ASIA WEEK

Paper Road: Korean Fashion Show and Open Studio,
National Museum of Asian Art
In-person program, October 8, 2-4pm

Join this afternoon of Korean fashion on the museum plaza and watch a fashion show of traditional and contemporary designs crafted from paper, highlighting the beauty of traditional Korean design. See costumes that have been recreated based on ancient murals from the Goguryeo era (37 BCE–668 CE) and those inspired by modern-day Korea. After the show, feel and experience Hanji, traditional Korean mulberry paper, which has been recognized as a form of intangible cultural heritage. See how this paper is turned into textiles, including through the process of traditional Korean paper knitting, in a drop-in workshop.

This program is offered in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center in conjunction with their exhibition Paper Past-Present in partnership with the Hanji Development Institute. In case of rain, the event will be held indoors.

Read more and register, click here.

Asia Society Museum Mirror Image installation view © Bruce M White 2022

Curating Contemporary Asian Art: A Conversation, Asia Society New York
Live and on-line program, October 6, 6:30-8pm

Join Asia Society for a conversation about a new generation of young Asian curators creating a different and fascinating dialogue around Asian art exhibitions in the United States. Scholar Amy Kahng will discuss the curatorial disciplines from an academic perspective; Yiwei Lu, a Los Angeles-based curator, gallerist, filmmaker, and writer will bring in the unique perspective of the West Coast pop-up exhibition strategy; and Phil Cai, partner at Eli Klein Gallery, will address the commercial aspects of curation. Moderated by Hongzheng Han, guest curatorial assistant for the Asia Society Museum exhibition Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity.

The exhibition will be open from 5:30-6:30 for audience members. Read more and register, click here.

Paul Binnie (born 1967), Pictorial Allusions, Reused Blocks: Los 41 Maricones de 1901 (test print),
7 1/2 x 11 in. (18.9 x 27.9 cm)

Pictorial Allusions, Reused Blocks: Los 41 Maricones de 1901,
Scholten Japanese Art

This print is the fourth in the ongoing Honga Dori project, a print series featuring antique woodblocks incorporated by Binnie into his own compositions, merging images from the past with the present, although this work is a slight departure in both subject and methodology. The subject is a tribute to persecuted gay men with an adaptation of an early 20th century black and white illustration by Mexican broadsheet artist José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) recording a significant event in queer history known as The Dance of the 41. Without access to Posada’s lost original blocks, Binnie created his own keyblock of the design by recarving the image directly from an enlargement copy of a postcard purchased during a trip to Mexico City.

To read more about this unusual Binnie release, click here.

Translocation of South Asian Art: Provenance and Documentation,
National Museum of Asian Art
Two-day online program, October 6 and 7, 9am-12pm EDT

From the seventeenth century onward, Western visitors to the South Asian subcontinent were actively acquiring as well as commissioning works of art for private and public collections. A complex network of individuals and institutions encouraged collecting and facilitated the strategic movement of art out of South Asia. In our contemporary moment, histories of South Asian objects in museum collections are under increasing scrutiny, and questions about the art market and museum ethics are at the forefront of people’s minds. While this webinar engages with those important issues, it primarily focuses on documenting the provenance and circulation of South Asian art before 1970 as a way to better understand and reckon with the collections that exist today. Divided into two half-day sessions, this webinar will present scholarly talks and discussions that provide an overview of the field of South Asian provenance research and highlight important resources.

This program is the fifth installment in the series Hidden Networks: Trade in Asian Art, co-organized by the National Museum of Asian Art; Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; and The British Library.

Read more and register, click here

Journey to Korea’s Ancient Silla Kingdom,
National Museum of Asian Art
Live online lecture, October 5, 7pm

What can we learn by visiting the sites of ancient civilizations? Is it possible to recreate the architecture of the past today? Reflect on these questions as you travel to Korea in this online program inspired by the current exhibition Once Upon a Roof: Vanished Korean Architecture. The journey takes you from the galleries of the National Museum of Asian Art to the ancient city of Gyeongju in southeastern Korea. Once the capital of the ancient Silla kingdom that lasted one thousand years (57 BCE–935 CE), the city is a well-known tourist destination rich with history and culture. Yoon Sangdeok, an expert in art and archaeology, leads this tour through temples and royal tombs that have endured to this day and through treasures discovered in and around the city in order to understand the surviving legacy of the ancient kingdom. She is joined by curator Keith Wilson and Sunwoo Hwang. Visit the royal garden built for crown princes of the Silla kingdom, where more than thirty-three thousand artifacts were unearthed in 1975, including the ornamented roof tiles featured in the exhibition Once Upon a Roof, currently on view at the museum. This tour will give you a chance to imagine the ancient city as it was more than one thousand years ago.

