Asian Contemporary Art Week New York 2009

Rarely exhibited art and more firsts at Asian Contemporary Art Week New York 2009

ASIAN CONTEMPORARY ART WEEK 2009

For the first time since its inception in 2004 Cambodian and Tibetan artists will be on show in the 200 artist, 8 day event to be held in New York Mary 10-18th. But this is not the only first for ACAW in 2009.

The event which, according to Asia Society director Melissa Chiu, aims to present “the latest trends in Asian contemporary art” will also highlight the new vitality and increased international profile of artists from Central Asia and the Middle East.


Also new at this year’s event is a platform called Open Portfolios, a series of 20 artist talks and performances, each of which will focus on one aspect of the artist’s work and allow visitors to get up close and personal with artists. Artists involved include Qiu Zhijie (China), Mitra Trabizian (Iran) and at the Museum of Modern Art the husband and wife team Muratbek Djumaliev and Gulmara Kasmalieva from Kyrgyzstan. Seven selected artists will discuss their work in exclusive interviews on video which will be available on www.acaw.net.

In an astounding display of commitment to public education despite the weak economic climate, the ACAW team and the 35 participing venues will together present over 60 events, most of which are free to the public. In fact this year’s event has a record number of artists on show and includes many countries whose artists rarely exhibit work in the United States.

Countries represented include: Afghanistan, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Kazakhastan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.