Asia Art Archive

Based in Hong Kong, Asia Art Archive (AAA) is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to documenting the recent history of contemporary art in Asia within an international context. Founded in 2000, AAA is now the most comprehensive publicly accessible collection of research materials in the field and continues to grow through a systematic programme of research and information gathering. AAA has initiated more than 150 public, educational, and residential programmes.

AAA is a registered charity in Hong Kong and is governed by a Board of Directors and guided by a rotating Advisory Board. The collection is accessible free of charge at AAA—in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan District at 233 Hollywood Road—and searchable from anywhere in the world via its online catalogue.

Mission statement

Through collecting, preserving, and making information on the recent history of contemporary art in Asia easily accessible, AAA aims to facilitate understanding, research, and writing in the field. AAA is a proactive platform, instigating critical thinking and dialogue, bringing people together, and organizing diverse public, educational, and residential programmes for a wide range of audiences. At the core of its mission is AAA’s commitment to create a collection belonging to the public, a collection that exists not in an enclosed space, but in a space that is open and productive, generating new ideas and works that continually reshape the Archive itself. [1]

History

Asia Art Archive was initiated in 2000 to document and secure the multiple recent histories of contemporary art in the region. Its first Executive Director, Claire Hsu, founded AAA in collaboration with Johnson Chang Tsong-zung and Ronald Arculli. The current chair of the board is Jane DeBevoise.

In 10 years, AAA has collated the most comprehensive collection of primary and secondary source material on contemporary art in the region. The collection now holds over 33,000 titles and is accessible to the public, free of charge, via its physical space and website.

The Archive has organised more than 150 programmes and projects beyond its library and archival activities. These range from research-driven projects and discursive gatherings to residencies and youth and community projects.

Speakers at public talks and symposia have included Ai Weiwei, Tobias Berger, David Elliott, Htein Lin, Huang Yongping, Yuko Hasegawa, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, and Xu Bing. In 2007, AAA launched a residency programme to encourage new readings of the physical material in the Archive, to offer individuals the chance to work with material outside their usual concentrations, and to support projects around the idea of the ‘archive’. International residents have included Raqs Media Collective and Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries; local residents have included art critic and curator Jasper Lau Kin Wah, and artists Cedric Maridet, Pak Sheung Chuen, and Wong Wai Yin.

AAA also initiates focused research projects that build areas of specialization in the collection. These include the recently completed four-year project ‘Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art 1980-1990’; an initiative to focus on performance art in the region, the digitisation of the personal archives of Geeta Kapur and Vivan Sundaram from Delhi, and the current digitisation of the archives of Ray Langenbach from Malaysia, Natasha Salon in Hanoi, and Blue Space in Ho Chi Minh City.

AAA incorporates material that members of local art communities find relevant to the field, and provides educational and public programming.

Archive Acquisition

The Archive is a growing collection of material intended to reflect local and regional artistic currents. The collection is informed and influenced by a network of artists, art organizations, galleries, critics, academics, and individuals in the field. In April 2011, there were more than 33,000 records available through the online library catalogue.

Over 70% of AAA’s acquisitions are donations, coming to the Archive through either unsolicited material contributions or through AAA’s researchers who actively approach individuals and organizations in the field to request material for the collection.

Based in cities across Asia including Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, Manila, Tokyo, and New Delhi, AAA researchers collect material in their respective countries and send it back to Hong Kong to be catalogued and incorporated into the collection.

AAA's Special Collections

AAA’s Special Collections include primary source documents such as artists’ writings, sketches, and original visual documentation. Highlights of AAA’s special collections include personal material donated by individuals; rare periodicals and publications; individual, event, and organiszational files; and material produced by AAA, including images and audio-visual material.

AAA’s Special Collections include original sketches and texts by artists such as Roberto Chabet (The Philippines), Lu Peng (China), Mao Xuhui (China), Wu Shanzhuan (China), and Zhang Xiaogang (China). Thanks to the ongoing digitization of the collection, including a partnership with ARTstor, many parts of the Special Collections will soon be available online through AAA’s website as well as through Artstor.org

Selected Projects

Another Life: The Digitised Personal Archive of Geeta Kapur & Vivan Sundaram (2011) The first Indian archive to be digitized by AAA, this project brings to the public the broad range of material collected by Kapur and Sundaram since the 1950s. Originally established as a personal archive, the collection not only documents the artwork and writings produced and published thus far during Kapur and Sundaram’s careers, but also documents events in India’s art community over the last 50 years, and includes exhibition catalogues, newspaper clippings, and artists' slides, some of which are entering the public domain for the first time.

Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980–1990 (2010) In 2006, AAA began locating, collecting, and preserving a large body of important material from the 1980s, a period in China’s art history that was in danger of being lost. This comprehensive collection of primary research materials includes books, periodicals, newspapers, exhibition brochures, invitations, video recordings, correspondence, and other relevant documents. At the same time, AAA conducted a series of in-depth professional interviews with artists, critics, and curators of the 1980s in an attempt to record this period of contemporary Chinese art. With more than 70,000 digital documents, AAA now maintains the world’s largest and most systematically organized archive of documentary material about Chinese art made during the 1980s. The project culminated in September 2010 with the launch of the website www.china1980s.org

From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s (2010) Drawn from primary research, rare film footage, and 14 interviews with artists, curators, and historians active in the Guangdong region during the 1980s collected as part of the research for Materials of the Future (above), AAA produced a documentary film about experimental art in South China (Guangzhou) in the 1980s: From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s.