Read more and register, click here

Tai Xiangzhou (born 1968), Isle of the Immortals (detail), 2021, 2021-114-1

Oneness: Nature and Connectivity in Chinese Art,
Philadelphia Museum of Art
On view now through June 2023

This new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art xplores the questions of “what is nature?” and “what is the relationship between humans and nature?”. Featured are the works of four contemporary artists—Bingyi, Ming Fay, Tai Xiangzhou, and Wang Mansheng–whose practices examine the boundaries between humans and nature from a philosophical, spiritual, and material perspective. All the featured artists embrace and adapt historic Chinese artistic traditions through their chosen materials, process, or themes.

Oneness: Nature & Connectivity in Chinese Art, which is curated by Hiromi Kinoshita, The Hannah L. and J. Welles Henderson Curator of Chinese Art and Gabrielle Niu, former Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, shows that we are all connected, that our lives are closely linked with nature and how that impacts our world and environment.

Read more and watch videos about the artists, click here

Xu Beihong, Lion and Snake (detail), 1938, ink and colors on paper, Robert and Lisa Kessler Collection

Masters of Modern Chinese Painting,
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Online short course, October 14-December 9, 2022

The highly regarded SOAS, in association with Asia Week New York, is offering the Online Specialist Art Short Course Masters of Modern Chinese Painting, convened by AWNY's Production and Content Manager Elizabeth Hammer. The online lectures will be delivered every Friday between October 14 through December 9th at 11am-12:30pm EDT via Zoom and each will be followed by an extended Q&A discussion session. Recordings will be made available for a limited time to all participants.

The course examines China's historical events and cultural developments, as well as individual personal experiences and resulting artistic expression, during the 20th century by focusing on seven of China's most skillful and innovative modern artists: Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Jiang Zhaohe, Fu Baoshi, Zhang Daqian, Fang Zhaoling, and Zao Wou-ki. Following the introductory presentation by Liz Hammer, each weekly lecture and discussion session will be delivered by one of the following exceptionally experienced and engaging scholars: Michaela Pejčochová (National Gallery Prague), Xu Fangfang (daughter of Xu Beihong and independent scholar), Malcolm McNeill (SOAS), Kuiyi Shen (University of California, San Diego), Mark Johnson (San Francisco State University), and Ankeney Weitz (Colby College).

The Upcoming Courses, live and online, are also available with SOAS: Textile Arts of Asia in November 2022, Islamic Ceramics: Collection Histories in February 2023, and Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa in January-March 2023.

Read more and register, click here

At the Songtsam retreat in Shangri-La, this Tibetan Mindfulness concert is performed as attendees lie on mats to enjoy the vibrations of instruments and mantras, which provides a harmonious and relaxing experience.

Songtsam believes that the greatest importance when traveling is to awaken one's inner power and to inspire its potential by connecting with nature, local cultures, and communities. To achieve this goal, they offer a range of activities, such as traditional Tibetan meditation, mindfulness yoga, physiotherapy, spirited mountain hikes, and Tibetan medicated baths and spa therapies to help you discover the true source of happiness.

Yun Cao, Vice General Manager at Songtsam, is responsible for developing a wellness experience curated for its guests that is in keeping with Songtsam’s core values in which wellness is about “transforming one’s lifestyle to a healthier lifestyle and a spiritually uplifting experience.” Not only has Yun Cao studied with traditional spiritual mentors in Nepal and India, but she attended Fudan University in Shanghai, Yale University in Connecticut, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Sydney. “In Tibetan culture,” explains Yun Cao, “we have a retreat tradition which involves a separation from distracting routine life to train the mind to transform the negative karma (inherent mental habits and actions) and display its inherent positive qualities.”

Read more, click here

Tipu in the Museum: Artefacts from Mysore in Collections Around the World, DAG
Online webinar, September 29, 6:30pm IST/9am EDT

Amin Jaffer, Director, The Al-Thani Collection joins in conversation with Giles Tillotson, Senior VP, Exhibitions, DAG on the tendency of museums to claim association with Tipu-related objects where there is none, including in considerations of arms, furniture, the Tiger iconography of Tipu's courtly material culture, and how that relates to his historical image and exhibitions of Tipu Sultan’s materials.

This talk is in conjuction with DAG's current exhibition Tipu Sultan: Image and Distance in New Delhi and the recent exhibition in Kolkata, March to Freedom: Reflections on India's Independence on its Thirty-Fifth Anniversary.

To register, click here.

Center for Photographic Art Fundraising Auction: 8×10, at iGavel
Online auction, through September 29

The Center for Photographic Art (CPA) in Carmel, California, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and one of the oldest members’ photography galleries in the country. This year CPA ventures into the online auction realm for the third time with its annual 8 x 10 Fundraising Exhibition, presented on iGavel's platform. Previously an onsite raffle, the 8 x 10 show raises vital funds in support of the innovative and thought-provoking programming, exhibitions, lectures, and classes that the photographic community has enjoyed and relied on for over fifty years. This year the sale offers small works by more than 100 established and emerging photographers from California and beyond. This special show features contemporary works from rising stars in the photography world and local legends and international favorites as well. (All photographs are in 8×10 in. frames, and all bidding starts at $80…because 8×10=80!). Of particular interest to AWNY readers, many photographs feature Asian subject matter.

Read more, click here.