CV
Sophia Cai 蔡晨昕 (she/her)
Lives and works in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia)
EDUCATION
2014 – MA History of Art (Distinction), Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
Specialisation in Chinese contemporary art post-1979
Awarded the Friends of the Courtauld Scholarship
2011 – PhB (Hons, First Class) Art History and Curatorship, the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Awarded Janet Wilkie Art History Honours Prize and National Undergraduate Scholarship
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2023 – A Soft Touch, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney
2023 – Pixy Liao: Experimental Relationship, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (co-curated with Catlin Langford)
2023 – I Loved You: Works from the White Rabbit Collection, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (co-curated with Catlin Langford)
2023 – I will wait for you until 2025, presented as part of Recreation, project8, Melbourne (curated by Cūrā8)
2022 – Dream Job, OzAsia Festival, Adelaide
2022 – Personal Mythologies, La Trobe Institute of Art, Bendigo
2022 – Sincerely Yours, Arts Project Australia and West Space, Melbourne
2021 – Home is more than a place, online exhibition, Hamilton Gallery with NETS Victoria
2021 – CERAMIX, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney (with the Australian Ceramics Association)
2021 – Disobedient Daughters, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
2020 – Zero O’Clock, online exhibition hosted by CoVA, Feminism and Intersectionality
2019 – The Four Letter Word, Artbank, Sydney
2019 – For Love or Money, Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne
2018 – Degrees of Separation, c3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne
2018 – Lucky? Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne (co-curated with Claire Watson, exhibition advisor Yhonnie Scarce)
2018 – Floor Plan, c3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne
2018 – Handle with Care, Soul Craft Festival, Melbourne
2018 – Disobedient Daughters, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2017 – Every Dog Will Have its Day, Casula Powerhouse Art Centre, Sydney (co-curated with Kathleen Linn)
2017 – No Woman is an Island, BLINDSIDE Gallery, Melbourne
2017 – Slice of Life, Craft, Melbourne
2017 – Closing the Distance, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne
2016 – Think Pink, ENOUGH Space, Melbourne (co-curated with Caitlin Shearer)
2016 – Domestic Bliss, Little Woods Gallery, Melbourne
2016 – Some words are just between us, Firstdraft, Sydney
2016 – Wonky, Tinning Street Presents, Melbourne (co-curated with Caitlin Shearer)
2016 – Playful, City Library Gallery, Melbourne
2015 – Secret Garden, Schoolhouse Studios, Melbourne (co-curated with Caitlin Shearer)
SELECTED WRITING
2024 — Clayful, Smith Street Books, August 2024
2024 — Bangtan Remixed: A Critical BTS Reader, edited by Patty Ahn, Michelle Cho, Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez, Rani Neutill, Mimi Thi Nguyen, Yutian Wong, Duke University Press, ‘Sincerely Yours, ARMY: Fandom as Curatorial Methodology’, p 345 — 356
2024 — Overland, ‘Why art can’t be apolitical’, opinion piece
2024 — The Guardian, ‘The show inviting Australians into Palestinian life: “Artists can move nations if they want to”’, culture
2024 — Art Guide, ‘Artists as influencers: advertising or advocacy?’, opinion piece
2023 — Art Gallery of New South Wales, Look Magazine, ‘No Coincidence: Desmond Lazaro’, studio visit and interview
2023 — Photography: Real and Imagined edited by Susan van Wyk, National Gallery of Victoria, 'Studio’, p 218 — 237
2023 — Artforum, ‘Hossei’, review
2023 — Enough: Artists and Writers on Gendered Violence edited by Vikki McInnes, Perimeter Editions x CoVA at the University of Melbourne, ‘Letter to My Younger Self’, p 184 – 201
2023 – 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, ‘Patches’, curatorial essay for A Soft Touch
2023 – The Guardian, ‘Why I love being a BTS fangirl in my 30s’, culture
2023 – Art Guide, ‘Never Mind the Nepo Babies—Here Come the Crony Pals’, opinion piece
2023 – Linden New Art, ‘The Political Purpose of Self Care’, catalogue essay for Kate Just’s solo exhibition Self Care Action Series
2023 – Artist Profile, ‘Beyond the Canvas’, profile essay on Emma Coulte
2023 – Dystopian and Utopian Impulses in Art Making, edited by Grace McQuilten and Daniel Palmer, Intellect Books, book chapter ‘Practicing Utopias’ co-authored with Bigoa Chuol, Gabriela Georges, John Mashar with Tania Cañas and Bruno Catalán, p 134 – 148
2023 – Artforum, ‘How I See It: Blak Art and Film’, review
2023 – project8, ‘I will wait for you until 2025’, extended exhibition text for Recreation
2023 – Art Guide, ‘Can a cultural critic actually be ‘neutral’? And should they be?’, opinion piece
2022 – Goolugatup Heathcote, ‘Knit Your Own: The Great Australian Dream’, catalogue essay as knitting pattern for Emma Buswell’s solo exhibition Suburban Turrets
2022 – Artforum, ‘Critic’s Pick: Soda Jerk’, review
2022 – St Heliers Street Gallery ‘20/20 Vision’, catalogue essay for Britt Salt’s solo exhibition The Middle Distance
2022 – Art Guide, ‘Picass-No: Why are we so obsessed with male masters?’, opinion piece
2022 – NETS Victoria, ‘Contested Air,’ catalogue essay for Conflated
2022 – National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), ‘Chapter 1 Principles, Ethics and Rights: Racial Equity and Representation’ for NAVA Code of Practice for Visual Arts, Craft and Design, launched 27 September 2022.
