Cover X Zhu-Nowell, the executive director and chief curator of the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai (Photo: courtesy of Sokol)
X Zhu-Nowell, the executive director and chief curator of the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai (Photo: courtesy of Sokol)
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With their new exhibition this month, X Zhu-Nowell—formerly of the Guggenheim and now the youngest and arguably most radical director of the Rockbund Art Museum—aims to disrupt conventional museum structures and spotlight underground artists.
X Zhu-Nowell’s original Chinese name is Xiao Rui, though they have long gone by simply “X”. “It stands for the unknown variable,” they explain. “I was in a moment of transition, figuring out the X factor in me. But it is also a nod to [African American human rights activist] Malcolm X.”
As if implied by this new meaning of their name, Zhu-Nowell, who was appointed as director of Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai in 2023, has embarked on a continuous journey of discovery—pushing social and institutional boundaries, unearthing hidden histories, and bringing the marginalised to the fore.
This month, they opened The Great Camouflage, co-curated with Los Angeles- and Berlin-based artist and writer Kandis Williams. Running until April 26, 2026, the exhibition presents 16 contemporary artists and collectives working across film, video, theatre and textiles. Its foundation lies in the geopolitical entanglements of the mid-20th century, particularly between Africa and Asia—a connection exemplified by the historic visits of Pan-Africanist scholar W E B Du Bois to China in 1936 and again in 1959, when he met Mao Zedong, symbolising an early gesture of Sino–African American solidarity during the Cold War.
Above Rockbund Art Museum (left) and its plaza (Photo: courtesy of Rockbund)
Rockbund Art Museum (left) and its plaza (Photo: courtesy of Rockbund)
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The exhibition is not focused on unearthing a single, obscure chapter of Afro-Asian history. Instead, Zhu-Nowell and Williams use it as a prism to explore the transatlantic and transpacific intellectual exchanges that continue to resonate today. Drawing inspiration from Caribbean writer Suzanne Césaire’s reflection on the colonial violence masked by her island’s beauty, the show examines socio-political conflicts and colonial legacies often overlooked in mainstream narratives—unveiling how contemporary societies continue to echo historical struggles.
On the ground floor, Los Angeles-based artist Charlotte Zhang’s Nosebleed Section (2025) presents a collage juxtaposing images of jazz icons such as Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone to illustrate how ornamentalisation within vaudeville and jazz often stripped women of agency. The work also nods to the jazz era of 1920s Shanghai, a city once brimming with Black jazz performers. “Shanghai was the place in East Asia for jazz,” says Williams. “The artist considers Black radical feminism as a dialectical foundation for other revolutionary moments.” She adds that the phenomenon echoes criticisms of K-pop and J-pop systems, frequently scrutinised for exploiting female performers’ bodies.
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Above ‘Nosebleed Section’ (2025) by Charlotte Zhang, shown at the Rockbund Art Museum (Image: courtesy of Zhang and the museum)
‘Nosebleed Section’ (2025) by Charlotte Zhang, shown at the Rockbund Art Museum (Image: courtesy of Zhang and the museum)
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Elsewhere, Chinese filmmaker Hao Jingban’s Opus One (2020) portrays two Chinese dancers performing swing—an art form rooted in Black resistance and pride in 1920s and 30s Harlem. By repositioning these movements in a new cultural context, Hao provokes reflection on cultural appropriation and cross-cultural empathy.
On another floor, Chinese artist Wang Tuo’s Distorting World (2019) parallels two moments in China’s modern history: the death of Guo Qinguang, a Peking University student martyred during the May Fourth Movement in 1919, and the 2019 execution of Zhang Koukou, who avenged his mother’s death after years without legal recourse. Spanning exactly a century, both sacrifices—one for the nation and one for family—are framed by Wang as acts of “pan-shamanisation”, where physical bodies become conduits of overlapping time.
“We are living in an anxious period, amid many wars, where history seems to be repeating and rehearsing itself,” says Zhu-Nowell, describing the resonance between past and present. “This exhibition is an honest response to how Kandis and I feel about Shanghai and the time we are in now.”
Above A still from ‘Distorting World’ (2019) by Wang Tuo (Image: courtesy of Wang and the museum)
A still from ‘Distorting World’ (2019) by Wang Tuo (Image: courtesy of Wang and the museum)
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Zhu-Nowell first met Williams in 2022 while working at the Guggenheim in New York, where the former served as a curator and a co-founder of the Asian Art Council, a platform promoting the work of Asian artists and their diasporas. The two began discussing a project on African-Asian solidarity during a conference in Jamaica. When Zhu-Nowell was appointed at the Rockbund Art Museum later that year, Shanghai emerged as the natural location for the exhibition—its colonial past offering fertile ground for such dialogue. The show is also planned for other Chinese cities, including Foshan, Shantou and Guangzhou, home to prominent Afro-Chinese communities.
