Asian Contemporary Art Week is an annual, city-wide event focusing attention on the richness and diversity of Asian and Asian American contemporary art in New York through programs such as exhibitions, gallery receptions, lectures, performances and studio visits. 

Consortium Statement 2006

Since the first Asian Contemporary Art Week in 2002, we have witnessed tremendous developments. Over the past four years, the profile of Asian artists in New York and elsewhere has been greatly elevated. Also, we have seen a significant increase in activity regarding contemporary Chinese and other Asian art, including articles in the mainstream art press, frequent exhibitions in more galleries and museums, an increasing number of books, and the first major Contemporary Arts Asia sale at Sotheby's in New York.

Asian contemporary art was once the domain of a small group of curators and collectors who would frequent exhibitions at venues mostly dedicated to Asian art, convinced that the best of contemporary Asian art was as innovative, dynamic, and powerful as work being produced anywhere in the world. From a desire to increase the visibility of these artists and works, and to invite broader comparisons and dialogue, Asian Contemporary Art Week was established by the Asian Contemporary Art Consortium, a broad alliance of curators, gallerists, and collectors who hoped to share their enthusiasm with a wider circle of friends.

Reflecting the new interest in Asian contemporary art, this year’s Asian Contemporary Art Week features some new participants. We are pleased to welcome Rubin Museum of Art, American Folk Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, James Cohan Gallery, Max Protetch Gallery, Tilton Gallery, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sikkema Jenkins and Co., to name just a few. There are a total of twenty-eight participants this year. Through this collaborative effort, we are able to show Asian art in New York at its best.

This year’s event focuses on video art. This focus recognizes that Asian artists are at the forefront of new media art. We appreciate the efforts of the jury (Melissa Chiu, Yu Yeon Kim, and Barbara London) for their selection of works to be displayed at participating venues across the city.

As with any endeavor of this scale, this event would not have been possible without the dedication of many consortium members and volunteers. We acknowledge the essential work of Leeza Ahmady, Managing Director of Asian Contemporary Art Week, and the assistance of Athena Wu and Panada Lerthattasin in pulling this event together.

We also greatly appreciate the support of our sponsors, including Art AsiaPacific, Chambers Hotel, Diapason Gallery, Sotheby’s, WPS1 Art Radio, and SurroundArt.

Asian Contemporary Art Week is part of a wider phenomenon, one that presents, appreciates, and assesses the work of contemporary Asian and Asian-American artists within the context of the international contemporary art scene. Given how much the contemporary Asian art world has changed in four years, we expect Asian Contemporary Art Week will continue to evolve and grow.

We hope that you will enjoy Asian Contemporary Art Week 2006!

Asian Contemporary Art Consortium

ACAC Consortium Member Profiles

Asia Society & Museum
The Asia Society is an international organization dedicated to strengthening relationships and deepening understanding among the peoples of Asia and the United States. Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the Society reaches audiences around the world through its headquarters in New York and regional centers in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Hong Kong, Manila, Melbourne, Shanghai and, most recently, Mumbai.

A nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization, the Society provides a forum for building awareness of the more than thirty countries broadly defined as the Asia-Pacific region—the area from Japan to Iran, and from Central Asia to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Through art exhibitions and performances, films, lectures, seminars and conferences, publications and assistance to the media, and materials and programs for students and teachers, the Asia Society presents the uniqueness and diversity of Asia. The Asia Society is supported by contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals.

China Institute
About: Founded in 1926, China Institute is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution that promotes the understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of traditional and contemporary Chinese civilization, culture, and heritage and provides the cultural and historical context for understanding contemporary China. China Institute offers programs, activities, courses, and seminars on the visual and performing arts, culture, history, music, philosophy, and language and literature, as well as children’s programming, business and current affairs programs, and professional development programs for teachers.

Goedhuis Contemporary
Goedhuis Contemporary specializes in both masterworks from the Chinese mainland and the new generation of emerging artists as well as important Chinese artists based in Paris, London, and New York. The eruption of creativity in China constitutes a real cultural revolution and is evidence to Goedhuis Contemporary of unbridled innovation in the contemporary art world.

