Intimate Exchanges: Kinship, Madness, and Obsession in the Scholar’s Garden The Chinese scholar’s garden epitomises the social world of Ming- and Qing-era literati gentlemen. It was a site of private contemplation, a place for literary gatherings, and a space where expressions of culture and works of art—including paintings—were made, viewed, and circulated to reinforce the idealised world of educated male scholars. The concept of the scholar’s garden is instrumental to the spatial arrangement of the exhibition Noguchi for Danh Vo: Counterpoint, and this talk challenges the conventional way of looking at the garden and explores the spaces of tension that open up when madness, obsession, and unusual claims of kinship transgress the traditional boundaries of the scholar’s world. How are issues such as love between men, devotion to a favourite rock, and memories of loved ones revealed? The talk examines how the depictions of gardens were used to address emotions and viewpoints that co-existed alongside the ideal image of scholars and the relationships they cultivated in late-imperial China. Speaker: Yeewan Koon, Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, University of Hong Kong Language: English with Cantonese simultaneous interpretation