Karen Smith is a curator and author, largely specialised in the field of China's contemporary art since 1980. In mid-2012, she was appointed founding director of OCAT Xi'an, the third such institution under the OCAT Museum Group, which is based in Shenzhen. OCAT Xi'an launched in November 2013, as the first dedicated contemporary art museum in Xi'an, and is regarded as a pioneer within the socio-cultural ecology of one of China's most ancient cities.

Karen is the author of the As Seen series of publications, which explore contemporary Chinese artworks within public exhibitions.

A first book, Nine Lives: The Birth of Avant-Garde Art in New China, 2008, looked at leading members of the first generation of avant-garde artists in China that emerged between 1985 and 1989.

Karen has contributed texts to Art Now Volume 4, Taschen, June 2013; Vitamin D2, Phaidon, 2012; Vitamin P2, Phaidon, 2011 and other publications, including the Phaidon contemporary artist series, for which she authored the volume on Ai Weiwei, 2009. She is co-author of Shanghai: A History in Photographs, 1842-Today, Penguin Viking (Australia), 2010.

11.11 Context of Chinese Contemporary Art 

Context is the convergence of social systems, political structures, and cultural heritage. In short, it is the framework within which humans exist, function, and act. It is a fact of all our lives, just as much as it underscores the creative decisions of artists, curators and cultural spaces. But why, then, should "context" carry greater import for art than for any other human activity? Some might argue that it does not. Naturally, some contexts are more visible than others, and might appear to have more effect on shaping the parameters of creative expression than others. Thus, we naturally assume that more obvious contexts, those societies subject to socio-economic and political restraint, may exert a greater impact upon how art is made and experience within their paradigm. With this in mind, Smith will discuss a number of case studies that explore the impact of "context" upon "Chinese Contemporary Art" from both lesser and more obvious perspectives.