Contemporary Art Collection
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Nam June Paik (Korean, 1932–2006). Li Tai Po, 1987. 10 antique wooden TV cabinets, 1 antique radio cabinet, antique Korean printing block, antique Korean book, 11 color TVs. Asia Society, New York: Gift of Harold and Ruth Newman
Asia Society announced a contemporary Asian and Asian American art collecting initiative in 2007, launched with a gift of twenty-eight works of video and new media art. While other U.S. museums have begun to collect contemporary Asian art, Asia Society is the first to formally establish a collection focused exclusively on the field.
Initial acquisitions include video, animation, and new media artworks by eighteen Asian artists from six countries, including works by Nam June Paik, Patty Chang, Yoko Ono, Hiraki Sawa, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Zhang Peili, Xu Bing, Wang Gong Xin, Shilpa Gupta, and Yang Fudong. The collection also includes contemporary photographs by artists Zhang Peili, Hong Lei, Huang Yan, and Zhang Dali.
The collection aims to represent the rapidly evolving field of contemporary art across Asia. The first phase of the collecting program is focused on video, animation, and new media works of art, reflecting in part that artists in Asia are leading the world in innovation in this field.
