Do Not Miss: Highlights of Asian Contemporary Art Week

Wednesday 23 

Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian will discuss her work and life, including her exile during the Iranian Revolution, at the Asia Society with Director Melissa Chiu. The dialogue begins at 6:30 pm and will be followed by a reception. ($10 members; $12 students with ID and seniors; $15 nonmembers).

Arrive early and also view “Out of This World: Animated Video from Asia Society’s Contemporary Art Collection,” which features three leading Asian animated-video artists: Cao Fei, Akino Kondoh and Eko Nugroho.

Thursday 24 

Curated by James Elaine, “In a Perfect World…” at Meulensteen gallery features emerging Chinese artists and artist collectives never before exhibited in the US—Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, The Company (Li Ran, Yan Xing, Chen Zhou and Li Ming), Hu Xiaoyuan, Huang Yuxing, Lu Yang, Qiu Xiaofei, Tian Xiaolei and Zhou Yilun. Opening reception is from 6 to 8 pm and includes a curator-led walk-through.

There will also be a special reception for pan-Asian group show, “Facing East,” at Sundaram Tagore Gallery from 6 to 8 pm, including a live performance by Taylor Kuffner’s GamelaTron. Inspired by Balinese and Javanese gamelan orchestras, GamelaTron is a site-specific sound installation constructed from classic instruments that are played by custom-made robotic counterparts. Artists featured in the exhibition include Hiroshi Senju, Anil Revri, Sohan Qadri, Kim Joon, Nathan Slate Joseph, Bob Yasuda, Nhat Tran, Amina Ahmed and Taylor Kuffner.

Friday 25

Stay overnight at the Rubin Museum of Art to observe changes in Atta Kim’s Monologue of Ice, a five-and-a-half-feet-tall, 1,300-pound ice sculpture of a seated Buddha. The unveiling will be at 6 pm in the Spiral Lobby, which includes free admission. While Kim documents the sculpture melting over the next two days, visitors are invited to participate in collecting the water with the understanding that they use it to cultivate new growth, such as watering seedlings.

Saturday 26 

Reception for Qin Feng’s Desire Landscape, a solo installation for Asian Contemporary Art Week, from 6 to 8 pm at Ethan Cohen Fine Arts. On view for one week only, March 17–26, the reception will be your last chance to view the special painting installation.

Visit the “Conundrum” exhibition at Bose Pacia gallery from 11 am to 6 pm. This exhibition features some of today’s most renowned contemporary Indian artists: Aditya Pande, Anita Dube, Arunkumar HG, Raqs Media Collective, Mithu Sen and Suhasini Kejriwal.

Sunday 27 

“Erasing Borders: Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora” features 25 artists in the eighth annual group show by the Indo-American Arts Council. The opening reception will be from 2 to 5 pm at the Queens Museum of Art and will include a Kuchipudi dance performance by Pratibha Vuppuluri at 3 pm.

Monday 28 

For “Ushio Shinohara and Tomokazu Matsuyama: Neo Dada Mix / Remix” the Japanese artists will discuss Japanese culture and history with Asia Society’s associate curator Miwako Tezuka at the Asia Society and Museum at 6:30 pm (Free admission).

Tuesday 29 

Tuesday will see a number of interesting events taking place in the Upper East Side. Taiwanese director Hou Hsia-Hsien’s new documentary on Liu Xiaodong will be shown at 6:30 pm at the Guggenheim Museum. Following the documentary is a talk between Liu Xiaodong and Alexandra Munroe, the Guggenheim’s Samsung Senior Curator of Asian Art. ($10, $7 members, free admission for students)

Before that, don’t miss “Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art” at the Japan Society. Departing from the trends covered in recent Japanese contemporary art exhibitions that have focused on manga-inspired art and Japan’s kawaii (“cute”) aesthetics, curator David Elliott showcases the work of 16 emerging and mid-career artists who “meld traditional styles with challenging visions of Japan’s troubled present and uncertain future.” ($15; students & seniors $10; Japan Society members and children under 16 free. 
Admission is free on Friday nights, 6 – 9 PM. 50 percent of all admission sales will go to the Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.)

Wednesday 30 

The discussion “Role of Artists in Local Spaces and Global Society” at Location One will bring together artists Rahraw and Manizhah Omarzad (Afghanistan), Firoz Mahmud (Bangladesh), Chaw Ei Thein (Burma) and Fong Wah Phoebe Hui (Hong Kong). The conversation begins at 6:30 pm and will be followed by a reception (Free admission).

Thursday 31 

Following the opening of her current exhibition, “Transoxiana Dreams” at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, Kazakh artist Almagul Menlibayeva will discuss her latest work at 6:30 pm.

Meanwhile, the Museum of Chinese in America will be screening the documentary “From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s” at 6:30 pm. Culled from the Asia Art Archive, the film includes rare footage and interviews with key artists from the Chinese art scene of the 1980s. Following the screening, artists Yang Jiechang and Zheng Shengtian will be in conversation with Jane DeBevoise, art historian and the Chair of Board of Directors of Asia Art Archive.