For more than twenty years, Asia Society has been a pioneer in identifying and fostering the latest contemporary Asian artists and engaging new audiences with their work. Recognizing Asia’s rich cultural and artistic legacy, and a rising global focus on Asian contemporary art, the Asia Society India Centre and Asia Society Museum instituted the annual Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India. 

The fourth edition of the awards was held during the India Art Fair on February 1, 2020, at the Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, and Co-chaired by Pheroza Godrej and Sangita Jindal. The signature gala honored Vivan Sundaram with the Asia Arts Vanguard Award, and Tiffany Chung and Prabhakar Pachpute with the Asia Arts Future Award.

The evening brought together 120 major artists, academics, dignitaries, collectors, gallerists, and curators to celebrate the occasion. Some of the notable attendees included the US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Edgard Kagan and spouse Cindy; eminent art historian Geeta Kapur; former Asia Society Presidents Vishakha Desai and Robert Oxnam; Asia Society Triennial Steering Committee member Andreas Teoh; Asia Art Archive’s Executive Director Claire Hsu; leading artists Atul Dodiya, Ranbir Kaleka, Gulammohammed and Nilima Sheikh, Manu and Madhvi Parekh, and Reena and Jitish Kallat, among others.

Honorees

Vivan Sundaram - Asia Arts Vanguard Award

Vivan Sundaram works across the mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and video. His work has long been informed by contemporary political events relating to anticolonial struggles, migration, exile, violence, and war. He has exhibited internationally including at the Haus der Kunst, Munich (2018); Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2018); the 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008); Tate Modern, London (2007); the 7th Sharjah Biennale (2005); the 2nd Gwangju Biennale (1997); The 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (1996); National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (1994); and Royal Academy of Arts, London (1967). He is a founding member of SAHMAT, a collective formed in 1989 to promote artistic freedom.

Tiffany Chung - Asia Arts Future Award

Tiffany Chung is internationally renowned for her research-based multimedia installations and detailed cartographic works that examine conflict, migration, and urban transformation through the lens of geopolitical and environmental traumas. The artist was awarded the Sharjah Biennial Artist Prize in 2013. She has exhibited internationally, including at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. (2019); Asia Society Texas Center, Houston (2018); Gwangju Biennale (2018); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2016); the 56th Venice Biennale (2015); and the 11th Sharjah Biennial (2013). Chung is a cofounder of Sàn Art in Ho Chi Minh City.

Prabhakar Pachpute - Asia Arts Future Award

Prabhakar Pachpute’s multidisciplinary practice includes drawing, stop-motion animation, installation, and sculpture. His choice of charcoal as a medium relates directly to his family’s history as coalminers. The artist combines personal experience with in-depth research to explore the complexity of socioeconomic and environmental transformations around the world. Pachpute’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at the 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2018); Asia Culture Center, Gwangju (2017); Para Site, Hong Kong (2017); National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (2016); the 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015); and the 31st São Paulo Biennial (2014). He is a member of Shunya Collective, founded in Mumbai in 2012.

Co-Chairs

Pheroza Godrej & Sangita Jindal

All proceeds from Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India support Asia Society Arts & Culture initiatives worldwide. Asia Society’s Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India is co-organized by Asia Society Museum, New York, and Asia Society India Centre.