Founded in 2017 by a diverse group of McGill University students and young professionals, Cheng Huai is a non-profit organization based in Montreal, Canada.
Our focus is on embracing and supporting emerging interdisciplinary practices in contemporary art, responding to the evolving landscape of aesthetics and challenging conventional boundaries.
Driven by the belief that innovative approaches to creation, understanding, and existence arise from deeper interactions between the arts and broader sectors, our collective merges artistic philosophies with cutting-edge disciplines. This synergy cultivates a symbiotic relationship that enriches both theory and practice across diverse fields, encouraging collaboration and fostering growth within and between various domains. We respond to these aesthetics with ongoing dedication to the philosophical root of "Cheng Huai" - wholeness between subject and object. (Read more below).
We strive to build an interdisciplinary collective that will expand the future of art at McGill, Montreal and beyond. Through projects, happenings, and our workshops, we bridge theory and practice, creating a lab for experimentation that fosters innovation, collaboration, and transformative experiences in the artistic landscape.
The name "Cheng Huai" (澄怀) is drawn from the texts of tenth century Chinese aestheticist and philosopher Zong Bing.
It professes a metaphysical disposition wherein the subject and object become a whole in aesthetic appreciation, and the self soars in its transcendence of physical experiences.
Carrying the spiritual message of "Cheng Huai" with ourselves, we hope to embark on an elevated journey wherein we, through intimate contact with art and the spaces which create it, might also ascend into an aesthetic appreciation which unifies, transcends, and renders whole.
Economics & Art History
Physics & Computer Science
Art History & Political Science
Economics & Statistics
McGill Classics & Conservation Biology
McGill History & Hispanic Culture
I am a U4 student at McGill and I will graduate in the fall of 2024. I currently study Art History and East Asian Studies. I am planning to study in the field of art restoration after I graduate from McGill!
McGill Art History Honours
Event Planner at Fastmarkets
McGill Art History Honours
Fiona recently graduated from McGill University with an Honours BA in Art History, where her research focused on naturecultures, multispecies relationalities, and linguistic coloniality in contemporary art. Though she aspires to return to these topics in her post-graduate studies, she is currently taking a gap year to work and spend more time painting and reading. She works as a Visitor Experience Coordinator at the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art in Montréal, where she also occasionally writes editorial pieces for PHI’s Plateforme Initiative.
Toronto Metropolitan University Graphic Communications Management
McGill Master of Information studies
Concordia B.Ed Teaching English As A Second Language
McGill Art History & English Cultural Studies
JD Candidate at Fordham Law | McGill Joint Honours Art History & International Development
Mahalia is currently working at the Gabriola Museum where she is the acting manager and summer program coordinator. She’s been enjoying island life, but plans to return to Montreal where she will take a costuming course while attending French classes and looking for new work.
McGill Honours Art History & International Development
I’m studying for my Master’s at the Courtauld Institute of Art
Art History Master's Student at Hunter College, NY, and curatorial researcher. Nicolas Poblete is currently pursuing his Master's degree in Art History and Curatorial Studies at Hunter College in New York City. He has completed a Collections internship at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art and has been selected as a curatorial fellow to support the exhibition Acts of Art in Greenwich Village.
This fall I’ll be completing my final semester at McGill. I spent last semester studying on an exchange in the United Kingdom at the University of Liverpool. The experience gave me the opportunity to see many of the artists I had studied through my undergrad in person and enriched my perspectives on global art spaces. When I graduate I hope to continue my studies in a field relating to GSFS or international relations abroad!
Concordia Art History & Film Studies
McGill Political Science
Xingmeng is in her final year at McGill University, pursuing a B.A. in Psychology and Economics. Her academic interest lies in the intersection of scientific foundations and humanistic perspectives of human behaviors. She finds inspiration from connections in seemingly contradictory things, so as creative expressions that capture structured feelings. This year, she will continue her leisure activities as a journal editor and a freelance photographer.
McGill Math
I’m a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily with photography. I’m also a researcher for a non-profit organization, whose present work lies at the intersections of phenomenology, critical philosophy of race, epistemology, and Québec history and politics.
McGill Architecture
BA. 22' McGill, English: Drama And Theatre & Art History
Data Analyst @ C-Screens / Recent Art Business MA Grad @ SIA
Technical Project Management Consultant | Creative & Media Entertainment | PMP, PMI-ACP
CHICAGO UNIVERSITY, M.A ART HISTORY
SOAS LONDON, M.A EAST ASIAN ART HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY
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