The reuse and recycling of materials that were made in China has a short history in the daily activities of private households worldwide, but a long history in art, craft, and design.

The book "(Re)made in China. Material (Dis)connections, Art, and Creative Reuse" (degruyterbrill.com), edited by Anna Grasskamp, focuses on the practices of artists, craftspeople, and designers, and their re-evaluation of unwanted, pre-used, and discarded materials. The volume presents new research on material culture from China, one of the world’s leading waste-receiving and waste-producing countries, in a global context.

The book is published in print and as Open Access ebook that can be downloaded here.

Speakers

• Amanda Boetzkes, author of Plastic Capitalism. Contemporary Art and the Drive to Waste, MIT Press, 2019 (online)
• Finn Arne Jørgensen, author of Recycling, MIT Press, 2019 (in person)
• Monica Klasing Chen, contributor to (Re)made in China. Material (Dis)connections, Art and Creative Reuse, De Gruyter, 2025 (in person)
• De-nin Lee, editor of Eco-art History in East and Southeast Asia, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019 (online)

Hosts

• Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo / Centre for Advanced Study
• Ingrid Halland, Aarhus University / Centre for Advanced Study

Contributors to the volume

In the (online) presence of contributors to the volume:

• Lisa Claypool, University of Alberta
• Valentina Gamberi, Palacký University Olomouc
• Marcela Godoy, NYU Shanghai
• Evelyn Kwok, Hong Kong
• Simone M. Müller, University of Augsburg
• Dawn Odell, Lewis & Clark College
• Pai Yen-tzu, Taipei
• Mei Mei Rado, Bard Graduate Center
• Shao-Chien Tseng, National Central University Taiwan
• Meiqin Wang, California State University, Northridge

Followed by comments and questions by the members of the research group Material Ecologies of Design based at The Centre for Advanced Study: Elín Margot Ármannsdóttir, Maria Göransdotter, Anders Munch, and Carl Zimring (in person).

This event is organized by the European Research Council Consolidator research project An Ecological History of Eurasian Art: Natural Resources, Aesthetic Practices, and Early Modern Globalization (ERC, Consolidator Grant, 101124354) in collaboration with:

• The Käte Hamburger Research Centre Dis:connectivity in Processes of Globalisation (global dis:connect)
• The Environmental Art research group, University of Oslo
• The Material Ecologies of Design theme group, The Centre for Advanced Study, Oslo

The event will be followed by an informal drinks and snacks reception.