2021 Arts & Museum Summit
Reimagining Museum Narratives in the 21st Century
Join us November 17–19, 2021 for a dynamic convening of curators, artists, and museum and arts professionals—online! The 2021 Arts & Museum Summit will feature presentations, panel discussions, and workshops by leading arts professionals from the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
Register now to claim your spot at the summit for $200 USD. Registration includes access to all summit events and an electronic copy of the 2021 Arts & Museum Summit publication, Reimagining Museum Narratives in the 21st Century, a compendium of essays by featured speakers expounding on the topics covered across the summit. Special discounted tickets for artists and students are available for $100 USD.
The 2021 Summit, Reimagining Museum Narratives in the 21st Century, will focus on issues relating to decolonization in the arts. Some of the topics to be explored include decolonizing curatorial practices, re-negotiating art historical narratives, and deconstructing the legacies of regional colonial histories. Please note the agenda is subject to change.
Speakers
Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation
Anida Yoeu Ali, Artist and Senior Artist-in-Residence, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, University of Washington Bothell
Brook Andrew, Artist and Enterprise Professor, University of Melbourne
Alexandra Chang, Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, Rutgers University-Newark
Jacqueline Chao, Senior Curator of Asian Art, Crow Museum of Asian Art
Joselina Cruz, Director and Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Manila
Parul Dave-Mukherji, Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Tania El Khoury, Artist and Director, OSUN Center for Human Rights & the Arts, Bard College
Jessica Hong, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Toledo Museum of Art
Chia-Wei Hsu, Artist/Curator
Manray Hsu, Art critic/Curator
Vibha Joshi, Research Affiliate, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford
Jennifer King, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Dinh Q. Lê, Artist
Việt Lê, Artist, Curator, and Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Studies | Visual & Critical Studies Graduate Program, California College of the Arts
Stephen Murphy, Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art, SOAS University of London
Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive, Bangkok Art Biennale
Sara Raza, Red Burns Fellow at NYU, New York University / Punk Orientalism Studio
Nancy Rosoff, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator, Arts of the Americas, Brooklyn Museum
Grace Samboh, Research curator, Hyphen —
Yoshiko Shimada, Artist and Lecturer, University of Tokyo
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor, Columbia University
Sarah Suzuki, Associate Director, The Museum of Modern Art
Tamarra, Artist
Ming Tiampo, Professor, Carleton University
Amy Whitaker, Assistant Professor, Visual Arts Administration, New York University, Steinhardt School
Learn more about the speakers here.
Agenda
Day 1
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
8:00–8:15 a.m. (ET)
Welcome and introduction to Asia Society and the Arts & Museum Summit
8:15–9:15 a.m. (ET)
Keynote
As societal calls for inclusivity and diversity have grown, spurred by the recent wave of civil rights protests and stark inequities revealed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the arts and culture sector has made inroads towards reconceiving their missions and how they engage local communities and contested histories. The keynote speaker will contextualize the broader cultural climate and recommend strategies to empathetically navigate post-colonial landscapes. They will also touch upon the need to better represent holistic narratives and marginalized voices, reflect on lessons that can be learned from recent events, and how these lessons may be translated into a more equitable future for all across the arts and beyond.
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor, Columbia University
30 minutes of keynote presentation, 20 minutes of moderated conversation, 10 minutes Q&A with audience
5 minute break
9:20–10:50 a.m. (ET)
Panel One: Decolonizing Curatorial Practices
Many countries and regions share a history of foreign occupation, which has often left a traumatic imprint on the memory and cultures of the local people. In many postcolonial societies, increased calls to remember, recognize, and address contested narratives has led to a need for museums and cultural institutions to realign their pedagogical frameworks. This session will discuss strategies to re-contextualize representation and discourse in postcolonial regions, how to bridge differences in collective memory, and forge empathetic pathways forward through the arts.
- Jacqueline Chao, Senior Curator of Asian Art, Crow Museum of Asian Art
- Chia-Wei Hsu, Artist/Curator
- Sara Raza, Red Burns Fellow at NYU, New York University/Punk Orientalism Studio
- Joselina Cruz (moderator), Director and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Manila
30 minutes of presentations from panelists (10 minutes each), 45 minutes of moderated discussion, 15 minutes of Q&A
10 minute break
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. (ET)
Workshop One: Time Zone A (including Africa, Americas, Europe regions)
60 minutes. Open to all summit attendees.
Join a moderated conversation with fellow attendees to discuss themes explored throughout the Summit. No prior preparation is necessary to join. The workshops provide a space for attendees to connect, share ideas, and reflect on the proceedings of the summit. We encourage you to join as many workshops as you wish.
