About Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW)
Asian Contemporary Art Week connects leading New York City galleries and museums in a citywide event comprising of public programs such as exhibitions, receptions, lectures and performances. The Week focuses on the broad spectrum of artworks produced by Asian contemporary artists working in their home countries and abroad.
Trail, Sawa Hiraki, ACAW 2006
ACAW is organized by Asian Contemporary Art Consortium:
Melissa Chiu and Miwako Tezuka, Asia Society and Museum;
Steve Pacia and Shumita Bose, Bose Pacia;
Agnes Hsu, China Institute;
Ethan Cohen, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts;
Jean Kim, Gana Art Gallery;
Jack Shainman, Jack Shainman Gallery;
Joe Earle, Japan Society;
Esa Epstein, sepia EYE;
Alexandra Munroe and Sandhini Poddar, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum;
Barbara London, The Museum of Modern Art;
Thomas Erben, Thomas Erben Gallery;
Tyler Rollins, Tyler Rollins Fine Arts;
Jack & Susy Wadsworth, Collectors;
Xiaoming Zhang, Private Art Dealer and Consultant;
Leeza Ahmady, ACAW Director (Independent Curator)
ACAC Consortium Member Profiles
Asia Society & Museum
http://www.asiasociety.org/
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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. |
Bose Pacia
http://www.bosepacia.com/
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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. |
China Institute
http://www.chinainstitute.org/
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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. |
Ethan Cohen Fine Arts
http://www.ecfa.com/
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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. |
Gana Art Gallery
http://english.ganaart.com/
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Since its foundation in 1983, Gana Art Gallery has organized over 400 exhibitions, representing both Korean and international artists. For the past 22 years, Gana Art Gallery has established itself as a truly multi-cultural institution : Gana Print Studio(1987), Gana Art Publication(1988), Galerie Gana-Beaubourg(1995, Paris), Gana Art Shop(1997), Cite International des Arts Membership(1996), Gana Ceramic Studio(1997), Ansung Artists' Studio(1997), Gana Art Center(1998), Gana Academy(1998), Insa Art Center(2000), Gana Atelier(2001) and Ecole de Gana(2002). Its continuous participation at international art fairs and exhibitions has endowed the Korean art community with an advanced international status. |
Jack Shainman Gallery
http://www.jackshainman.com/
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Jack Shainman Gallery was incorporated in 1984. The focus of the gallery, since its inception over 25 years ago, is to exhibit, represent, and champion artists from around the world, in particular artists from Africa, East Asia, and North America, by mounting major exhibitions of their work in the gallery, presenting artworks at important art fairs, securing museum exhibitions, and publishing major catalogues with full-color reproductions and scholarly essays on their artwork. Represented artists employ all mediums, with a tendency towards conceptual as well as politically and socially engaged artwork. |
Japan Society
http://www.japansociety.org/
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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. |
sepia EYE
http://sepiaeye.com/
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sepia EYE is dedicated to showing a spectrum of modern and contemporary photography and video work from Asia. Established in September 2009 by Esa Epstein, sepia EYE will continue to foster artist development through museum and gallery exhibitions, publications, trade fairs, and festivals. Artist Listing: Atul Bhalla, Martin Brading, Alison Bradley, Edward Grazda, Sunil Gupta, The Estate of Bhupendra Karia, Sookang Kim, Koichiro Kurita, Miyako Ishiuchi, Jungjin Lee, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Derry Moore, Osamu James Nakagawa, Angelika Sher, Go Sugimoto, Katsumi Omura, Neal Oshima, Yukio Oyama, Jaye Rhee, Pamela Singh, The Estate of Raghubir Singh, Vivan Sundaram, Akiko Tobu. |
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
http://www.guggenheim.org/
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In 2006, the Guggenheim Museum became the first international modern and contemporary art museum in the west to establish a curatorial position for Asian art. The museum’s new Asian art initiative has a three-dimensional strategy: exhibitions, acquisitions, and educational programs. Working with leading museums, academic institutions, cultural organizations and galleries, we aim to stimulate top-level critical discourse, scholarship, and curatorial activity, and to expand the parameters of what defines Asian art today across two related but distinct arenas: the international and the local/ regional. We are working now to bring “the Asian dimension” across virtually all of the Guggenheim’s programs. Geographically, we are focused on the primary centers of contemporary art in East Asia (China, Japan and Korea); Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore); and South Asia (India and Pakistan).Our interest also extends to Iran, whose traditional Persian culture is historically aligned with South Asia, and to artists in Iran and across South and Southeast Asia who are engaged in issues surrounding their Islamic culture and identity. Our focus also includes artists of Asian heritage who live and work anywhere in the world. The initiative is led by Alexandra Munroe, Senior Curator of Asian Art, and is supported by Sandhini Poddar, Assistant Curator of Asian Art. |
The Museum of Modern Art
http://www.moma.org
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Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, The Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. Through the leadership of its Trustees and staff, The Museum of Modern Art manifests this commitment by establishing, preserving, and documenting a permanent collection of the highest order that reflects the vitality, complexity and unfolding patterns of modern and contemporary art; by presenting exhibitions and educational programs of unparalleled significance; by sustaining a library, archives, and conservation laboratory that are recognized as international centers of research; and by supporting scholarship and publications of preeminent intellectual merit. Central to The Museum of Modern Art's mission is the encouragement of an ever-deeper understanding and enjoyment of modern and contemporary art by the diverse local, national, and international audiences that it serves. |
Thomas Erben Gallery
http://www.thomaserben.com
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The Thomas Erben gallery focuses on strongly emerging artists who exhibit international relevance and established/mid-career artists who have the promise of historical importance. In addition to the rigorous exhibition schedule, throughout the years Thomas Erben Gallery has actively participated in major art fairs across the U.S. and Europe. The gallery has also fostered ties between other prominent galleries, as well as esteemed public institutions. Institutional clients in the United States include MoMA, The Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMoMA, The Walker Art Center, MoCA Los Angeles, Fogg Art Museum, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; and internationally, The Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal. Conceptually minded, the gallery strives to either rediscover or expose work that contributes to contemporary discourse and extends the possibilities of the artists’ chosen media. Recent widely acclaimed, pivotal exhibitions at the gallery include: Chitra Ganesh – Upon Her Precipice, 2007; Contemporary Art From Pakistan, 2007; Chen Ke – Li Jikai - Wei Jia, 2007; Ashok Sukumaran - Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address, 2008; Dona Nelson - in situ: paintings 1973 – present, 2008; Thomas Erben at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, 2008. |
Tyler Rollins Fine Art
http://www.trfineart.com
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Tyler Rollins Fine Art has as its primary focus the contemporary art of Southeast Asia, one of the world’s most culturally diverse and dynamic areas. After many years of travel in the region, the gallery have identified an impressive group of emerging and mid-career artists whose work we feel privileged to present to New York audiences, in many cases for the first time. With solo exhibitions of these artists’ new works, as well as a number of group shows, the gallery will shine a spotlight on some of the most exciting trends in contemporary art in Southeast Asia. Its goal is to highlight the interconnectedness of today’s globalized art world and to foster inter-cultural dialogue between East and West. We encourage artists, wherever they may reside, who explore the particularities of culture within a wider international context. |