Weeds: A Germinating Theory Book Launch with author Kwan Queenie Li and Curator Kelly Ma

Join us for the New York book launch for Weeds: A Germinating Theory by artist Kwan Queenie Li who will be joined by curator Kelly Ma in a lively discussion about this brand new book published by MACK as part of their new Sightlines series featuring essays looking at architecture from distinct points of view, each taking the perspective of a particular entity, history, discipline, or form of writing.

For over a decade, artist and theorist Kwan Queenie Li has been photographing weeds across the world. From Jerusalem to Shanghai, Varanasi to Athens, Cairo to Mexico City, she has trained her attention on these unintended but ubiquitous inhabitants of the contemporary urban sphere, finding them dwelling in corners and cracks, in spaces suspended between uses, in ruins and on construction sites.

This essay in image and text proposes a new view of cities that learns from the weed’s point of view, dissolving familiar categories and temporalities to see cities as evolving and often undefined spaces, replete with opportunity. Weeds organically defy phenomena that are taken for granted as immovable: walls, borders, history, and prescribed identities. They are registers of the real lives of cities – of disuse and neglect, but also freedom and porousness. Out-of-place by definition, they offer a new perspective on the idea of ‘place’ itself, and the ways it shapes and is shaped by its inhabitants.

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Kwan Queenie Li is a Hong Kong interdisciplinary artist. Her research-based practice dives into postcolonial, technopolitical, and ecological explorations.Her work has been supported and exhibited by Videotage, Film London, Design Trust, Para Site, IdeasCity (NTU CCA and the New Museum), the Ashmolean Museum, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and more, with writings featured in Thresholds (MIT Press) and AI & Society (Springer). She holds a BFA from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, and an MS in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT. @manymerrybruises

Kelly Ma is an independent curator with extensive experience in international arts programming. She held various roles at Asia Society Museum in New York from 2013 to 2025 and last served as the Curator of Learning and Outreach, organizing museum conferences, exhibition symposia, and conversations on art, literature, and film. While living in Hong Kong, she was Curator of Public Programmes at M+ and Deputy Director of Para Site, where she led strategic planning and envisioned discursive programs. She has also oversaw global exhibitions for artist Cai Guo-Qiang as his Project Manager. Ma holds a BA in History of Art and Architecture and Visual Art from Brown University and has contributed to notable publications, including Hidden Realms: Korean Artists Today (ArtAsiaPacific, 2024) and Great Women Painters (Phaidon, 2022).

Head Hi is an organization dedicated to art, architecture and design specializing in publications and cultural programming with an espresso bar located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn by the Navy Yard. We feature a curated selection of publications from around the globe. Working with local and international artists, designers, publishers, community members and organizations in various fields, Head Hi is a space for exploration and interaction that hosts talks, book launches, art shows, music performances and other events.