Reading Room is an inclusive space for contemplation and reflection on the nuances of gender, body, identity and culture through the perspectives of a broad range of voices affiliated to China and its global diaspora. The pop-up installation’s on show at the art center GL STRAND from 5 January – 12 March 2023.

Immerse yourself into a kaleidoscopic and changing selection of art books, photo books, fiction and academia bringing together a diverse expanse of exceptional expressions of and attitudes towards contemporary China and the seeking of equality, freedom of expression, sexual liberation, and counterculture. Grab a book and park yourself in the large daybed or take a seat in front of the screen to experience queer activist and filmmaker Popo Fan’s documentary The VaChina Monologues. 

Reading Room is decorated by Spanish-Chinese artist Yi Ten Lai (b.1996, Bailén, Spain) who presents a selection of works exploring the transculturality of materials, sounds and symbols rooted in the examination of contemporary iterations of traditional crafts and rites affiliated to her multicultural background. Conjugating objectual pieces – such as drawings, ceramics, and sound installations – with performative elements flirting with the rhetorics of rituals, Yi Ten Lai makes room for a space in-between East and West paving the way for a transcultural scope and dialogue on the perspectives reflected in the pop-up installation.

Initiated and realized by Tofu Collective in collaboration with GL STRAND
Curated by Martin Wendelbo, founder of Tofu Collective
Art installations by Yi Ten Lai
Video work by Popo Fan
Furniture design by Sofie Sundby and patchwork by Jacob Mundt
Handwoven textiles from Chongming Island and stools provided by Fanshuang Kong
Graphic design and communication by WAAITT
Supported by S.C. Van Fonden 

Yi Ten Lai (b.1996, Bailén, Spain) is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the transculturality of materials, sounds and symbols to question the notion of cultural and national belonging as a Spanish and Hongkongese descendant. Rooted in the examination of contemporary iterations of traditional crafts and rites affiliated to her multicultural background as an integral modus operandi, Yi Ten Lai conjugates objectual pieces – such as drawings, decollages, oil paintings, ceramics and sound installations – with performative elements flirting with the rhetorics of rituals. In the exhibition The Elsewhere that I Long for, the artist presents a body of works reflecting on cultural miscegenation and the elusiveness of her Asian heritage, questioning the contrast between essential identity and performative identity. The works altogether reflects a third space between East and West as a binary deconstruction questioning cultural identity at the intersection of alterity and belonging.

Place: Springbrættet 6a, Heimdalsgade 6a, 2200 København N
Date: 16 December – 30 December
Initiated and realized by: Tofu Collective in collaboration with Yi Ten Lai Fernandez
Curated by: Martin Wendelbo
Graphic design and communication: WAAITT
Supported by: S. C. Van Fonden

Tokyo Encounters: Next Wave Street Photography from Japan is a colourful presentation of serendipitous happenings in contemporary Tokyo as seen through the lenses of seven burgeoning and visionary street photographers all contributing to shape the future of the city’s local street photography scene. Through their divergent backgrounds and distinctive, imaginative ap-proaches towards the possibilities of the genre, they exhibit the heart of street photography: to bring the beauty of the mundane into focus. Get a glimpse through a stained window into a silver-glistening and steamed-filled kitchen, squeeze into the subway and stand shoulder to shoulder with the white-collar-workers and students in the jam-packed metro, and spot a sleeping Super Saiyan bathed in sunlight among pedestrians at the crosswalk—these are just some of their snapshots of public scenes featured among other carefully-selected photographs that offer a brief introduction into their multifaceted photographic practices.

Featured photographers: Kawara Chan, Kisara Okada, Kudo Kohei, Sakurako Nagaiwa, Shunsuke Matsunaga, Takahiro Mizushima and Yusuke Nagata.

The book was released on 25 November at MUJI, ILLUM, Copenhagen.

