ASIA CONTEMPORARY ART WEEK (ACAW) KICKS OFF ITS 10TH EDITION ON OCTOBER 28TH 2015
With citywide exhibitions, receptions, performances, screenings, and other evening festivities, alongside two ACAW signature programs: Lee Mingwei’s Sonic Blossom at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 30th – November 8th & FIELD MEETING Take 3: Thinking Performance, October 31st and November 1st

In collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ACAW presents Lee Mingwei’s Sonic Blossom, opening Friday Oct. 30th. On view through November 8th, the exhibition will transform the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Blanche and A. L. Levine Court and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, into an intimate stage with personalized performances of Schubert Lieder by professional New York vocalists.

Lee’s concept for this performance-exhibition grew from his emotional connection to Franz Schubert’s music as a contemplative sanctuary, and his desire to reframe and share that experience.   In the Met galleries, professional singers in a custom-designed costume will approach individual members of the public and inquire:  “May I give you a gift of song?” Those who accept will be seated for a short personal performance. Sonic Blossom exhibition is generously funded by the Ministry of Culture,Taiwan(R.O.C.) and Taipei Cultural Center in New York.

Lee Mingwei (born in Taiwan, living in New York) creates participatory installations where strangers can explore issues of trust, intimacy, and self-awareness, often via one-on-one events.  In past works, members of the public contemplate these emotions and connections with the artist through eating, sleeping, walking and conversation. Lee’s projects are often open-ended scenarios for everyday interaction.  They take on different and unpredictable forms with the involvement of participants, and change during the course of an exhibition. Lee’s works are catalysts and containers for interactions that ultimately take on their own direction.  The viewers / participants engage in the active merging of public and personal space, a rare experience in a museum or a concert hall.

In addition to Sonic Blossom, ACAW will present signature event FIELD MEETING Take 3:Thinking Performance, conceived and curated by Leeza Ahmady, Independent Curator and Director of ACAW. Thinking Performance foregrounds the multiplicity and critical role of performance work coming out of the context of Asia. Continuing FIELD MEETING’s unique approach in providing an open platform for direct interaction between artists and audience, Thinking Performance focuses on individual artists’ practices produced today while taking into consideration their dynamic relationship with historical discourses, and social and political conditions. More importantly in the context of this expanding field, Thinking Performance invites broader, more nuanced interpretations of performance work and fresh understandings of performativity in artistic production at large. Featuring a group of artists and practitioners from various locations, Thinking Performance explores issues around activism, ethics, body, traditions, history writing, individual and collective experience.

PRESENTING ARTISTS & PROFESSIONALS:

Defne AYAS (Rotterdam & Istanbul), Bingyi (Beijing), Holland COTTER (New York), Jeff CYLKOWSKI (New York), Jo-Anne Birnie DANZKER (Seattle), Nezaket EKICI (Berlin & Stuttgart), Arash FAYEZ (Los Angeles & Tehran), Christopher HO (New York & Providence), Ištvan Išt HUZJAN (Brussels & Ljubljana), Vibha GALHOTRA (New Delhi), Zeynep KAYAN (Ankara), Anthony LEE (New York), LIU Ding (Beijing), Aman MOJADIDI (Paris & Kabul), Qasim Riza SHAHEEN (Manchester & Lahore), Shuddha SENGUPTA (New Delhi), TANG Dixin (Shanghai), Nora TAYLOR (Chicago), Xiaoyu WENG (New York), Ming WONG (Berlin & Singapore), Sislej XHAFA (New York), Lantian XIE (Dubai), Yan XING (Beijing & Los Angeles), FU Xiaodong- Double Fly Art Center (Beijing), ArtAsiaPacific- H.G. MASTERS (Istanbul) & LEE Mingwei (Taipei, Paris, New York), LEAP- Robin PECKHAM, Korakrit ARUNANONDCHAI (New York & Bangok), Nadim ABBAS (Hong Kong) > See FIELD MEETING: Thinking Performance presenters’ profiles here
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Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) & Asia Contemporary Art Consortium (ACAC)

Asia Contemporary Art Consortium (ACAC), a group of visionary institutions, founded Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) in 2001 to create a broad alliance aimed at promoting awareness and appreciation of contemporary art from Asia in the United States. Directed by Leeza Ahmady, ACAW is a pioneer and leader in serving the growing interest in artistic practice and cultural production from Asia. Each edition of ACAW brings together leading New York and Asia-based art institutions and galleries to present cutting-edge exhibitions, innovative projects, networking opportunities, and provocative dialogues on current topics.

ACAW Consortium Members:
Asia Society Museum • Asia Art Archive in America • China Institute • Japan Society • The Metropolitan Museum of Art • MoMA | Museum of Modern Art • Queens Museum • Rubin Museum of Art • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum • +91 Foundation • Twelve Gates Arts • Aicon Gallery • Art Projects International • Chambers Fine Art • Doosan Gallery • Jane Lombard Gallery • Ronin Gallery • Sundaram Tagore Gallery • Tyler Rollins Fine Art • Aike-Dellarco Gallery (Shanghai) • Alserkal Avenue (Dubai) • Chi-Wen Gallery (Taipei) • Edouard Malingue Gallery (Hong Kong) • Exhibit320 (New Delhi) • Galeri Zilberman (Istanbul) • Ink Studio (Beijing) • Space Station (Beijing) • Total Arts (Dubai)

Participating / Contributing Organizations
Art Institute of Chicago • Bliss on Bliss Art Projects • Brooklyn Museum • Frye Art Museum • Galerie Urs Meile (Beijing-Lucerne) • Honolulu Biennial • Hunter College Art Galleries • Kadist Art Foundation • Owen James Gallery • Performa • Pi Artworks (Istanbul & London) • Ryan Lee Gallery • SCREEN • Shirin Gallery NY • Slovenian Embassy • SVA – CP Projects Space • Taipei Cultural Center • 599 West

For press inquiries, please contact:

Leeza Ahmady & Michelle Loh
Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW)

T +1 646 416 6454 / F +1 646 590 0066 / acawpr@asiasociety.org

ACAW is a non-profit collaborative curatorial and educational platform of
Asia Contemporary Art Consortium (ACAC), fiscally sponsored by
The NewYork Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)

Sonic Blossom is supported by:                                             Media Partners：

Images: 1) Lee Mingwei, Sonic Blossom, 2014. Performance view from Mori Art Museum. Photo: Yoshitsugu Fuminari. Courtesy of the artist.
2) Ming Wong, Windows On The World (Part 1), 2014. Mixed media installation featuring a single channel video. Courtesy of the artist