Karen Smith has been writing about the contemporary art scene in China since the early 1990s. She has lived in China for more than twenty years during which time she has contributed her writings to numerous international and domestic publications and exhibition catalogues, both for individual artists and for group exhibitions. Her personal books include monographs on China’s leading artists, including Liu Xiaodong, Jia Aili, Shi Jinsong and Ma Ke. She is the author of the historical compendium Nine Lives: The Birth of Avant-Garde Art in New China, which examines the careers of nine founding fathers of China’s new art movement which began in 1985.
In her capacity as curator, Smith regularly produces exhibitions in China and abroad. She currently serves as director of OCAT Xi’an, the third of the Shenzhen-based museum group OCAT’s contemporary art museums.