Texts by: Alvin Wong, Yoshiaki and Tofu Collective
Edited by: Martin Wendelbo, Nikolaj Ahlefeldt and Stine Sonnichsen
Graphic design by: Louis Montes
Published by: Tofu Collective, Copenhagen, Denmark
Supported by: Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation and Bestles Fond
Year: 2022
Edition: 200
Pages: 116
Size: 210×170 mm

Press: Heartbeats

In collaboration with Chinabot, Tofu Collective organized the framework for a cross-continental DJ lineup in the raw environment of Copenhagen Contemporary’s outdoor space. The multidisciplinary music label and network of artists from Asia contributed with uplifting rhythms composed especially for the night’s event by Jaeho Hwang (KR/UK) and Arexibo (KR), and was streamed across continental borders.

Tofu Collective curated an outdoor exhibition made in collaboration with the two world-renowned photographers Luo Yang (b. 1984, Shenyang, China) and Lin Zhipeng (b. 1979, Shantou, China) for the festival center at Copenhagen Photo Festival from 2 June till 12 June. 

About the exhibition: 

As key figures in the emergent wave of Chinese photographers on the international art stage, Luo Yang and Lin Zhipeng stand in their own distinctive ways as mouthpieces for a generation they both involve and reflect in their influential and deeply personal practices. Coming of age during a period of fundamental economic and social changes in China, the two artists complement each other as a broader expression of a certain zeitgeist of the post-80’s and 90’s generation defying societally-imposed expectations and stereotypes in an otherwise conservative and restrictive society, where the gap between generations can be hard to bridge. 

Through a raw and lively snapshot-aesthetic balancing preparation and improvisation, Lin Zhipeng creates explicit and playful representations of the desires and freedoms sought by a liberated youth who indulge in love and life, oscillating between jubilation and melancholy. These are expressed through the body as an aesthetic focal point, culminating into a not-so-private diary of the artist’s own circle of friends. A leading figure of the next generation of photographers in China, his work has been exhibited worldwide, including at MEP in Paris, Delaware Contemporary Museum, Walther Collection in Ulm, and Apalazzo Gallery in Bescia, Italy. 

Luo Yang’s poetic and honest portraits captured in intimate scenes serve as a testament to the depicted young subjects’ individuality and explore themes of freedom, diversity and independence while challenging traditional beliefs about beauty, identity, and gender – representative of a generation that both celebrates and still defies its reality. Named one of BBC’s 100 Women in 2018, her works have been exhibited worldwide, including at Stieglitz19 in Antwerp, MO-Industries Gallery in Berlin and Ai Weiwei’s Fuck Off 2 (2013) at Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.

INSIDE-OUT invited visitors into a safe space for expression reflected through the lenses of Luo Yang and Lin Zhipeng. This juxtaposition of private indoor scenes in an outdoor public setting acted as a catalyst for reflecting on the nuances of gender, body, and identity among an exceptional and visionary – yet underrepresented – generation within contemporary China.

The works were displayed as part of the installation, Space Frame, which has been designed by architect Jakob Holmqvist in collaboration with Lenschow & Pihlmann.

The exhibition was supported by Snabslanten.

Curator Cila Brosius in dialogue with artist Wei Weng (b. 1981 Nanning, China; based in Copenhagen) on her practice and latest publication Eat a Chili (2021) at Hot Pot Republic, Vesterbro. Holding an MFA from California College of Arts, Wei Weng is a writer and visual artist who uses a variety of media including photography, wall painting and paper cutouts to explore ideas of cognition and perception as they relate to ephemeral and permanent spaces. The talk was followed by a chili tasting with the artist and the owner of Hot Pot Republic, Fanshuang Kong. 

Second edition of the photo- and cookbook Ti Tofuretter anbefalet af Asiatiske Købmænd på Vesterbro (2020) in English. 

The publication is made in collaboration with photographer Frederik Valdemar Kjeldgaard and six Asian markets in Vesterbro, Copenhagen, in order to shed light upon an often overlooked part of the neighborhood through photography and local takes on tofu recipes from East Asia. The publication presents 10 shopkeeper-recommended tofu recipes alongside photographs documenting the everyday life around the unique shops. Additionally, this second edition includes an extra special recipe on tofu by Mathias Fusi, chef and bagel master at Depanneur, Copenhagen. 

The book was released on 3 December at Depanneur, Copenhagen, decorated with photos from the book alongside a Nintendo 64 gaming corner and servings of Mathias Fusi’s tofu bagel. 

