in-betweenia Conversations: Art Books Across the Asia Pacific
Presented by betweenia project 夾洲計劃
DATES
Sun 18 May 11.30am – 12.30pm
Founded in Guangzhou and now based in Naarm/Melbourne, betweenia project 夾洲計劃 is a distributor and emerging publisher of art books and zines. Their work focuses on creative practices from Chinese-ethnic and Chinese-speaking communities across the Asia-Pacific, using publishing as a way to reconnect overlooked histories and foster meaningful exchange. With a growing collection of titles, betweenia explores what it means to work in-between cultures, languages, and systems.
This talk introduces betweenia’s latest curatorial project: a new Sinophone collection that spans from polished, design-led books to urgent self-published works. It reflects on the complexities of translation, circulation, and connection in cross-border publishing – especially within the shifting context of the art book fair. How can publishing support local voices without simplification? How can books map new relationships between communities that might not otherwise intersect?
Participants
betweenia project 夾洲計劃 (Kaiqi Li)
Established in Guangzhou, China, and now based in Naarm, Australia, betweenia is an art book & zine distributor as well as an emerging publisher, exploring approaches to working in-between in an increasingly divided world. With a unique collection focusing on diverse practices from Chinese-ethnic and Chinese-speaking communities across the Asia-Pacific, we position the divergences and convergences of the Sinophone experience as critical entry points into the entangled histories and ongoing debates within the region. Positioning Australia as a pivotal intermediary point for archiving and reconnecting, betweenia strives to explore, translate, and preserve regional practices while fostering cross-border solidarity and transnational conversations - resisting oversimplified narratives in the Western public sphere.
Genevieve Trail
Genevieve Trail an art historian and curator specialising in modern and contemporary art from Hong Kong and China. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, working on histories of contemporary art in Hong Kong (1970-1989). More broadly, her scholarship, teaching, and curatorial practice lie at the intersection of modern and contemporary Chinese art, the cultural Cold War in Asia, postcolonial studies, and art historical methods of transnationalism, translation, and the archive. Genevieve has written about art for various journals, publications, and institutions including Art + Australia, NGV Magazine, Di’van: A Journal of Accounts, Art Monthly Australasia, La Trobe Art Institute and her research has been published in leading peer reviewed journals such as the Journal for Contemporary Chinese Art and Currents Journal. She was the assistant editor for John Young: The History Projects (2025), published by Power Publications and edited by Dr Olivier Krischer. In 2023, she curated Afterimage, a major exhibition on the history of video art from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.