2022 – Centre for Projection Art x Climarte, ‘Conversations with my Father’, essay for exhibition Evanesce
2022 – Chalk Horse Gallery, ‘If You Know, You Know’, catalogue essay for Mechelle Bounpraseuth’s solo exhibition My parents didn’t cross the Mekong River so I could shit in a hole
2022 – Art Collector Magazine, ‘You Can’t Be What You Can’t See’, profile on Amrit Gill
2022 – Art Guide, ‘If you’re no longer making art, are you still an artist? Who decides?’, opinion piece
2022 – Art Collector Magazine, ‘Past Your Limit’, artist profile on Nabilah Nordin
2022 – Art Guide, ‘When Should You Work For Free?’, opinion piece
2022 – Counihan Gallery, ‘Filling the hearts of absent women’, catalogue essay for Ema Shin’s solo exhibition Hearts of Absent Women
2022 – Arts Project Australia and West Space, ‘#CASUALFAN’, fan letter as curatorial essay for Sincerely Yours
2021 – Art Guide, ‘Goodbye 2021: A Year of Loss and Optimism’, opinion piece
2021 – The Companion Companion Reader, ‘Days like these: Anecdotes on the dogs in my life’
2021 – ACCA, ‘A Conversation Between Friends’, for Writing in the Expanded Field Vol 3
2021 – Art Guide, ‘On the Ordinariness and Extraordinariness of This Thing We Call Art’, opinion piece
2020 – Firstdraft, ‘In Between Spaces’, catalogue essay for Linda Sok’s solo exhibition’s Corporeal/Spiritual
2020 – Art Collector Magazine, ‘Mother Nature’, artist profile on Sarah Rayner
2020 – Freemantle Arts Centre, ‘Reading Between the Lines’, catalogue essay for Michelle Hamer’s solo exhibition’s Are You Having a Good Night?
2020 – Art Guide, ‘We are the Dew Drops’, artist profile on Lindy Lee
2020 – Art Guide, ‘On Time and Timelessness’, artist profile on Teelah George
2020 – Artisan Queensland, ‘Facing the Times’, catalogue essay for About Face
2020 – Art Guide, ‘Burnt Out Culture’, opinion piece
2020 – Art Collector Magazine, ‘Undiscovered’, artist profile on Hannah Gartside
2020 – Art Guide, ‘On Loving Bad Artists’, opinion piece
2019 – Pom Pom Quarterly, ‘About a Pink Sweater’, personal essay
2019 – Artbank, ‘To Those I’ve Loved and Those I’m Yet to Love…’, love letter as curatorial essay for The Four Letter Word
2019 – Open Close Gallery, ‘A Space of Your Own’, catalogue essay
2019 – Art Guide, ‘Arts Writing in the Meme Age (and Other Complications)’, opinion piece
2019 – Town Hall Gallery, ‘ART/WORK’, curatorial essay for For Love or Money
2019 – INSITE Magazine, ‘Status Quo: an open letter to white women in the arts’, opinion piece
2019 – KINGS Artist Run, ‘Barriers to Entry’, catalogue essay for Chloe Bensahel and Amelia Dowling’s exhibition
2019 – Art Almanac, ‘Sally Smart: The Violet Ballet’, exhibition preview
2019 – Hugo Michell Gallery, ‘What does love have to do with it?’, catalogue essay for Kate Just’s solo exhibition From China with Love
2018 – Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, ‘Lucky?’, curatorial essay with Claire Watson for Lucky?
