Curator Talk: Year of the Horse: In the Wake of the Gallop
Join Liu Yang, Mia’s chair of Asian art and curator of Chinese art, for a special lecture celebrating the exhibition “Year of the Horse: Hoofbeats Through Time,” now on view at Mia.
In this illuminating talk, “Year of the Horse: In the Wake of the Gallop,” Liu examines the horse as one of the most enduring and evocative symbols in Chinese art and culture. Drawing on works spanning more than three millennia—from ritual bronzes and tomb figures to imperial jades and paintings, as well as intimate scholar’s objects—he traces how images of the horse came to embody power, mobility, virtue, and aspiration. The lecture offers behind-the-scenes insight into the exhibition’s thematic vision and reflects on how cultural symbols continue to shape artistic expression and human experience across time.
Free tickets available January 20, 2026.
Liu Yang is the chair of Asian art and curator of Chinese art at Mia. He earned his PhD in art history and archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Before Mia, he was the senior curator of Chinese art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney and an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. Since 1998, Liu has organized more than a dozen traveling exhibitions from China, including “China’s First Emperor,” which set an attendance record. His exhibitions “Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty” (2018) and “Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes” (2023), collaborations with avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and Oscar-winning film artistic director Tim Yip, were widely acclaimed. Liu has authored numerous books and exhibition catalogues, three of which received awards.