After eight years at the Guggenheim, the Shanghai-born director began reflecting on Western institutional limits. “Even today, I remain sceptical of how museums there promise to embrace diverse perspectives,” they say. “During the pandemic, many things changed in China. Previously, I never really wanted to work there because I felt the industry was corrupted by the market and [the art shows] felt more like a hype. But during the pandemic, when we were all undergoing the lockdown, I began getting to know younger artists [online] and hearing voices that had been marginalised or silenced here.”
Above An installation shot of textile collages (2025) by Eric N Mack and slide shows (1997) by Renée Green (Photo: courtesy of the artists and the museum)
An installation shot of textile collages (2025) by Eric N Mack and slide shows (1997) by Renée Green (Photo: courtesy of the artists and the museum)
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They add that their legacy as a curator is tied to Asia itself: “In the West, we have built visibility for Asian art, but we have yet to fully address what needs to happen here. There is still a gap in cultural infrastructure in Shanghai.” Although the city boasts numerous museums, Zhu-Nowell points out that few match their Western counterparts in funding and institutional care.
Before taking on the director role at the Rockbund Art Museum, at age 34, Zhu-Nowell had served multiple times as a guest curator for the museum. Their experience at the Guggenheim shaped their perspective on institutional accountability. They were part of the curatorial team for the controversial Art and China after 1989: Theatre of the World (2017), which faced public outcry over alleged animal cruelty in a misunderstood artwork. “As a younger curator in a large team, I realised the immense accountability institutions must bear,” they recall, adding that a museum cannot claim neutrality—it must navigate the complexity between artistic freedom and public responsibility.
As a non-profit, non-governmental institution, Rockbund Art Museum grants Zhu-Nowell a liberating environment to push curatorial and experiential boundaries. One such initiative was eliminating entrance fees in May 2025. “When admission became free, the museum welcomed more than 1,000 visitors each weekend,” they say. They are also launching a new journal, Hai Paper—a playful nod to “Shanghai” and “hai bao” (meaning posters in Mandarin)—to foster critical discourse around Rockbund Art Museum’s exhibitions. “It is about creating a platform for ideas to emerge and deepening discussion within the art community,” Zhu-Nowell explains.
They also stress the importance of archival work. “When I arrived at the Rockbund Art Museum, I was shocked by how little archival material existed,” they say. “Across Asia, we often prioritise new exhibitions without preserving the legacy of what has been done. Understanding our history is essential—it helps us stop borrowing theories from the West to explain our realities.”
Above An installation shot of ‘Du Bois Machine’ (2013) by Pope.L (Photo: courtesy of the artist and the museum)
An installation shot of ‘Du Bois Machine’ (2013) by Pope.L (Photo: courtesy of the artist and the museum)
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Their perspective extends to Hong Kong’s art ecosystem, where they see a need for balance between institutional stability and counter-movements. “There are many Southeast Asian communities in Hong Kong, and I love the city’s diversity,” they say. “Having M+, Tai Kwun and Para Site provides strong foundations, but smaller, emerging spaces like Chat and Current Plans bring vital countercurrents. The ecosystem thrives because these coexist.”
Zhu-Nowell, who will visit Hong Kong in March 2026 for the city’s art month, hopes to deepen collaborations with Hong Kong artists, as the Rockbund Art Museum has done previously. “I love talking to and working with artists,” they say. Success is not about “a desk with a view—it is about pushing the needle for the Asian art community and building a [lasting] legacy here.”
Zhu-Nowell’s upbringing shaped this vision profoundly. Though neither parent worked in the arts, their father’s curiosity and penchant for bringing home unusual finds—from plants to stones, and once even a monkey—cultivated an early appreciation for art and a creative personality. A formative experience came when they volunteered in Sichuan after the 2008 earthquake and met Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was deeply involved in the relief efforts. The encounter awakened Zhu-Nowell to art’s power as a vehicle for social change. Later, at UC Berkeley, studying art history from the Renaissance to the contemporary period cemented their calling.
“It was a moment of enlightenment,” they reflect. “What attracted me the most about art was the [artists’ and curators’] thinking process that reveals so much about the infrastructure and underground ideologies and power at play,” they say. “Art is the best tool to reveal that, and exhibitions too.”
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