2018 – Garland, ‘The quilts of Jess and Cynthia Johnson: a mother-daughter partnership', interview with artist
2018 – Town Hall Gallery, ‘Anonymous Was a Woman’, catalogue essay for group exhibition This Wild Song at Town Hall Gallery
2018 – Artist Profile, ‘Profile: Sean Meilak’, interview with artist
2018 – Un Extended, ‘The Burrangong Affray’ at 4A Centre for Contemporary Art, review
2018 – Liminal Magazine, ‘A Conversation with Nikki Lam’, interview with artist
2018 – Trocadero Art Space, ‘Conspicuous Presence’, catalogue essay for group exhibition curated by the Women’s Art Register
2018 – La Trobe Institute of Art, ‘GLOSSARY’, catalogue essay for Infrastructuralism
2018 – Runway Conversations, ‘WIP: The Unfinished Business of Feminism’ at ACCA, review
2017 – Portrait Magazine, ‘Heroine Knits: Dear Kate Just, I’m Your Feminist Fan’, Portrait Magazine, interview with artist
2017 – Journal for Australian Ceramics, ‘Poetry of the Everyday: Ultrica Trulsson’, interview with artist
2017 – Liminal Magazine, ‘A Conversation with Jason Phu’, interview with artist
2017 – Artist Profile, ‘Preview: Notfair 2017’, exhibition preview
2017 – Journal for Australian Ceramics, ‘Five Ways with Clay’, review
2017 – Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, ‘In Dog We Trust’, curatorial essay with Kathleen Linn for Every Dog Will Have Its Day
2017 – Peril Magazine, ‘Making Work/Making it Work’, visual arts editorial
2017 – 4A Papers, ‘Performing geographies: Asia TOPA arrives in Melbourne’, review
2017 – Craft, ‘Far From Ordinary’, curatorial essay for Slice of Life
PUBLIC PROGRAMS & Community Engagement
CURRENT — Namjooning Club (with Natasha Hertanto)
CURRENT – Open Curator’s Network (co-founded with Tess Maunder)
CURRENT – MAFAP – Melbourne Artists and Friends of Asian Persuasion
2023 – Build a door inside your heart, talks and performances for project8, Melbourne
2022 – BYOB: Bring Your Own Plate workshops for Signal, City of Melbourne
2021 – Butterful Moments in Life, online fundraiser auction for PS Mutual Aid
2016–2020 – MONOGRAPH, a reading circle for artists and art lovers with Charlotte Watson
2015–2016 – Dearest Projects, a creative and curatorial collaboration with Caitlin Shearer
ADVISORY ROLES & BOARDS
CURRENT – RMIT University, School of Art, Industry Advisory Committee
CURRENT – Craft for Social Change Chapbook series, Advisory Member
2023 — Counihan Gallery, Exhibition Program, Selection Panel
2023 — Creative Victoria, Creators Fund, Advisory Panel
2021 – Footscray Community Arts Centre, Emerging Creative Leaders, Selection Panel
2020–2021 – Creative Victoria, VicArts Grants and Creative Workers Fund, Advisory Panel
2020–2021 – Multicultural Arts Victoria, Writing Mentor
2018–2020 –Runway Journal, Editorial Assistant and Management Board
2019 – West Space, Artist Committee
2018 – Craft, FRESH! exhibition, Selection Panel
AWARDS, GRANTS & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
2022 – People’s Choice Award, Victorian Craft Awards
2021 – In Focus Curators Forum, Ballarat International Foto Biennale
2021 – Writing in the Expanded Field Vol 3 at ACCA
2020 – Australia Council for the Arts Funding, Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups
2019 – Artbank Emerging Curators Program
2018 – PARASITE Experimental Arts Laboratory at West Space
2018 – Emerging Cultural Leaders at Footscray Community Arts Centre
2017 – Craft Emerging Curators Program
2017 – Gordon Darling Foundation Grant
2016 – Craft Writers Program
2016 – SEVENTH Emerging Writers’ Program
PUBLIC TALKS & LECTURES
2024 — Public lecture, “Art Forum”, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne,
2024 — Panel Speaker, “Changemakers #2 – Better together: Collectives, ARIs and other collaborations”, Regional Arts Victoria
2024 — Guest lecture on freelance curating for the School of Art and Design, Australian National University
2024 - Roundtable, “Building careers in the publishing, writing and creative industries,” for Arts and Cultural Management Masters students at University of Melbourne
2023 — Online Workshop ‘Writing About Art,’ Writer’s Victoria
