Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Sophia Yadong Hao is Reader in Curatorial Practice at the University of Dundee, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Sunderland.
Hao is Director & Principal Curator of Cooper Gallery where she leads an internationally recognised programme that has positioned Cooper Gallery as a distinctive platform in Scotland for its radical curatorial research, international approach and focus on critical inquiries in contemporary art and culture.
Hao’s research addresses contemporary art curating and visual culture. Employing a rhizomatic curatorial methodology, Hao focuses on exhibition making as a critical inquiry, Feminist ethos as curatorial method, the political potential of the curatorial, and alternative art pedagogies as a radical praxis of decolonised knowledge production.
Hao has curated contemporary art projects internationally, notably NOTES on a return (2009), a re-contextualisation of performance art from 1980s Britain; Of Other Spaces: Where Does Gesture Become Event? (2016-2017) which evoked the ethos of feminism for an alternative politics in culture and society; and CURRENT: Contemporary Art from Scotland (2015-2021) a touring programme in China interrogating contemporaneity in a global capitalist context.
Since 2021, Hao has conceived and curated The Ignorant Art School: Five Sit-ins Towards Creative Emancipation, a five phase exhibition programme examining histories and future possibilities of creative pedagogy as a radical emancipatory praxis emphasising knowledge as a collective social experience.
Founding editor of the art journal &labels and digital publication What I am Reading Now…, Hao’s noted publications include Of Other Spaces: Where Does Gesture Become Event? (2019), Hubs and Fictions: On Current Art and Imported Remoteness (2016, with Edgar Schmitz), A CUT A SCRATCH A SCORE (2015) and NOTES on a return (2010).
Hao served as a committee member of British Art Network Steering Committee (Tate Britain and Paul Mellon Centre, 2019-2022), a member of Art 360 Advisory Group (2019-2024), a member of Live Art Sector Review Steering Group (Arts Council England, 2019-2021) and a Board Member of Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN 2012 – 2018).
Hao was awarded the Henry Moore Institute Research Fellowship 2014/15. In 2024 Hao was name in the List’s Hot 100; the most influential Scottish cultural contributors of 2024.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
MA Visual Culture
Sept 2003 → Sept 2005
Award Date: 1 Sept 2005
External positions
Fellow in Contemporary Art Theory and Curating, University of Edinburgh
Jan 2024 → Dec 2024
Advisor, AHRC’s Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NBCDTP) ‘Interrogating colonialism, climate crisis and mass human migration through decolonial curating’ , Northumbria University
2024 → 2026
Visiting Professor , University of Sunderland
Sept 2022 → …
Edinburgh Art Festival Platform Selection Panel member,
2020
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Selection Panel Member
2020
Art 360 Scotland Advisory Committee Member
2019 → …
Live Art Sector Review Steering Committee Member
2019 → 2021
British Art Network Steering Committee Member
2019 → …
Dundee Visual Artists and Craft Makers Awards Selection Panel member, Creative Scotland
2016 → 2018
Margaret Tait Award Selection Panel Member
2016
Arts Edition North Advisory Committee Member, University of Sunderland
2015 → …
Creative Scotland Artists’ Bursaries Panel Member, Creative Scotland
2014
Scottish Contemporary Art Network Board Member
2012 → 2018
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Georgina Starr - The Bubble Expanded large (working title)
Hao, S. Y. (Investigator)
Project: Research
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The Ignorant Art School | Five Sit-ins Towards Creative Emancipation | Sit-in#1: Ruth Ewan: We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be and It’s Not Too Late to Change
Hao, S. (Curator) & Ewan, R. (Artist), 2021Research output: Non-textual form › Exhibition
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CURRENT |不合时宜: Contemporary Art from Scotland | Phase Four: Corin Sworn: Variations of Assembly & Nashashibi/Skaer : Chimera
Hao, S. (Curator), Sworn, C. (Artist), Nashashibi, R. (Artist) & Skaer, L. (Artist), 2021Research output: Non-textual form › Exhibition
File70 Downloads (Pure) -
Practising Duets #3: Filipa César and Harun Morrison: British Art Network Research Group: The Ignorant Art Schools
Hao, S. Y. (Research group member), Perks, S. (Research group member), Stewart, P. (Research group member), Schmitz, E. (Research group member), César, F. (Contributing member) & Morrison, H. (Contributing member), 7 May 2024Research output: Other contribution
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The Ignorant Art School
Hao, S. Y., 1 Jul 2023, p. 55-55. 1 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
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What I am Reading Now...2023
Hao, S. Y. (Editor), 2023Research output: Non-textual form › Web publication/site
Prizes
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2024 Fellow in Contemporary Art Theory and Curating, University of Edinburgh
Hao, S. Y. (Recipient), Jan 2024
Prize: Appointment
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Advanced Higher Education Diversifying Leadership Programme Certification
Hao, S. Y. (Recipient), May 2024
Prize: National/international honour
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British Art Network The Ignorant Art Schools Research Group
Hao, S. (Recipient), Perks , S. (Recipient) & Schmitz, E. (Recipient), 6 Dec 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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British Council China ReConnect programme/ CURRENT: Contemporary Art from Scotland (Phase Four))
Hao, S. (Recipient), Oct 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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British Council Connection Through Culture Award /CURRENT: Contemporary Art from Scotland (Phase Four )
Hao, S. (Recipient), Mar 2020
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NBCDTP) ‘Interrogating colonialism, climate crisis and mass human migration through decolonial curating’
Hao, S. Y. (Consultant)
2024 → 2026Activity: Consultancy types › Consultancy
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The Scale of Things Exhibition Preview
Hao, S. Y. (Organiser)
25 Jan 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Other event
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EAF 2024
Hao, S. Y. (Member)
11 Aug 2024Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - public lecture/debate/seminar
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CHEAD Annual Conference 2024 Panel- Socially Transformative Creative Education
Hao, S. Y. (Speaker), Amono, S. (Speaker), Tunstall, D. (Speaker), Drew, C. (Speaker) & Tan, K. S. (Speaker)
20 Mar 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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The discourse of the curatorial
Hao, S. Y. (Speaker)
23 Apr 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture
Press/Media
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Radical Emancipation and Resistance at Heart of 12-Hour Acting Up Symposium in Dundee
17/01/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Digging in Another Time: Derek Jarman's Modern Nature Review
9/11/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Outside the Circle: new exhibition inspired by Dundee's female activists
24/10/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research