ARCHIVE AS VERB – A KEYNOTE BY HAMMAD NASAR
When
Thursday, 3 April 2014, 7:30am
Location
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
181-187 Hay St, Haymarket
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts Visual Arts Section invite you to:
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:
ARCHIVE AS VERB
HAMMAD NASAR
HEAD OF RESEARCH AND PROGRAMMES, ASIA ART ARCHIVE
Thursday 3 April 2014
6.30pm-7.30pm
Venue: 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, 181-187 Hay Street, Sydney
Bookings: Free, bookings essential via eventbrite here
Refreshments will be served
In this special keynote presentation Hammad Nasar will discuss recent and ongoing projects that he and his colleagues have developed at the Hong Kong-based Asia Art Archive, one of the world’s leading public collections of primary and secondary source material about contemporary art in Asia.
Hammad will address the idea of archive as verb: a dynamic process that looks beyond the physical aspects of material culture towards the actions that engagement with archives can enable. How can artists, curators, researchers, educators, students and the broader public generate new ideas, works and individual responses that continually reshape the archive itself? What does it mean to enrich and complicate histories that are told through the archive by means of active engagement? What are the responsibilities of collecting organisations towards public accessibility, public education and the historical and political implications of facilitating others to challenge dominant global art historical narratives?
Ideal for those who are interested in understanding the development of contemporary art in Asia and the ideas and motivations behind activating archives, Hammad will link this theme and his current work with Asia Art Archive with his experiences in producing curatorial projects at Green Cardamom, a London-based not-for-profit organisation that focuses on art from South and West Asia and which he co-founded.
Hammad Nasar’s presentation complements 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art’s renewed focus on developing its contemporary art archive for research, education and program opportunities in the near future. Since 1996, 4A has been documenting and collecting information about contemporary artists and Australia’s evolving cultural relationships in the Asia Pacific region.
Hammad Nasar is co-hosted by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts Visual Arts Section through its International Visitors Program.
Hammad Nasar is a curator, writer and Head of Research and Programmes at the Hong Kong-based Asia Art Archive. Earlier he co-founded the non-profit arts organisation Green Cardamom, London, that focuses on art from South and West Asia and has a commitment to exhibition-led enquiry. Hammad has curated or co-curated numerous international exhibitions and symposia, including: Karkhana: A Contemporary Collaboration, Johnson Museum, Cornell University (2012, Ithaca, USA) and Nasher Museum, Duke University (2013, Durham, USA); Drawn from Life, Abbott Hall Art Gallery (2011, Kendal, UK); Beyond the Page: The Miniature as Attitude in Contemporary Art from Pakistan (Pacific Asia Museum (2010, Pasadena, USA); Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space, Cornell University (2012, Ithaca, USA); and Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Whitechapel Gallery and Fotomuseum Winterthur (2010, London, UK and Winterthur, Switzerland). Hammad plays an advisory role for various arts organisations including Delfina Foundation (UK), Rhode Island School of Design (USA) and San Art (Vietnam). He was a Fellow of the UK’s Clore Leadership Programme and Research Fellow at Goldsmiths College, London.
Asia Art Archive (AAA) was initiated in 2000 in response to the urgent need to document and secure the multiple recent histories of contemporary art in the Asia region. With research posts in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan, AAA has collated one of the most valuable collections of material on contemporary art in the region. Built of 85% donated material, the collection now holds over 34,000 records, comprised of hundreds of thousands of physical and digital items, and it continues to grow. Through collecting and making information on the recent history of contemporary art in Asia easily accessible, AAA offers a range of programmes for educators, youth and young adults, and other members in the community, with the goal of becoming the definitive arts resource and library for the Hong Kong public, particularly educators and students.
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