2023 — Panel speaker, ‘Photography: Real & Imagined',’ National Gallery of Victoria
2023 — Workshop ‘Studies in Form: Experimenting with Art Writing,’ King’s Emerging Writer’s Program
2023 — Moderator, Curry Puff Pals artist talk at Counihan Gallery
2023 — Speaker, ‘Fanchants and Fingerhearts: A Night of Kpop Stanning,’ The Wheeler Centre
2023 — Speaker, ‘In Conversation with Sin Wai Kin’, Centre for Contemporary Photography
2023 — Panel speaker, ‘Paying the artist as worker’ as part of Real Job, Counihan Gallery,
2023 — Guest lecture on freelancing for Arts and Cultural Management and Art History and Curatorship students, University of Melbourne
2023 — Guest lecture, ‘China on the move: photography in a changing nation’ as part of the course Critical and Theoretical Studies, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne
2023 — Speaker, ‘Conversation Piece: a live knitting circle with artist Kate Just and curator and writer Sophia Cai’ for International Women’s Day 2023, Maribyrnong Libraries and Arts & Culture Maribyrnong
2022 — Panel speaker, ‘In Conversation: Kay Abude, James Nguyen, Kirtika Kain, Sophia Cai and Sineenart Meena’ for Empty Pockets, Gertrude Glasshouse
2022 — Speaker, ‘Making Good: Propositions on Country’, La Trobe Art Institute (online), 19 November 2022
2022 — Guest lecture on curating for Fine Arts Honours students, Monash Art Design & Architecture (MADA), Monash University
2022 — Guest lecture on ‘Personal Mythologies’ for Third-year students, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne
2022 — Academic Conference Speaker, ‘‘Namjooning’ In and Out of the Museum: The Contemporary Flâneur’ at BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Seoul, South Korea
2021 — Guest lecture, ‘Curating Asian-Australian Feminisms: Disobedient Daughters’ as part of the course Reshaping worlds: histories, connections and global futures, RMIT University
2021 — Speaker, ‘4A Talks: Sophia Cai in conversation with Mariam Arcilla’ held as part of Acute Actions: Responses to I Am Not a Virus (Part 1), 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
2021 — Academic Conference Speaker, ‘Intersections of the self at Zero O’Clock: Exploring Fandom as Curatorial Methodology’ at BTS: A Global Online Interdisciplinary Conference, California State University Northridge
2021 — Panel Chair, ‘Challenging Stereotypes and Imagining Possibilities: A Panel Discussion’ as part of Disobedient Daughters, Counihan Gallery
2021 — Public reading, ‘Writing in the Expanded Field #3: Overlapping Writing’, ACCA
2021 — Public lecture, ‘Disobedient Daughters: Imagining Asian-Australian Feminisms’ as part of WRITING & CONCEPTS at Counihan Gallery
2020 – Panel speaker, ‘Traction - Publishing and the Curatorial’ as part of the NGV Art Book Fair, National Gallery of Victoria
2020 – Guest lecture, ‘Contemporary Chinese Photography’ as part of HUS02246: Contemporary Asian Art, RMIT University
2019 – Panel speaker, ‘You’ve (almost) got a fine arts degree, now what?’, Schoolhouse Studios
2019 – Panel speaker, ‘Wellbeing in the Arts’, RMIT First Site Gallery
2019 – Panel speaker, ‘Cultural Appropriation and (In)Sensitivity: Working in a Cross-Cultural Context’, West Space
2019 – Panel speaker, ‘Diversity & Inclusion in the Fibre Space – Where do we go from here?’, Edinburgh Yarn Festival
2019 – Panel chair, ‘The Great Australian Dream’, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre
2018 – Guest speaker, ‘Women and Cultural Identity in the Art World’, as part of Talk by Talk by ACP Projects at University of Melbourne
2018 – Panel speaker, ‘The Curatorial Age: The Future of Curating’, as part of the RMIT Curatorial Collective, RMIT First Site Gallery
2018 – Panel speaker, ‘Emerging to Established’, Monash Gallery of Art
2018 – Panel speaker, ‘Coverage, Critique and Catalogue’ as part of the Movers and Makers program, Parramatta Artist Studios
2018 – Judge, ‘Doggy Fashion Parade’ as part of the Immigration Museum’s Year of the Dog celebrations, Immigration Museum