15 minute break
12:15–1:15 p.m. (ET)
Networking Event: Time Zone A (including Africa, Americas, Europe regions)
60 minutes. Open to all summit attendees.
The Networking segment on Hopin is similar to one-on-one meetings on a FaceTime call. This segment is designed to recreate the “coffee-in-the-lobby” conversations or watercooler chats that are important at an in-person event. The Networking area automates the discovery of new connections. When an attendee participates in the Networking, they are matched with a random attendee and meet for up to 5 minutes. Attendees can choose the number of one-on-one meetings they’d like to participate in. Feel free to drop in and out over the course of the hour. Join in on this fun networking opportunity to connect with colleagues old and new!
Attendees can click the CONNECT button during a call to exchange contact information and after the event, the newly made contacts will appear at https://hopin.to/account/connections page of their individual Profile.
If you’re not able to join the Networking Event, participants can utilize the DIRECT MESSAGE feature to message other attendees over the course of the summit.
Day 2
Thursday, November 18, 2021
4:15–5:15 a.m. (ET)
Workshop One: Time Zone B (including Asia Pacific region)
60 minutes. Open to all summit attendees.
Join a moderated conversation with fellow attendees to discuss themes explored throughout the Summit. No prior preparation is necessary to join. The workshops provide a space for attendees to connect, share ideas, and reflect on the proceedings of the summit. We encourage you to join as many workshops as you wish.
15 minute break
5:30–6:30 a.m (ET)
Networking Event: Time Zone B (including Asia Pacific region)
60 minutes. Open to all summit attendees.
The Networking segment on Hopin is similar to one-on-one meetings on a FaceTime call. This segment is designed to recreate the “coffee-in-the-lobby” conversations or watercooler chats that are important at an in-person event. The Networking area automates the discovery of new connections. When an attendee participates in the Networking, they are matched with a random attendee and meet for up to 5 minutes. Attendees can choose the number of one-on-one meetings they’d like to participate in. Feel free to drop in and out over the course of the hour. Join in on this fun networking opportunity to connect with colleagues old and new!
Attendees can click the CONNECT button during a call to exchange contact information and after the event, the newly made contacts will appear at https://hopin.to/account/connections page of their individual Profile.
If you’re not able to join the Networking Event, participants can utilize the DIRECT MESSAGE feature to message other attendees over the course of the summit.
30 minute break
7:00–8:30 a.m. (ET)
Panel Two: Re-Negotiating Narrative Frameworks Across the Art Historical Canon
Historically, the western art historical canon has largely been conceived as a linear, Eurocentric, and predominantly male proposition. Through the globalization of the art world, this subjective purview, largely derived from socio-political and economic factors, has been recalibrated to develop alternate narratives within art historical discourse to include women, minorities, LGBTQ+, disabled communities, indigenous, and other marginalized groups. This panel will deconstruct and assess how theoretical frameworks need to be adjusted and implemented by universities and museums to better recognize and respond to multiple, and diverse, histories.
- Brook Andrew, Artist and Enterprise Professor, University of Melbourne
- Parul Dave-Mukherji, Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Amy Whitaker, Assistant Professor, Visual Arts Administration, New York University, Steinhardt School
- Stephen Murphy (moderator), Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art, SOAS University of London
30 minutes of presentations from panelists (10 minutes each), 45 minutes of moderated discussion, 15 minutes of Q&A
5 minute break
8:35–10:05 a.m. (ET)
Panel Three: Deconstructing the Legacies of Regional Colonial Histories
While colonialism is widely considered a western construct, there are many instances of regional imperialism and colonization within Asia relating to issues of race, ethnicity, and nationality. This panel will illuminate and respond to the socio-political and cultural ramifications of these forced occupations and how their legacies are represented through the lens of cultural institutions, pedagogical discourse, and art making practices in these locales.
- Manray Hsu, Art critic/Curator
- Dinh Q. Lê, Artist
- Yoshiko Shimada, Artist and Lecturer, University of Tokyo
- Ming Tiampo (moderator), Professor, Carleton University
30 minutes of presentations from panelists (10 minutes each), 45 minutes of moderated discussion, 15 minutes of Q&A
10 minute break
10:15–11:30 a.m. (ET)
Artists’ Spotlight: Contending With Coloniality Through Performance
What is the role of performance in decolonization? How might performance intervene in legacies and traces of colonial power? This panel features presentations by artists who grapple with these questions and the presented works demonstrate the striking capacity of performance to contend with coloniality.
