Introduction

UCCA Center for Contemporary Art is currently presenting “Pipilotti Rist: Your Palm Is My Universe,” a sensually immersive solo exhibition by the renowned Swiss artist.  Featuring a site-specific commission created specially for the UCCA Great Hall alongside a selection of iconic works, this exhibition extends the artistic experience beyond traditional confines of gallery spaces into the museum’s public areas and less commonly used spaces—an unconventional approach that invites visitors into a playful, open-ended universe of sensory exploration.

Known for her pioneering visual language, Rist transforms representations of the female body into richly layered, multisensory immersive environments. Her work challenges conventional modes of perception and offers a unique lens through which to reexamine the relationship between self and world.

Inspired by Rist’s practice , UCCA presents a parallel series of conversations titled “She, Universe: Women’s Position in Literature, Sociology and Film Studies.” Expanding the exhibition’s reach into broader social sciences and humanities contexts, this program conversation series will invite speakers and audiences to reflect on how women’s lived experiences are expressed,shaped, and empowered through literature, social structures, and cinematic language. Through the convergence of these three fields,  the series aims to deepen our understanding of women’s diverse roles and creative agency within cultural and social structures— collectively charting a more expansive “She, Universe.” The series is curated and hosted by UCCA Public Practice curators Wang Youyou and Wu Yiyao.

Session One

Speaker: Zhang Li (Professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Beijing Normal University)

Date & Time: 2025.8.30 (Sat) 14:00-15:30

Location: UCCA Auditorium

In the first session of “She, Universe,” UCCA welcomes Professor Zhang Li to deliver a lecture on the contemporary expressions and practices of “new women’s writing.” A leading scholar in the evolving landscape of Chinese women’s literature and gender awareness, she has long focused on the question of what constitutes genuine women’s writing in a meaningful sense—exploring how such literary practices can be cultivated within today’s cultural and social context.

In this talk, Professor Zhang will spotlight the creative characteristics of a younger generation of female writers, examining themes of contemporaneity, everyday life, and artistic experimentation. Topics will include literary practices of post-90s women authors, narrative approaches that transcend traditional binary frameworks, and the literary portrayals of female laborers. Through these lenses, she will explore how women use literature to speak, resist, and articulate complex and authentic experiences.

Session Two

Speaker: Huang Yingying (Professor at the Department of Social Sciences, Director of the Institute for Research on Sexuality and Gender, Renmin University of China)

Date & Time: 2025.9.6 (Sat) 14:00–15:30

Location: UCCA Auditorium

The second installment of “She, Universe” features Professor Huang Yingying. Her talk, titled “Gender/Sexuality in Public,”begins with a critical deconstruction of  “gender” and “sexuality,” using the slash in the title to challenge conventional notions of “women.” This gesture signals an interrogation of the norms and orthodoxies often imposed upon women, and calls attention to sexuality as an integral yet frequently marginalized or regulated facet of female bodily experience and subjectivity.

Drawing on her extensive sociological fieldwork and acute social observation, Professor Huang will analyze the particularities of female embodiment in the Chinese context, tracing both its continuities and transformations across time. Beginning with everyday life and public discourse, she will examine the complex entanglements of gendered power and body politics, and reflect how transgressing boundaries—conceptual, social, and political— can expand the discursive and experiential space for women’s embodied rights and self-expression.

Session Three

Speaker: Jiao Rui (PhD in Film Studies; Lecturer, School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University of China)

Date & Time: 2025.9.20 (Sat) 14:00–15:30

Location: UCCA Auditorium 

The third session of the “She, Universe” features film scholar Dr. Jiao Rui, a lecturer at the School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University of China. Her talk will delve into the rich history of female liberation in European cinema. Across generations, women have been key drivers of cinematic innovation. European female filmmakers, in particular, have consistently pushed the boundaries of bodily representation, challenged entrenched gender norms, and pursued the emancipatory potential of selfhood.

In this lecture, Dr. Jiao will trace the work of key women directors in European film history and their milestone works, focusing on how they stage a “revolt of the body”—visual and narrative assertions of women’s bodily autonomy, sexual agency, and social visibility. Here, cinema becomes not just a medium of artistic expression, but also a critical battleground for liberation and a powerful witness to the reassertion of female subjectivity.