Japan Society
Japan Society, one of America’s leading resources on Japan since its establishment in 1907 in New York, is a not-for-profit and non-political organization, which promotes understanding and cooperation between the U.S. and Japan through a full range of programs in arts and culture, global affairs, and education. These programs create rich encounters and exchanges that increasingly reflect the broader Asian and global context of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

In observance of Japan Society’s centennial anniversary, to be celebrated throughout 2007, Japan Society Gallery will present Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan, the first major international exhibition of art of the Chinese (Chan) and Japanese (Zen) Buddhist tradition in more than three decades. Including approximately sixty superlative Japanese and Chinese paintings ranging from the 12th to the 17th century—including rare objects from museum and private collections in Japan, North America, and Europe—the exhibition will offer fresh insight into the role of the visual arts within Zen practice as it developed in Japan in close inter-cultural dialogue with the Asian continent.

Art Projects International (API)
Founded in 1993, API specializes in contemporary art. One of the first galleries in the United States dedicated to promoting works by contemporary artists from Asia, API has been at the forefront, introducing new and significant artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. Through exhibitions, publications, and other projects, API presents art that explores a wide range of artistic media and timely intellectual issues to audiences worldwide.

Ethan Cohen Fine Arts
Ethan Cohen Fine Arts (ECFA) is the first and oldest gallery in the United States to specialize in contemporary Chinese art. Ethan Cohen Projects is a division of the gallery that exhibits and promotes emerging global talent in our NYC gallery and beyond.

Our new location at 18 Jay Street in Tribeca will continue to exhibit both Chinese avant-garde art as well as select artists that we work with on a project basis. ECFA exhibits painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video, calligraphy, and performance. The gallery represents both emerging and established artists from China, including Xu Bing, Gu Wenda, Shi Chong, Wu Shan Zhuan, Qiu Zhijie, Lin Tianmiao, Wang Yuping, Zhang Hongtu, Zhou Xiaohu, Qin Feng, Lin Yilin, and Sui Jianguo, among others. Ethan Cohen Projects also works with artists Orly Cogan, Bernard Williams, Carlos Francisco Jackson, Hady Sy, Joshua Abelow, and Elahe Massumi, among others.

Bose Pacia Gallery
Established in 1994, Bose Pacia was the first gallery in the West to specialize exclusively in contemporary art from South Asia. Over the past decade, Bose Pacia has held over forty exhibitions and is internationally regarded for promoting the South Asian avant-garde.

The gallery strives to foster an active discourse between contemporary Indian artists and the international art community by featuring exhibitions that contextualize contemporary art from this geographic region within its rich artistic traditions and current social tensions. Many of our artists debuted in North America with exhibitions at Bose Pacia. Several are exhibiting in prestigious museums and curated events worldwide (such as the Tate Modern, the Reina Sofia, the Wien Kunsthalle, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Walker Art Center, Documenta, and the Venice Biennale) and have received significant critical acclaim in such publications as The New York Times, Art in America, and Artforum. These artists include Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Anita Dube, Sheela Gowda, Shilpa Gupta, Subodh Gupta, Ranbir Kaleka, Bharti Kher, Bari Kumar, Nalini Malani, Pushpamala N., Manisha Parekh, Gieve Patel, Sudhir Patwardhan, Rashid Rana, Raqs Media Collective, Nataraj Sharma, Arpita Singh, and Zarina Hashmi.

Sepia International / The Alkazi Collection
Sepia International and The Alkazi Collection uniquely combine a commercial gallery and a privately-owned archive and research center. Exploring photography from its beginning to the present day provides a greater understanding of the development of the medium. Central to our philosophy is the examination of the juncture between photography as art form and as historical document.

Artist Listing: Martin Brading, Alison Bradley, Phyllis Galembo, Edward Grazda, Sunil Gupta, Sookang Kim, Miyako Ishiuchi, Richard Lannoy, Jungjin Lee, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Osamu James Nakagawa, Fumiko Nozawa, Akio Ohki, Katsumi Omura, Neal Oshima, Yukio Oyama, Stuart Rome, Marissa Roth, Ketaki Sheth, Dayanita Singh, Pamela Singh, Raghubir Singh, Vivan Sundaram, Akiko Tobu, Mayumi Urakawa, Katherine Westerhout.

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