Bio

Olivier is currently the deputy-director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is an art historian whose research regards the role of art theory and practice in modern and contemporary China-Japan relations, and more recently networks of artistic activism from Hong Kong and across East Asia.

Prior to joining the Centre, Olivier was a visiting fellow in the Institute for Modern History, at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and a post-doctoral fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University (ANU). He completed his PhD at the University of Tsukuba on a Japanese Government monbukagakusho scholarship, studying China-Japan relations through art in the early twentieth century.

In addition to his research and writing, at the Australian National University Olivier was the manager and curator of the CIW Gallery. Exhibitions he curated include “China and ANU: Scholars, Diplomats and Adventures” and “Zhang Peili: from Painting to Video” (co-curated with Kim Machan, Media Art Asia Pacific), supported by an Australia-China Council grant. He also established and co-programmed the Centre’s “Asia & Pacific Screens” film series (2013–2016), and was a board member and co-curator of the 2016 Canberra International Film Festival.