PhD Candidate HUI WANG (KATT)

Hui Wang is a doctoral researcher in art history and visual studies at the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) and a member of the Heidelberg Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HGGS). She is trained in art history and cultural economic history, with a regional specialization in East Asia. Her current research and teaching examine the history, theory, and historiography of art in East Asia, particularly Japan and Tibet. Her work also addresses visual economies and cultural governance, as well as museum, heritage, and exhibition practices. These subjects are grounded in broader conversations of critical theory, global art history, transculturation, image science (Bildwissenschaft), and visual technologies.

Her doctoral dissertation, Cartoon Art at the Turn of the Millennium: Art, Globality, Counterculture, and Metaverse of the Spectacle, investigates neo-pop art characterized by cartoon aesthetics, commercial production, popular mediums, and countercultural practices, focusing on cases in East Asia. The project contributes to enriching the critical and empirical approaches to global contemporary art, taking into consideration the infrastructure of artistic production, institutional constructs, aesthetic politics, social engagement, and art historiography. Her research advances discourses of Japanese postwar art history, Chinese contemporary art, and global modernism, postmodernism, and avant-garde. 

Hui holds a M.A. (1.3) in Transcultural Studies from Heidelberg University, where she specialized in art history and Japanese studies. She completed coursework and research at Kyoto University in Japan. She received her B.A. in Russian Studies and has undertaken further training in cultural governance, creative economy, and art entrepreneurship at Sorbonne University and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where she received a distinction (30 e lode). 

Beyond academia, Hui has served in UNESCO’s Culture Sector and has contributed to multiple innovative art projects and curatorial initiatives. Her practical works bridge art historical scholarship with public policy, economic production, and social development, reflecting her commitment to connecting research with socially meaningful and creative practices.