Maverick Practices in Asian Art

Event Date: Friday, May 2 · 1:45 - 7pm CDT | Saturday, May 3 · 9:30am - 6pm CDT

The Center for the Art of East Asia in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago will host a forthcoming symposium titled Maverick Practices in Asian Art: Artists, Curators, and Scholars Breaching the Boundaries.

Maverick Practices in Asian Art will feature project-based artist talks and panel discussions aimed at underscoring innovative insights and methodologies that are actively reframing the field of contemporary Asian art. Organized in collaboration with internet based PoNJA-GenKon (Post-1945 Japanese Art Discussion Group/Gendai Bijutsu Kondankai), Maverick Practices in Asian Art emphasizes unconventional approaches in both scholarship and curatorial work relating to modern and contemporary art from Asia and its diasporas.

While such terms as “interdisciplinary” and “transdisciplinary” may objectively describe these disparate approaches, the word “maverick” aptly captures the symposium’s collective spirit of breaching traditional boundaries. The symposium draws upon four key themes that signal important new directions in contemporary Asian curatorial and art historical studies, including: Conceptualism in Global Asia; Contemporary Asian Diasporas; Materiality in Modern and Contemporary Asian Art; and Curating Community: Decentralized Contemporary Art Spaces.

Friday, May 2

1:45 PM - 2:00 PM - Opening Remarks

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Keynote Dialogue

On Kawara and Matsuzawa Yutaka: Two Mavericks of Conceptualism," Anne Rorimer (Independent Scholar and Curator), in conversation with Reiko Tomii (Historian and Curator), moderated by Martha Joseph (Associate Curator of Media and Performance at The Museum of Modern Art)

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM - CWAC Exhibition Opening Receptions

Go Calmly Across this Room: In Memory, an exhibition in honor of Alan Longino, curated by Lex Ladge (PhD Candidate in Art History, University of Chicago), Cybele Tom (PhD Candidate in Art History, University of Chicago),  and Trevor Brandt (PhD Student in Art History, University of Chicago) | Drifting Timelines 流动时序, Curated by Heather Kim (Undergraduate Student in Art History, University of Chicago)

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM - Artist Presentations

Presentations by Tomorrow Girls Troop and Ei Arakawa-Nash 

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Saturday, May 3

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM - Opening Remarks

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM - Conceptualism in Global Asia  

Panelists: Nina Horisaki-Christens (Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles), Chaeeun Lee (PhD candidate in Art History at the CUNY Graduate Center), Soyoon Ryu  (PhD candidate in Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU)

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM - Contemporary Asian Diasporas   

Panelists: Leo Genjiro Amino (PhD Candidate in English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University), Baseera Khan (Contemporary artist), Tie Jojima (Curator of Global Contemporary Art, The Phillips Collection)

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM - Materiality in Modern and Contemporary Asian Art  

Panelists: Ignacio Adriasola (Associate Professor, Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory, The University of British Columbia), Orianna Cacchione (Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Art Museum), Joyce Chung (Curator, Asian Arts Initiative)

3:30 PM - 5:00 PM - Curating Community: Decentralized Contemporary Art Spaces  

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM - Roundtable Discussion 

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JOIN FOR FREE