Doctoral thesis submitted by Lu Pei-Yi to Birkbeck College, University of London.

'The aim of this thesis is to develop a concept of "off-site art" as a distinct mode of art production, and further argues that a specific approach to curating, "off-site curating", is required in order to realize the potential of this art form. Off-site art refers to works in temporary exhibitions which are held away from the gallery space and which create their own time-space on site, usually being "site-specific" and "context-sensitive". Taking place in the real living environment, off-site art, on the one hand, is liberated from the limitations imposed by an institution, while on the other hand it naturally encounters difficulties being sited in a broader social, economic and political arena; in this sense, off-site art could be considered in part to be a reflection of spatial-political circumstances and problems encountered on site. Three questions will be discussed: what is off-site art and why is it significant? What is the relationship between artworks, environmental context and viewers in off-site art exhibitions? What is the role of the curator and how might the curating of off-site art work? The research is based on an interdisciplinary approach, and a number of off-site art exhibitions held in Taiwan during the period 1987 to 2007 will be taken as case studies in order to examine four primary aspects: off-site art curating and politics; off-site art curating and business; off-site art curating and urban regeneration; off-site curating and the community. I argue that the value of off-site art lies in the fact that art should not be confined to a gallery; instead, art manifests its power in everyday life. The task of off-site art curating is to create a support system that mediates between the diverse forces in operation in order to ensure that art is valued as art itself rather than merely playing a subsidiary role serving political, economic or any other purposes.' (Abstract)

Bibiliography and chronology of off-site art exhibitions in Taiwan included.

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