2018 – Panel speaker, ‘Feminist Futures in Colour: What is White Feminism; as part of the Women, Art and Feminism Symposium at VCA, University of Melbourne
2017 – Panel speaker, ‘Managing and Marketing Your Practice’, BLINDSIDE
2017 – Guest lecture, ‘Curating Beyond the ‘Other’: Approaches to Gender and Identity Politics’ for Masters of Curatorship students, University of Melbourne
2017 – Guest lecture, ‘Curating Textiles’ for Advanced Diploma Textile Design students, RMIT University
2017 – BLINDSIDE, panel speaker as part of exhibition Chinese Whispers and Other Stories
2017 – Panel speaker, ‘Contemporary Asian-Australian artists in the Australian Mainstream’ as part of Asian Arts in Australia: Long Pasts and Possible Futures, AsiaTOPA
2017 – Public lecture, ‘In My Skin: Contemporary Chinese Photography’, CCP
2016 – Panel speaker, ‘Revisiting Identity: Asian Art Dialogue #4’ at Art History Student Society, University of Melbourne
2016 – Public lecture, ‘Coming of Age: Contemporary Chinese Photography and the Body’ as part of the exhibition China Grain to Pixel, Monash Gallery of Art
2016 – Panel chair, ‘China on the Move: Photography in a Changing Nation’ as part of the exhibition China Grain to Pixel, Monash Gallery of Art
2016 – Workshop ‘MONOGRAPH: art reading circle’ as part of MCA Zine Fair, Museum of Contemporary Art
PRESS & INTERVIEWS
2023 – Writer’s Victoria, interview
2023 – ArtsHub, review, A Soft Touch
2023 – ArtsHub, news ‘‘Bus Projects relaunch with new Artistic Director’
2021 – Joy Up Early, interview with Ben and Sunanda
2021 – SBS News, feature, ‘#IAmNotAVirus”
2021 –3RRR, The Score, radio with Samira Farah about Disobedient Daughters and institutional critique
2021 – The Age, ‘Around the galleries: our pick of exhibitions to see this week’ by Tiarney Miekus
2021 – ABC Radio National, interview for The Art Show with Namila Benson about Disobedient Daughters
2020 – NAVA, podcast guest, episode 58
2020 – Pro Prac, podcast guest, ‘How Are You Today?’
2019 – ArtsHub, review, For Love or Money
2019 – 3RRR, The Grapevine, radio interview, ‘Is Racism Weakening the Craft Community’s Tight-Knit Bond?’
2019 – Art Collector Magazine, feature, ‘Tastemaker: 50 Things Collectors Should Know’
2018 – Art Almanac, preview, Lucky?
2018 – Time Out Magazine, review, Lucky?
2018 – Un Extended, review, Disobedient Daughters
2018 – Art Almanac, preview, Disobedient Daughters
2018 – Art Profile, interview, Disobedient Daughters
2018 – Huck Magazine, ‘Challenging the media’s portrayal of Asian women through art & photography’ by Cristiana Bedei
2017 – D/Railed Mag, ‘A New Book on Australian Contemporary Art Foregrounds Questions about Diversity’ by Naima Morelli
2017 – Arts Hub, ‘Lightbulb moments vs slow dawning: learning to love the arts’ by Richard Watts
2017 – Art Almanac, review, No Woman is an Island
2017 – Art and Australia, review, Closing the Distance
2016 – Pink Things Magazine, interview, ‘The Creatives Behind The Think Pink Show’
2016 – Peril Magazine, ‘Location, the Female Gaze and the Warmth of the Internet’ by Kathleen Linn
2016 – Art Almanac, preview, Some words are just between us
2016 – FBi Radio, review, Some words are just between us
2016 – Time Out Magazine, review, Playful
2016 – Frankie magazine, preview, Playful
RECENT professional experience (2016 –)
CURRENT – Bus Projects, Artistic Director
CURRENT – Independent curator and arts writer
2023 – Centre for Contemporary Photography, Project Curator (contract)
2023 – Monash Art Design & Architecture, Monash University, Teaching Associate in Fine Art - Art History Theory
2022–2023 – Exhibitions and Administration Coordinator, NETS Victoria (contract)
2020–2023 – Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Sessional Lecturer, Critical and Theoretical Studies and Centre of Visual Arts Fellow
2021 – University of Melbourne, Research Assistant, Artistic Meridians: Connecting Australian and Asian Art Histories
2017–2019 – The Australian Tapestry Workshop, Public Programs and Exhibitions Coordinator
2016–2017 – Melbourne Library Service, City of Melbourne, Acting Community Heritage Curator; Gallery and Events Technician