Sylvia/Xinran Tan,
curatorial, 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” takes as its starting point the transformation of this unique site—from late-20th-century grain silos designed for reserves and circulation, to a hub for contemporary cultural production. Architectural reconfiguration and scenario rotation of the exhibition space marks a shift in the application of social space. The exhibition sees it as a projection of social activities and economic transformation, foregrounding the flows of postmodern labor and relations of production under the dominance of emerging technology industry, algorithmic logic, and platform economies. Through non-linear connections between social relations and spatial structures, the exhibition outlines and interrogates the conditions and challenges faced by contemporary cities. Bringing together paintings, videos, sculptures, and site-specific installations by 12 artists, the exhibition analyzes and responds to the reorganization of labor and society amid structural transformations of production, and seeks to open perspectives for interpreting, rethinking, and engaging with socio-spatial practices that define both the present and the imminent future.

The predecessor of New Grain, Anhui Mechanized Grain Depot, was constructed in 1992 as a complex for grain purchase, storage, processing, and trade to promote grain reserves and circulation, responding to the needs and social conditions of its time. Today, its six grain silos, as industrial heritage, have been repurposed as an art space, and New Grain has been reconstructed as a new cultural and commercial venue in urban renewal. The functional shift of a granary space becomes emblematic of the changing social practice. The concrete walls with remaining rice husks stand as monuments to temporal change, whose texture and spatical significance become an index revealing the social and productive change. When socioeconomic structures and labor relations become increasingly complex, flexible, and decentralized, the postmodern labor force and social relations of production are shifting towards the temporary and unstable. Regardless of the changing times and architectural functions, the unique space of the granary, with its respect for the supremacy of labor, is always a fertile and poetic ground for discussions.


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
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