Museum Salon 3: Around the World in the Arts
VIEW EVENT DETAILSHow the arts have coped during Covid-19 and what comes after
As Hong Kong braces for a third wave of coronavirus cases and the United States continues its phased reopening, following in Europe’s footsteps, the devastating effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt across the world. Over the last several months, arts professionals have found creative ways to enrich the lives of global audiences by staging virtual orchestral and operatic performances, screening recorded theatrical and dance performances, presenting virtual exhibition tours, and organizing conversations with leaders on the subject of social justice. Paris-based visual artist Lee Mingwei, Taipei-based pianist Pei-Yao Wang, and Seattle Art Museum curator of Japanese and Korean Art Xiaojin Wu join moderator Kelly Ma, Asia Society’s Assistant Director of Global Arts & Collections, to bridge four time zones and share their thoughts on the often interactive and experiential nature of the arts. The conversation will highlight how the arts have adapted to the global pandemic and the panelists’ outlook for a post-COVID-19 world for the cultural sector.
Speakers
Taiwanese-born artist Lee Mingwei creates participatory installations where strangers are encouraged to explore issues of trust, intimacy, and self-awareness, as well as one-on-one events in which a participant examines these themes with the artist through eating, sleeping, walking, and conversation. Lee's projects are often open-ended scenarios for everyday interaction that take different forms and change throughout the exhibition. Lee has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Gropius Bau, Berlin (2020); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018 and 2017); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2015); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2015); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2014); Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2007); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2004); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2003); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2000), and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1998). His work has been featured in the Venice, Lyon, Liverpool, Taipei, Sydney, and Whitney Biennials, and in the Asia Pacific Triennials. Lee received an MFA from Yale University in 1997. He currently lives in Paris and New York.
Pianist Pei-Yao Wang is widely in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, vocal coach, and producer. As a chamber musician, she has performed with numerous world-renowned string quartets as well as instrumentalists. As a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Wang has worked with various noted conductors and has been a part of over thirty opera productions in Taiwan and the United States. She received a Grammy Award in 2011 for her work in the production of Doctor Atomic, a John Adams opera. Wang has commissioned and premiered over twenty solo and chamber works throughout her career. She made her conducting debut in 2017 at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, where she premiered seven new vocal chamber works by Taiwanese female composers. During the 2019–2020 season, Wang was featured in performances in China, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. In addition to performing, she has served as the artistic director of the Yunlin Shine Foundation, which hosts many concerts and cultural events throughout the year.
Xiaojin Wu currently serves as curator of Japanese and Korean art at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and oversees the Museum’s renowned collection of Japanese and Korean art. She has organized some memorable exhibitions including “Tabaimo: Utsutsushi Utsushi” (2016) and “Chiho Aoshima: Rebirth of the World” (2015). Together with her SAM colleagues, she devoted most of her energy over the last couple of years to the grand reopening of the Seattle Asian Art Museum. In 2019, in recognition of her work in promoting Japanese art and culture, the Nakasone Peace Institute in Japan presented her with a Nakasone Yasuhiro award. Before joining SAM in 2012, Wu was a curator of Asian art at the Princeton University Art Museum, a Getty Fellow at the Asia Society, and a Smithsonian Fellow at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. She studied Japanese language and culture in China, Japan, and Singapore before moving to the United States to study the history of Japanese art. She received her PhD in Japanese art history from Princeton University.
Kelly Ma (moderator) is the assistant director of global arts & collaborations at Asia Society Museum. Since 2013 she has organized international conferences for arts professionals, including the Arts & Museum Summit and the U.S.-China Museum Leaders Forum, both under Asia Society’s initiative titled Asia Arts and Museum Network, and their related publications. Previously, Ma was the project manager at artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s studio in New York, where she oversaw Cai’s exhibitions worldwide, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 2012 to 2013, she contributed to the magazine ARTCO in Taiwan as a New York correspondent. Ma received a BA in visual art and history of art and architecture from Brown University.
Part of Museum Salons: At Home with Asian Arts series from Asia Society Museum