Yuwei Ren

It Matters What Happens Next is a free public programme of newly commissioned artworks and live events that consider the origins of care and the transition between states of ‘caring’ to being ‘cared for’ by others. How do we understand welfare, labour, and communities through the lens of care? What does it mean to give as well as receive care? The project brings together individuals, institutions, and the public, interweaving our collective notions of care by looking toward the question: how do we maintain ongoing acts of reciprocal care into the future?

Prior to the final launch, four creative workshops were held at Spring Grove Care Home, which overlooks the garden of Camden Art Centre. A group of residents from the neighbouring home collaborated with artists Youngsook Choi and Eva Freeman to create a dialogue about care, exploring themes such as vulnerability, strength, resilience, and institutional care. The residents reflected and shared stories whilst engaging in various forms of artistic practice such as sculpting and watercolour painting. Drawing inspiration from the resulting conversations, physical objects, and images collected during the workshops, the two artists presented a live, multimedia performance, the Circle of Care, in the garden, which adjoins the care home.

Besides the performance, the program also hosted a roundtable conversation Talkaoke in the garden led by the collective, The People Speak. The pop-up talk show asked audiences to explore what everyday acts of care look like today. On the next day, visitors were invited to drop into an afternoon workshop with artist Lucy Steggals to rub their bodies with charcoal, explore the tactility of textile-based materials, and consider tender moments of care for the body and our bodies' intimate relations with objects, places, and people.

It Matters What Happens Next, curated by students from the Royal College of Art MA Curating Contemporary Art, is a part of 2022 Graduate Projects in partnership with Camden Art Centre. It Matters What Happens Next is curated by Pierce Eldridge, Holly Pines, Chuhan Luo, Ruidi Sun, Yuwei Ren, Mohan Shao, Yangjie Zhang

Yuwei Ren is an independent curator and writer based in London and Beijing. She regards curation as a form of critical practice, knowledge production, and social activism. Her interest in curatorial practice is to practice 'from below' curatorial inquiry by building an energetic model of fictional narrative and using it as a path to answer.

Viewing curation as a co-productive collaboration and emphasizing the importance of listening, writing, and communicating. She sees this as a bridge for intellectual exchange and community collaboration. And in this way create a more radical, accessible, and flexible space of presence. Much of this comes from her ongoing concern for pressing contemporary issues.

In her dissertation “Fictional Power: Reflections on Fictional Thinking in East Asia Contemporary Curating and Beyond ”， Through a general observation of 'Speculative Thinking' and 'Fictioning Thinking' in different cultures and art/curatorial practices. She will attempt to define how 'Fictioning Thinking' can be used as a strategic curatorial approach.

In her postgraduate project with the Camden Art Centre, “It Matters What Happens Next”， is a free public programme of newly commissioned artworks and live events that consider the origins of care and the transition between states of ‘caring’ to being ‘cared for’ by others.

Within this, she realized her interest in community exchange and listening to narratives through her work with care homes. And in the final Public Programme, she achieved the exchange of narratives from different communities.

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Yuwei Ren

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Royal College of Art