Curatorial · 2026 · English
Editor Wannabes’ Club
A collaboration between Qilu Criticism and Asymmetry, the London non-profit supporting curators and researchers with Chinese and Sinophone backgrounds: two workshops, a co-working session and a public evening at Asymmetry HQ on what sustains editorial practice, out of which grew the Lexicon of Editor Wannabes.
‘Amateur Editors: Qilu Criticism’ sharing at Qiantai-osf, Guangzhou, 17 July 2025. Photo: Wan Qing. Courtesy of Qilu Criticism
The Editor Wannabes’ Club is a collaboration between Qilu Criticism 歧路批评 and Asymmetry, developed together as a public programme series and held at Asymmetry HQ in London from March to June 2026. Asymmetry is an independent non-profit organisation based in London that supports curators and researchers with Chinese and Sinophone backgrounds through fellowships, scholarships, public programmes, research and a specialist library. Over four months the series took the form of an open-call workshop, a closed-door workshop, a co-working session and a public evening, all hosted by Asymmetry.
The series reflects on – and works through – the editorial practices that at once shape and are shaped by contemporary art discourse.
Taking Qilu Criticism’s first five years as a point of departure, the series approaches the editorial as both a professional process of textual production and a relational practice: creating, publishing, reading, translating, supporting and caring for the writing and thoughts of others. At its core is a question recurring in Qilu’s work: what sustains editorial practice? The two workshops, led by Qilu, focused on fatigue, dissatisfaction and doubt – three feelings that pervade the everyday experience of editorial work yet are rarely discussed. The title ‘Editor Wannabes’ playfully acknowledges the curiosity, experimentation and uncertainty shared by anyone engaged in editing.
Through the workshops, Qilu and the participants collectively developed the Lexicon of Editor Wannabes, a living glossary of the questions, observations and experiences around editorial work, shared publicly as a work in progress.
Programme
- Workshop I: Wannabe Editorial Wannabes – 11 March 2026, Asymmetry HQ (participants selected through Asymmetry’s open call)
- Workshop II: Editorial Wannabes – 21 March 2026, Asymmetry HQ (closed-door, with experienced editors)
- Co-working session – April 2026, further developing the lexicon
- Annotated Editing: Qilu Criticism and the Lexicon of Editor Wannabes – 25 June 2026, Asymmetry HQ. A sharing by Qilu’s three editors, Cindy Ziyun Huang, Weitian Liu and Nie Xiaoyi, on five years as a Chinese online platform for contemporary art criticism, followed by performative readings from the Lexicon and a co-editing session.