Asia Art Archive (AAA) is presenting talks, activities, and exhibitions highlighting our ongoing research initiative on performance art. Join us for our annual artist’s lecture to be delivered by Zhang Peili, view an exhibition on the Lee Wen Archive, and visit our display on the history of performance art in our booth at Art Basel in Hong Kong.
Form Colour Action: Sketchbooks and Notebooks of Lee Wen
March 13–June 29, 2019
On view at AAA Library, Form Colour Action: Sketchbooks and Notebooks of Lee Wen explores drawing as a site of performance. With materials from the archive of Lee Wen, a pioneering artist in performance art in Asia, the exhibition brings together his sketchbooks and notebooks—on display for the first time—as well as documentation of his performance works. The selection shows multiple alter egos that Lee created, and early manifestations of his development of the performing body as a medium that understands the individual as a part of the body politic.
Annual Artist’s Lecture: Zhang Peili
March 28, 2019
AAA is honoured to welcome Zhang Peili as a guest speaker for our annual artist’s lecture. Zhang is widely considered the “father of Chinese video art” in acknowledgement of his contributions to the development of the genre in East Asia. What is less well-known is how this engagement with the technology of video grew out of a concern and interest with the body and embodied actions. In this conversation, Zhang reflects on the work of his early years, which considers the role and place of performance in his own development as an artist and that of China more broadly.
The Body Collective: Performance Art Histories
March 27–31, 2019
AAA’s booth at Art Basel in Hong Kong, The Body Collective, looks at the evolution of performance art in Asia from the 1960s till today. The display features artwork and other materials drawn from AAA’s Collection, which include the archives of Kwok Mangho Frog King, Ray Langenbach, Lee Wen, and Betsy Damon (Keepers of the Waters), among others. The related public programmes include events with artist siren eun young jung, performer and activist Maya Krishna Rao, and artist Xing Danwen. AAA is a Cultural Partner of Art Basel in Hong Kong.
Read a shortlist on artists and activism in Hong Kong, and a conversation about performance art in India on AAA’s online journal Ideas.
Special thanks
Form Colour Action: Eunei & Ron Lee; Yvonne Wang & Alex Turnbull; The St. Regis Hong Kong
Artist’s Lecture by Zhang Peili: The St. Regis Hong Kong
The Body Collective: Shane Akeroyd; Susan Beningson & Steve Arons; Mimi Brown & Alp Ercil; Patricia & Jonathan Crockett; Katherine Don & Daniel Touff; Catherine & Barry Freeman; Eunei & Ron Lee; Wendy Lee & Stephen Li; James Lie; Tiffany Soong & Jake Lynch; CL3 Architects Ltd.; The St. Regis Hong Kong; Art Basel in Hong Kong; alonglongtime; Artomity; Ocula
Asia Art Archive is an independent non-profit organisation initiated in 2000 in response to the urgent need to document and make accessible the multiple recent histories of art in the region. With one of the most valuable collections of material on art freely available from its website and onsite library, AAA builds tools and communities to collectively expand knowledge through research, residency, and educational programmes.
