Eighth edition at Monnaie de Paris

Asia NOW Parisian Art Fair celebrates its 8th edition at Monnaie de Paris, the historical landmark, for the first time. The contemporary art fair will unfold over the location’s 1.2 hectares, situated on the left bank of the Seine, just a stone’s throw from the Louvre and the Bourse de commerce—Pinault collection.

Exploration of Asian scenery
Asia NOW is the only fair that explores the art scene from West Asia to Southeast Asia across more than forty countries, from Central Asia to the Subcontinent and the Asian-Pacific region.

The galleries
Asia NOW has brought together 88 international galleries this year, presenting a selection of the best emerging and established artists from these territories and their diaspora.

Asia NOW continues to present a comprehensive selection of galleries from Europe (PERROTIN, Michael Fuchs, In Situ - Fabienne Leclerc, Galerie Franck Elbaz, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris-Beijing, Perrotin, their stand has been specially designed by Takeshi Murakami) as well as from Asia (De Sarthe, Ora-Ora and Over the Influence from Hong Kong, Bank from Shanghai, Chi-Wen from Taipei, Yeo Workshop and Yavuz galleries from Singapore).  

Curation of the fair
On the agenda, Asia NOW has a program of exhibitions, in situ installations, performances, roundtables, award ceremonies and book launches.

Alexandra Fain, the founding director of Asia NOW, has confided the artistic direction of this edition to Kathy Alliou, the director of the Fine Arts Department at Beaux-Art in Paris. 

The generic name of this edition, “Feux de Joie,” Flame of Joy (named after Natsuko Uchino), calls upon the emblematic fire arts of coinage and metal as well as ceramic practices, a highlight of this edition. In the context of the global crisis, this edition aspires to joy, one of the most fundamental and complex emotions, that can help to revive the senses of a collective experience of living together.

This year’s carte blanche exhibition, “Mingei Asia Now” curated by Nicolas Trembley is a special exhibition supported by Sisley at the fair, reveals the impact of the Mingei legacy on contemporary artists who value the beauty of simple everyday objects.

Do it now! 2022 edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Cao Dan, published by CITIC Sight Press (bilingual Chinese/English) will be officially released for the first time in Europe during this edition of the fair.

Amongst the artists, the most followed of their generation, Lu Yang will present a set of videos and Kara Chin will present an installation of works mixing video animation, ceramics, and sculptures.

The PLACES program welcomes site specific artwork, or artwork adapted to its context. Trevor Yeung will produce a plant sculpture and Natsuko Uchino will produce a terra cotta brick installation to echo the heritage setting of the Mint. Bita Razavi will introduce a new version of her project “Orchidelirium” presented at the Venice Biennale. The works of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian will parallel the architecture of Monnae de Paris and Wang Keping Odile Burluraux, curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, will present a selection of videos, “Gulf Futurism”, (after Sophia Al Maria)—by female artists from West Asian countries that explore the cultural, socio-political, economic, and environmental issues that affect the Persian Gulf region.

Artist Cai Guo-Qiang will share his NFT project “Your Daytime Fireworks,” supported by TRLab.

Inspired by the age-old form of amphora, the Amphoreus project will bring together works of contemporary artists Lei Sato, Simone Fattal, Mai-Thu Perret, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Natsuko Uchino (by 91530 Le Marais).

SEA: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia – Edited by Weiss publication features contributions by Ute Meta Bauer, Karin Oen, Boon Hui Tan. This beautifully illustrated collection presents significant contemporary art in Southeast Asia.

A committed fair
Asia Now is likewise committed to the issues and conflicts that affect the world and emphasizes their support to those who suffer from them. Artists at risk has assisted numerous persecuted, threatened, or imprisoned artists over almost 10 years and is dedicated to supporting persecuted art practitioners. Asia NOW continues to support Thanks for Nothing. convinced by the relevance of their vision of art as a vector for citizenship. They will host a roundtable platform for the second consecutive year. The most involved artists, curators, museum directors, publishers and collectors will contribute to probe the most relevant issues of creation today: contemporary art and so-called traditional or artisanal know-how, creation in times of crisis, reinvestment in ceramics, collective artistic practices, NFT and Metaverse, In Situ and the contexts in which works appear. 

VIP Day: October 20
October 20 is dedicated to VIP invitations and will be supported by live performances by Nikhil Chopra, Neda Razavipour, Ayako Rokkaku and meaningful encounters.

Asia NOW is a sounding board for the most exciting art scenes and events in South and Southeast Asia, such as the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary, and the Dakha Art Summit, which will share a preview of their program in Europe on October 20th.

The 8th edition confirms the partnership between Asia NOW and Asia Society-Fr.

Offsite: Guimet Museum
Asia NOW’s off-site programming with the Musée national des arts asiatiques—Guimet continues with an exhibition of photographs by Anne de Henning covering the Bangladesh Liberation War, supported by the Samdani Foundation, and an exhibition by Indian photographer Ram Rahman. The museum will host the first exhibition devoted exclusively to Wifredo Lam’s ceramics, a Cuban artist of Chinese descent, in dialogue with the Qing ceramics of the collection, curated by Nicolas Trembley.