Jiayi Tian
Job Title
PhD Student
Research interests
Research interests
My PhD project investigates the creativity of self-taught artists in post-socialist China as they navigate the established art world(s). By exploring the meaning of creativity in these artists' narratives and artworks and the art contexts to which they engage, I seek to understand how creativity is collectively performed and achieved. The project will reveal how the mythmaking of creative artists takes place under the constraint of multiple evaluation systems and art traditions.
Under the broad realms of cultural sociology and the sociology of the arts, I have also researched the "entertainers' morality" (yide) in modern China (University of Cambridge, 2022) and the transition of artistic identity (published on Cultural Sociology, 2023). I present my works at the ASA, BSA, and CSA annual meetings and several other conferences and workshops. I also played leading roles in academic dialogues, reading clubs, policy report writings, and event/conference organisations. Currently I am member of the ASA and BSA and serve as the PGR Representative at the Sociology of the Arts Study Group of the BSA.
Outside academia, I engage in popular writings, translations, and public events. I wrote exhibition critics, public accessible academic reviews, and biographical essays. I also worked as an intern at several art institutions and programmes in China, including the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT), and others, and played major roles in art event coordination, film subtitle translation, and book manuscript proofreading.
Background
Qualifications
M.Phil. in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies), University of Cambridge (Girton College)
LL.B. in Sociology, Peking University
B.A. in Theory and History of Art, Peking University
Academic Outputs
Peer-reviewed articles
2025. “Shifting Artistic Identity on Canvas: From ‘Painter-Worker’ to ‘Painter-Artist’ in a Commercial Painting Community.” Cultural Sociology 19(2): 229–50. (Published online on 21 September 2023.) https://doi.org/10.1177/17499755231191572.
2024. “Meaning Consciousness in the Sociology of the Arts” 艺术社会学中的意义感. PKU Journal of Sociology 北大社會學刊, 2(4): 253–75.
Book reviews
2024. Book review: Passionate work: Choreographing a dance career, by Ruth Horowitz. Cultural Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17499755241272912.
2024. Book review: Anonymous: The performance of hidden identities, by Thomas DeGloma. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology 11 (4): 650–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2024.2336761.
2024. “Making Race Visible Through Cosmetic Surgery.” Symbolic Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.698.
2023. “Market of the Time: The Origin of Modern Art Exchange and Its Global Expansion—Review of From Manet to Manhattan.” 时代的市场：现代艺术交易的源起及其全球扩张——评《从马奈到曼哈顿》. Shanghai Hong Kong Joint Publishing Ltd. Academic Review 三联学术通讯, 5 September 2023. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/OMKY_MyB3BKqrIA13aGTwg.
Translations (English to Chinese)
(Forthcoming, trans.). “The ‘New Sociology of Art’: Putting Art Back into Social Science Approaches to the Arts.” Eduardo de la Fuente. Cultural Sociology 1(3): 409–25. 2007. In: Reader of the Sociology of Art (provisional), edited by Wenchao Lu. Nanjing: Yilin Press.
(Forthcoming, trans.). “The Artwork Made Me Do It: Introduction to the New Sociology of Art.” Eduardo de la Fuente. Thesis Eleven 103(1): 3–9. 2010. In: Reader of the Sociology of Art (provisional), edited by Wenchao Lu. Nanjing: Yilin Press.
(Forthcoming, trans.). “Art at the Crossroads: The Arts in Society and the Sociology of Art.” Victoria D. Alexander and Anne E. Bowler. Poetics 43: 1–19. 2014. In: Reader of the Sociology of Art (provisional), edited by Wenchao Lu. Nanjing: Yilin Press.