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Diyi Mergenthaler is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Art History at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Her current research project investigates the queer Chinese iconography and diasporic spaces in contemporary art and creative industries in the Sinosphere from the 1990s to present. In May 2021, she initiated and led the online workshop, ‘Queering the Boundaries of the Arts in the Sinosphere,’ with her colleagues to amplify the voices of queer Chinese artists in Western academia. She is a member of the PNSA-Postgraduate Network for the Study of Art Historiography.
PUBLICATIONS
Forthcoming:
Hess, H. and Mergenthaler, D. “A Comparative Analysis of Digital Art Practices during the Covid-19 Crisis in China and Malaysia”. Digital China: Creativity and Community in the Sinocybersphere, edited by Jessica Imbach. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (December 2023).
Mergenthaler, D. “Notes on Queer Chinese Art”. Ambivalent Work*s, edited by Daniel Berndt.
Mergenthaler, D. “Our Marriage, Our Kinship and Our-Selves: The Queering of Diasporic Chinese Images and Spaces in Europe during 2015-2022”. (Un)doing Gender, edited by Monica Merlin and Wenny Teo. Intellect.
2023
Bao, H., Mergenthaler, D. and Zhao, J.J. (eds), Contemporary Queer Chinese Art. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Bao, H., Mergenthaler, D. and Zhao, J.J. “Introduction: What is Queer about Queer Chinese Art”. Contemporary Queer Chinese Art. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.
Mergenthaler, D. “Between Fringe and Canon: The Trans Motifs of Fen-Ma Liuming”. Contemporary Queer Chinese Art. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.
2022
Mergenthaler, D. “Flying over the Cotton Field—Interview with Xiao Se”. Zurich Escapement Art Gallery.
2021
Tan, D. et al. Conference Press: ‘Queering the Boundaries of the Arts in the Sinosphere’, in aoi.uzh.ch, April, https://www.aoi.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:687cd4db-094f-492a-8ded-57c139fdd73b/SIN%20FS21%20Workshop%20Queering%20the%20Boundaries%20of%
Translations
Contemporary Queer Chinese Art: London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/contemporary-queer-chinese-art-9781350333529/
Chapter 2 Same-Sex Love: A 'Frog in The Well' Looking for A Wider Sky (Xiyadie) Chapter 3 A Child Taught Me How to Paint Dingding (Wei Yimu)
Chapter 5 Body Portraits (Ma Yanhong)
Chapter 7 From Feminist Artmaking to Queer Image Writing (Li Xinmo)
CONFERENCES, TALKS & PRESENTATIONS
Forthcoming 2023/Nov keynote presentation “Queering the Chinese Tradition” with Hongwei Bao, Homeland in Transits Symposium, E-Werk Freiburg e.V, Freiburg im Breisgau
2023/Sep presentation “Imperfect Victims—Our Experience of ‘Aphasia’ within and outside the White Cube” at Gender(ed) Labor: SAGS Conference 2023, the University of Lausanne
2023/Jul Talk “Contemporary Queer Chinese Art—Featuring Hongwei Bao, Diyi Mergenthaler, and Paul Glaston, with Shar Khraibani” at The Brooklyn Rail
2023/Jul Contemporary Queer Chinese Art Book Launch (Zoom)
2022/Jun poster presentation “Queer Chinese Art—Queer, Feminist, and Trans Artistic Forms in Contemporary China” at Science Slam & Poster Presentation at VKKS (the Fifth Swiss Congress for Art History) on June 23, 2022
2021/May I initiated and led the bilingual (Chinese and English) online workshop “Queering the Boundaries of the Arts in the Sinosphere” (May 27-29, 2021) as the main organizer and a coordinator (https://queeringartsinosphere.wordpress.com/contact/).
This project was funded by the GRC short grants and the Graduate School’s funding for Self-Organized Working Groups.
2020/Dec presentation “Floating to the surface? My reflection on queer art history” at the online research workshop “Ambivalent Work*s” organized by Dr. Daniel Berndt, Dr. Christian Liclair, Prof. Dr. Fiona McGovern, Dr. Susanne Huber in collaboration with Nadine Jirka and Sabine Bradel
2020/Nov presentation “Art and Dialogues in the Times of the Covid-19 Epidemic” at the online research workshop ‘Wired China’ organized by Dr Jessica Imbach and Dr Qian Cui
GRANTS
2021/May GRC Short Grants (UZH) for the Workshop “Queering the Boundaries of the Arts
in the Sinosphere” (as the principal applicant)
Funding for Self-Organized Working Groups (UZH) for the Workshop “Queering
the Boundaries of the Arts in the Sinosphere” (as the principal applicant)