Sylvia/Xinran Tan,
curatorial, writings, snapshots














that I curated...



Ghost Dance, Jimei Art Centre, Xiaman, 2024-2025

Unanswered Call, CHOWspace, Shanghai, 2024

Ripples, Hypha Gallery 2 Sugar House Island, London, 2024


The Place of Indivisible Existence, CHOWspace, Shanghai, 2024
Belong and Belongings, Eaton HK, Hong Kong, 2023




that I assisted...



Silo Dreams, Keyi Gallery, Hefei, 2024

Modern Time: Masterpieces from the Collection of Museum Berggruen / Nationalgalerie Berlin, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA Edge), Shanghai, 2023

Liquid Ground, Para Site, Hong Kong, 2021

Curtain, Para Site, Hong Kong, 2021

M/Made in Shanghai, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2020

PSA Collection Series: Shanghai Waves: Historical Archives and Works of Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2020

Workshop: Wu Tuo Bang—Construct a Utopia World with Your Imagination, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2020



Silo Dreams


Keyi Gallery, 15# Building, New Grain Warehouse, Shushan District, Hefei, China
10/01/2024 - 11/17/2024

As the inaugural exhibition of Keyi Gallery in Hefei's New Grain space, “Silo Dreams” begins with the establishment of this special exhibition space–silos built at the end of the century transitioning from grain storage infrastructure to the locus for contemporary cultural production. The architectural transformation and contextual shifts of the exhibition space mark the functional change of social space. The exhibition sees it as a projection of ongoing transformations in social activities and economic development, specifically demonstrating the flow of postmodern labor and production relations dominated by emergent technology industry, algorithmic logic, and platform economy. Through non-linear connections between social relations and spatial structures, the exhibition outlines and explores the current situations and challenges facing contemporary cities. Bringing together paintings, videos, sculptures, and site-specific installations by 12 artists, the exhibition analyzes and responds to contemporary modes of production relations and organization based on drastic changes in the social production structure and its resulting spatial-temporal mobility. It seeks to offer perspectives for interpretation, reflection, and tackling of socio-spatial practices that are present, and will be more prevalent in the future.

The predecessor of New Grain–Anhui Mechanized Grain Depot–was constructed in 1992 as a complex for grain acquisition, storage, processing, and trade to promote grain reserves and circulation, responding to the social contexts and demands of the time. Today, the 6 grain silos, as industrial heritage, have been repurposed as art spaces, and New Grain has been reconstructed as a new cultural and commercial venue in urban renewal. The granary’s functional metamorphosis symbolizes a shift in the microcosm of everyday social life and stands as a representation of the changing social practice. Its concrete walls, still bearing rice husk residues, stand as a monument chronicling epochal shifts; The architectural substance and meaning of the ganery itself become an index revealing the social and productive transformations of space. As socio-economic and labor structures grow increasingly complex, flexible, and decentralized, the postmodern labor force and social relations of production, shifting toward temporariness and instability. Regardless of the changing times and architectural functions, the granary’s unique space, with its reverence for labor supremacy, always sows fertile and romantic ground for present discussions.


Full Text


Artists: Chen Pai'an, Gong Bin, Jing Ao, Li Guanshuai, Li Penquan, Li Tao, Li Xindi, Li Li Ren, Song Long, Wan Chaoqian, Xie Linyou, Xing Wanli
Curator: Junyao Chen
Curatorial assistant: Sylvia Tan
Press Release ->
Instagram ->