Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum

Exhibition marks first major collaboration between the two organizations, heralding the Asia Society Triennial
On view at New-York Historical Society October 23, 2020–July 25, 2021

Asia Society Museum and New-York Historical Society have joined together to mount their first major collaborative exhibition in which selections from New-York Historical’s American art collection and Asia Society’s contemporary Asian art collection appear side-by-side. Each collection provides a fresh vantage point from which to see the other anew. More than 35 interwoven works generate dialogue about urban and natural environments, protest and rebellion, individuals and identities, and borders. Seen together, works from these strikingly different collections speak to the possibilities unleashed when people, cultures, and institutions dream in tandem. 

Highlights include the Canal Street diptych (1992) from Martin Wong’s Chinatown series, a pair of 164-foot hanging photographic scrolls by Dinh Q. Lê featuring abstractions of the World Trade Center towers (2016), and a dystopic video narrative of war and destruction by Shiva Ahmadi (2014).

Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum is curated at New-York Historical by Wendy N. E. Ikemoto, Ph.D., curator of American art.   

Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum is a collateral exhibition of the inaugural edition of the Asia Society Triennial—a multi-venue festival of art, ideas, and innovation centered around the concept of communal dreaming. Fundamental not only to artistic practice but to the human experience itself, dreaming crosses the boundaries of nation, race, culture, age, religion, and gender. The first initiative of its kind in the United States, the Triennial serves as a recurring platform for contemporary art from and about Asia. The Asia Society Triennial exhibition, We Do Not Dream Alone, will be on view at Asia Society Museum and other venues in two parts: October 27, 2020–February 7, 2021 and March 16, 2021–June 27, 2021. 

In addition, as part of the Asia Society Triennial, drummer/composer Susie Ibarra, a 2019 United States Artist Fellow in Music known for her unique blend of Asian and jazz percussive traditions, presents Fragility Etudes, a new site-specific performance in the New-York Historical Society’s Patricia D. Klingenstein Library at a future date to be announced. Featuring the DreamTime Ensemble, whose first album was chosen by the New York Times for their top 10 playlist the year it debuted, the performance’s participatory element and surround sound environment takes audiences on a dynamic journey that explores the fragility of human interdependency through music. The performance is commissioned and produced by Asia Society. Supported in part by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Fragility Etudes is the third performance iteration of the Fragility project which has been in development since 2017. Co-presented with the New-York Historical Society.

Exhibitions at New-York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Seymour Neuman Endowed Fund, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor. 

Support for Asia Society Museum is provided by Asia Society Global Council on Asian Arts and Culture, Asia Society Friends of Asian Arts, Arthur Ross Foundation, Sheryl and Charles R. Kaye Endowment for Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Hazen Polsky Foundation, Mary Griggs Burke Fund, Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York State Council on the Arts.

About New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society, one of America’s preeminent cultural institutions, is dedicated to fostering research and presenting history and art exhibitions and public programs that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, New-York Historical has a mission to explore the richly layered history of New York City and State and the country, and to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history. The New-York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street), New York, NY 10024. Information: (212) 873-3400. Website: nyhistory.org. Follow the museum on social media at @nyhistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Tumblr.

About Asia Society
Asia Society Museum presents a wide range of traditional, modern, and contemporary exhibitions of Asian and Asian American art, taking new approaches to familiar masterpieces and introducing under-recognized arts and artists. The Asia Society Museum Collection comprises a traditional art collection, including the initial bequests of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd, and a contemporary art collection. Through exhibitions and public programs, Asia Society provides a forum for the issues and viewpoints reflected in both traditional and contemporary Asian art and in Asia today. Find out more at AsiaSociety.org/NY and follow the museum on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.