A special thanks to: Bangkok Trading, China Town Market, Denn Jai Market, KFT, Thai Asian Market, Thai Supermarket, Depanneur
Photographs: Frederik Valdemar Kjeldgaard
Translation: Gustav Dahlslund Leth and Preston Losack
Backcover illustration: Daniel Laursen
Edited, designed and published by: Tofu Collective
Pages: 88

Press: Vesterbroliv

Photo-exhibition and book release at eventspace Asia House, Indiakaj 16, Copenhagen Ø on 9 Oct 2021. 

20 photographs by 20 noteworthy contemporary Chinese photographers from the book Rooms Within China were exhibited in large scale prints in the historical building of the East Asiatic Company. The exhibition took the visitors on a visual journey through different rooms within China, conveying the contributors’ individual life experience, observations, and reflections. By challenging conventional representations of China and its citizens in the global digital landscape, the diverse range of photographs acted as a gateway to a different narrative in which the many perceptions of China are not forced into inorganic homogeneity but left de-centralized, personal, and individual.

Featured photographers: Chen Ronghui, Coca Dai, Feng Li, Gao Shan, Jialin Yan, Li Lin, Li Zhengde, Lin Zhipeng, Luo Yang, Pixy Liao, Shi Yangkun, Wang Lu, Wenjun Chen & Yanmei Jiang, Wenxin Zhang, Wu Liewei, Xiaoxiao Xu, Yan Cong, Yuyang Liu, Zhou Pinglang, Zhu Lanqing.

Generously supported by S. C. Van Fonden and Snabslanten.

A kaleidoscopic presentation of 100 photographs captured by 20 of the most noteworthy contemporary photographers from China. 

Originating from a wide array of areas, generations and artistic approaches, the contributors altogether form an eclectic image of Chinese contemporary photography and illustrate a broad spectrum of expressions within the complex and diverse phenomenon that is China. All contributions are encapsulated inside rooms as the frame of setting — be it public constructions or private homes — echoing everything from daily chores, work, leisure, pleasure, and interior decor to intimacy, open-mindedness, escapism, current trends, countercultures, and generation gaps. 

Featured photographers: Chen Ronghui, Coca Dai, Feng Li, Gao Shan, Jialin Yan, Li Lin, Li Zhengde, Lin Zhipeng, Luo Yang, Pixy Liao, Shi Yangkun, Wang Lu, Wenjun Chen & Yanmei Jiang, Wenxin Zhang, Wu Liewei, Xiaoxiao Xu, Yan Cong, Yuyang Liu, Zhou Pinglang and Zhu Lanqing.

Generously supported by Politiken Fonden and S. C. Van Fonden. 

Published in close collaboration with the photographers and a broad range of prominent voices intimately and professionally familiar with China. 

Texts in English and Chinese by: He Yining and Tofu Collective
Edited and curated by: Martin Wendelbo and Nikolaj Ahlefeldt
Translation: Liao Dong
Graphic design: Louis Montes
Published by: Tofu Collective
Pages: 240

Selected for Space on Paper – Jimei x Arles’ Chinese Contemporary Photobook Exhibition at Three Shadows Gallery in Xiamen, China, Nov. 26th 2021-Jan. 3rd 2022. 

Press: SupChina, Weekendavisen (no. 41 2021), Heartbeats, Art Reveal Magazine and Sjællandske. 

Talks: Dansk Kinesisk Forening, Photo Book Week Aarhus and Royal Danish Consulate General in Shanghai.

Tofu Collective curated a digital exhibition at Fotografisk Center’s online exhibition platform On-The-Go from 1 Apr 2021 – 6 Jun 2021. 

The featured photographers Jialin Yan, Lin Zhipeng and Luo Yang are all part of, and reflects, the new wave of contemporary photography in China, coming of age during a period of significant economic and social change in China. By including friends and closely identifying with their subjects’ experiences, the exhibited photographers portray a young generation who indulge in joy and life in an otherwise ever-changing society, where the gap between generations can be hard to bridge.

