Art Education Graduate Is Invited to Give a Speech at the Chinese Parallel Exhibition at Venice Biennale 2013

Art Education graduate Lian Duan (MA 1995, Ph.D. 2012) has received an invitation from the curator Mr. Wang Lin of the parallel exhibition of Venice Biennale 2013 to give a speech at the International Scholars Forum. The exhibition is "Independent Chinese Exhibition: Unheard Voice" and the theme of the forum is "Interpreting Contemporary Chinese Art: Globalized Context, Chinese System, Historical Trend, and the Plea for Value". The forum will be held in Venice in the afternoon of May 30, 2013, and the length of Lian Duan's speech is set to 15 minutes.

Lian Duan studied in the MA program of Art Education at Concordia from 1991 to 1995 and Ph.D. program from 2006 to 2012. His Master's thesis was about Western and Soviet influence on teaching drawing in China in the 20th century. A part of the thesis was presented at an art education conference in Vancouver 1997. His Ph.D. dissertation was about Western influence on contemporary Chinese art education. A part of the dissertation was presented at the National Art Education conference in Seattle 2011. An active art critic, he has published extensively on contemporary Chinese art with a critical and provocative point of view.

A senior lecturer, Lian Duan has taught courses on Chinese visual culture, literature and language at Concordia University since 2004. He is also the coordinator of the Chinese Program in the Dept of CMLL at Concordia.