Action Script –Symposium on Performance Art Practice and Documentation in Asia (2010) This five-day symposium, co-presented with the Centre for Community Cultural Development, brought internationally respected performance artists, archivists, and researchers together in Hong Kong to consider the practice of performance art in Asia and to critically discuss the challenges associated with archiving performance work or ‘live art’.

What is your Dream Museum?/Build Your Dream Museum Collection Everyday! (2008/2009) In 2008, 10,000 ‘Dream Museum’ cards were distributed to the community, offering a platform for the public to consider and describe its ideal museum. AAA set up a booth at ART HK 08, providing a platform for interactive engagement with the ongoing education project, and artist workshops were conducted throughout the four-day event.

In 2009, as Hong Kong embarked on the West Kowloon Cultural District project, AAA called on the community to build a collection for the ‘Dream Museum’ by sending in an object or uploading an image on www.dreammuseum.org.

Taking Thai respondent Sarawut Chutiwongpeti’s suggestion for the ‘Dream Museum’ to be ‘Like 7-Eleven’, AAA established the ‘Dream Museum Convenience Store’ at ART HK 09. Participants were asked to bring images or objects to AAA’s booth to contribute to the ‘collection’. On-site workshops with artists, curators, designers, and architects facilitated the discussion.

Backroom Conversations* (annually since 2008) As the official educational partner of ART HK (Hong Kong International Art Fair), AAA presents an annual series of panel discussions and screenings with leading experts and practitioners in the field that touch on prevalent issues and offer a first-hand look into the contemporary art world today. Topics have included ‘Reinvesting in Contemporary Chinese Art’; ‘Heritage Sites: the Answer to Hong Kong’s Arts Needs?’; ‘Artist as Activist, Art as Catalyst’; and ‘In the Aftermath of the White Cube: Museums and Other Spaces’. Speakers have included Ron Arad, Sabine Breitwieser, Johnson Chang, David Elliott, Yuko Hasegawa, Manray Hsu, Hu Fang, Eungie Joo, Vasif Kortun, Barbara London, Charles Merewether, Frances Morris, Alexandra Munroe, Martha Rosler, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Sheena Wagstaff, Ada Wong, Wong Hoy Cheong, Pauline Yao, and Daniela Zyman, among others.

Pool of Possibilities: Mapping Currents of the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial(2008) In collaboration with the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, this project maps the network of connections between artists’ practices in the form of an online database that linked artists from across the world through a variety of mediums and concepts.

The Anxious Century: Discourses Waiting To Be Born: a Seminar on Art Criticism (2008) This two-day seminar was jointly presented by AAA, NuqtaArt, a Karachi-based art publication, and the Goethe-Institut in Karachi. It brought together cultural workers, critics, and scholars from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Germany, and India to probe the birth of new discourse within South Asian art in the twenty-first century, and explored the possible reclamation of old dialogues within South Asian art through the lens of post-colonialism. AAA hosted a panel discussion that looked at the challenge of building art archives with collective solutions and shared expertise.

Shifting Sites: Cultural Desire and the Museum (2008) AAA and The Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong invited key individuals and institutions to address relevant issues and share their insights and experiences on the roles of museums. The ‘Shifting Sites’ conference included keynote speeches, presentations, reports, and group discussions that raised awareness about current debates surrounding contemporary museum practices in Asia.

Archiving Artist-run Spaces (2007) This series of talks examined six artist-run spaces in Manila that were centres for Filipino contemporary art, including Pinaglabanan Gallery, The Junk Shop, Third Space, Surrounded By Water, Big Sky Mind, and Future Prospects.

All You Want to Know about International Art Biennials (2006 – ongoing) This online project charts and maps the modes, development, and diversities of international biennials and triennials worldwide, serving as a research tool and illustrating a comprehensive overview of the ‘biennial phenomenon’. The project is a collaboration with Art Map Limited.

Archiving the Contemporary: Documenting Asian Art Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow (2005) ‘Archiving the Contemporary’ was a workshop that brought together over 40 art professionals from around the world to look at the problematics of archiving, collection policies, classification systems, technological advancement, preservation, knowledge management, and information sharing in relation to contemporary art from Asia.

Contemporary Asian Art Forum: Links, Platforms, Network (2003) Jointly presented by AAA and the Cultural Co-operation Forum organized by the Hong Kong Government Home Affairs Bureau, this symposium brought together artists, curators, and art professionals from Asia to discuss the building and sustaining of links, platforms, and networks in the contemporary Asian art arena.

Space Traffic - Symposium of International Artist's Spaces (2001) This symposium, co-organized by AAA, Para/Site, and West Space, investigated issues, problems, and possibilities faced by alternative art spaces and made possible direct dialogue between art spaces of this kind across Asia.

References

  1. ↑ Asia Art Archive official website

External links