who were creating art while under quarantine. We sought to listen to their voices in order to gain a better understanding of a story that had been narrated in numerous contradictory ways by various countries' media, with each accusing the other of cover-ups and propaganda.
Given that the artists personally witnessed the Covid-19 epidemic at a time when its origins and unprecedented impact on society were still unknown, this series of works has been organized chronologically in retrospect. Through the act of listening and recording lived experiences, curation becomes a practice of care, transforming individual trauma into shared memory and offering emotional grounding for the community.
In collaboration with the MA programme at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, led by Dr. Wenny Teo, the project invited her cohort to respond to each participating artist. In the following year, the project hosted an online public event at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, featuring updated artists' responses and reflections as part of the Frank Davis Memorial Lecture of 2021.