Press: Kunsten.nu, Fotografisk Center

Tofu Collective co-hosted a Covid-19 friendly boat event in the canals of Copenhagen from Islandsbrygge to Teglværket, Sydhavnen, together with danish creative agency Back To Future Sounds on 20 Jul 2021. 

In collaboration with the Japanese art and design studio Pan-Projects, the danish dj Eloq was placed in their work Floating Pavilion Ø from 2020 – a pavilion exploring the way water areas can be utilized as extended public space in our future cities. 

Collaborators: BTF, Brooklyn Brewery, Soundboks, GoBoat, Pan Projects, Eloq. 

Photo- and cookbook made in collaboration with six Asian markets in Vesterbro, Copenhagen, and photographer Frederik Valdemar Kjeldgaard. 

The publication was made in order to shed light upon an often overlooked part of the neighborhood through photography and local takes on tofu recipes from East Asia. The publication presents 10 shopkeeper-recommended tofu recipes alongside photographs documenting the everyday life around the unique shops. 

A special thanks to: Bangkok Trading, China Town Market, Denn Jai Market, KFT, Thai Asian Market, Thai Supermarket
Photographs: Frederik Valdemar Kjeldgaard
Backcover illustration: Daniel Laursen
Edited, designed and published by: Tofu Collective
Pages: 80

Press: Heartbeats

Pop-up exhibition with photographs by Martin Wendelbo and Louis Montes from Tofu Collective at the restaurant Hot Pot Republic located in Vesterbro, Copenhagen, on 25 July 2020. 

The exhibition investigated the monumental experience of being thrown head first into the buzzing metropolises of East Asia by displaying photographs by Martin and Louis taken during their residences in Japan, China and Hong Kong. 

Tigers are known as the kings of all beasts symbolising power, protection and unpredictability – just as metropolises are known as the kings of cities, with unmatched power, protection, and unpredictability. The collection of photographs is the reflection that later helped them both understand their individual, yet shared experiences as foreigners in the overwhelming metropolises – a paradox of feeling like the center of the universe, while also feeling more alone than ever.

The photographs are now permanently incorporated into the interior decoration of Hot Pot Republic, and can be experienced at the restaurant.

Press: Politiken

Magazine inspired publication brought together in collaboration between creatives around the globe who share the vision of strengthening the cultural and creative ties between East and West.

Through 212 pages of interviews, design, writing, art, academia and photography, TOFU disseminates an eclectic range of some very personal and vulnerable thoughts created and reflected by talented creatives – all sharing a connection to East Asia. As the first publication by Tofu Collective, TOFU is a complex introduction to our association’s work with visual art and contemporary culture from East Asia.

Selected featured artists: Argus Paul, Chixi, Yoong Jang, Pixy Liao, Hui-Chin Cho, Marco Arguello, Kristen Liu-Wong, Yung Hua Chen, Eleanor Ai Wang, Espen Cook, Tim Wu, Lin Zhipeng, Taekyun Kim, Li Hui, among others.

Generously supported by S. C. Van Fonden and The Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation. 

Texts in Danish, English and Chinese by: Eva Tind, Sara Vita Justesen, Kristian Mondrup Nielsen, Gunhild Borggreen, Camilla Schack, Josefine Højholt, Gustav Dahlslund Leth, Karoline Severinsen, Sofie Højgaard, Burglind Jungmann and Frederik Kitchell Gaub.
Edited, designed and published by: Tofu Collective
Pages: 212

Press: Stack Magazine, Heartbeats, Kulturen på P1, Radio Loud (Klub #45 – 22. juni 2020)

Tofu Collective co-hosted a cross-cultural musicevent in collaboration with Back To Future Sounds in Denmark and Seoul Community Radio in Korea.

Two DJ sets were played at two different locations – one in Sydhavnen, Copenhagen were streamed in Seoul, South Korea, and vice versa. Together, Eloq (DK), Sara Vita (DK) and Lionclad (KR) exchanged and shared their local music, affection and interest in the other, and fundamentally embraced cultural diversity through music.  

In Sydhavnen, Tofu Collective also contributed with an outdoor poster exhibition of bookspreads from the coming publication TOFU (2019).

Collaborators: Boxland, BTF, Seoul Community Radio, Schweppes, Jack Daniels