- Anida Yoeu Ali, Artist and Senior Artist-in-Residence, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, University of Washington Bothell
- Tania El Khoury, Artist and Director, OSUN Center for Human Rights & the Arts, Bard College
- Việt Lê (moderator), Artist, Curator, and Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Studies | Visual & Critical Studies Graduate Program, California College of the Arts
30 minutes of presentations (15 minutes each), 30 minutes of moderated discussion, 15 minutes of Q&A
30 minute break
12:00–1:00 p.m. (ET)
Workshop Two: Time Zone A (including Africa, Americas, Europe regions)
60 minutes. Open to all summit attendees.
Join a moderated conversation with fellow attendees to discuss themes explored throughout the Summit. No prior preparation is necessary to join. The workshops provide a space for attendees to connect, share ideas, and reflect on the proceedings of the summit. We encourage you to join as many workshops as you wish.
Day 3
Friday, November 19, 2021
5:30–6:30 a.m. (ET)
Workshop Two: Time Zone B (including Asia Pacific region)
60 minutes. Open to all summit attendees.
Join a moderated conversation with fellow attendees to discuss themes explored throughout the Summit. No prior preparation is necessary to join. The workshops provide a space for attendees to connect, share ideas, and reflect on the proceedings of the summit. We encourage you to join as many workshops as you wish.
30 minute break
7:00–8:30 a.m. (ET)
Panel Four: Reconsidering Museums and Their Collections in a Post-Colonial World
Museums and arts institutions have been increasingly re-considering their programmatic missions and permanent collection activities in response to broader societal calls for greater equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Panelists will share their experiences navigating the complexities of addressing diverse, and sometimes conflicting, agendas; suggest simple but meaningful gestures as well as larger systemic changes, and recommend strategies for how cultural institutions can successfully navigate the balance between responding to the current calls to action while remaining true to their institutional identities.
- Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation
- Nancy Rosoff, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator, Arts of the Americas, Brooklyn Museum
- Sarah Suzuki, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, The Museum of Modern Art
- Vibha Joshi (moderator) Research Affiliate, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford
30 minutes of presentations from panelists (10 minutes each), 45 minutes of moderated discussion, 15 minutes of Q&A
5 minute break
8:35–10:05 a.m. (ET)
Panel Five: Dismantling Systemic Structures of Privilege Within the Arts Ecosystem
The Covid-19 pandemic and recent civil rights protests have amplified calls for greater equity and inclusion across societies around the globe. Museums and arts institutions have had to reckon with racial, gender, and other representational inequities within their own organizations from both staffing and governance perspectives. This panel will identify the structural inequities within the arts field that historically have excluded participation to all and make recommendations on measures that will promote greater diversity and participation within these organizations that in turn will allow more meaningful engagement with their local communities.
- Jessica Hong, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Toledo Museum of Art
- Jennifer King, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
- Grace Samboh, Research curator, Hyphen —, and Tamarra, Artist
- Alexandra Chang (moderator) Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, Rutgers University-Newark
30 minutes of presentations from panelists (10 minutes each), 45 minutes of moderated discussion, 15 minutes of Q&A
15 minute break
10:20–11:20 a.m. (ET)
Keynote Response
This keynote address is meant to respond to the themes and discourse put forth through the run of the Summit and to provide recommendations on best practices for the future.
- Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive, Bangkok Art Biennale
30 minutes of keynote presentation, 20 minutes of moderated conversation, 10 minutes Q&A with audience
11:20–11:35 a.m. (ET)
Closing Remarks
About the Arts & Museum Summit
The biennial Asia Society Arts & Museum Summit brings together arts and museum professionals from around the world to discuss timely issues across the field. The Summit is intended to identify and navigate the challenges and opportunities within the evolving arts ecologies across Asia and its diaspora, and engenders professional networks and collaborative exchange amongst arts professionals internationally.
Each Summit focuses on a specific topic that reflects the current thinking in the arts and museum world. In 2013, the Summit examined the surge of new museums in Asia and the pressing issues institutions face in this century. The 2015 Summit explored the urgency of cultural heritage preservation in Asia across tangible and intangible mediums, both traditional and contemporary. In 2017, the Summit addressed audience engagement at cultural institutions and outreach strategies used to build those audiences. The 2019 Summit focused on collection practices and philosophies at arts institutions, including non-collecting museums and artists’ estates.
Supporters
This program is made possible with support from the Getty Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art through the Elizabeth Glassman Fund for International Museum Partnerships.