Asia Art Archive (AAA), an independent non-profit that has been documenting, activating, and making accessible the multiple recent histories of art in Asia for the last twenty years, announces Christopher K. Ho as its new Executive Director. Ho will join AAA in September 2021, and will be based in Hong Kong.

Claire Hsu, Co-founder and Executive Director of AAA for the past twenty years, will now become AAA Board Co-chair with Benjamin Cha, who has taken on this role with Jane DeBevoise since 2018. DeBevoise, AAA Board Chair since 2003, will remain an AAA Board Member, as well as Board Chair of Asia Art Archive in America (AAA in A).

Christopher K. Ho (b. 1974) is an artist, educator, and organiser. His multi-component projects address privilege, community, and capital, drawing from learned material about, and lived encounters with, power and otherness in a multi-polar, networked world. Prior to joining AAA, he was on the faculty of the Rhode Island School of Design between 2000 and 2018, and has additionally taught at Cranbrook Art Academy, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and Pratt Institute. He received his BFA in architecture and BS in history of architecture and urbanism from Cornell University, and his MPhil in art history from Columbia University. He was on the boards of AAA in A and AAA from 2015 and 2018, respectively, until 2021, and has been involved in Apex Art, Art in General, NURTUREart, and Telluride Arts, among other non-profits.

Ho recently exhibited his art at UCCA, Asia Society Hong Kong, Times Museum, Para Site, and Tomorrow Maybe. He has written interviews and reviews for Yishu, Artforum China, ArtAsiaPacific, November, Modern Painters, Flash Art, and ArtReview; as well as essays for  PAJ: A Journal of Performing Arts; and assorted museum catalogues. Chris has also lectured at Asia Contemporary Art Week, UC Berkeley, The Kitchen, Salt Projects, and Trigger; and curated projects at the Hyde Park Art Center, PS 122, and the Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale.

“After twenty years of building AAA with the team and community, I could not be more pleased to hand over the ED baton to Chris Ho, who embodies the values that we hold to dear at AAA—that of generosity, openness, intellectual curiosity, and professional integrity. We have great respect for his vision and experience as an artist and educator, and have no doubt that AAA will thrive under his leadership as one of the leading organisations dedicated to making less visible histories accessible in the field.” —Claire Hsu, Co-founder& Co-chair, AAA.

“Chris brings enormous enthusiasm, energy, creative thinking, and experience in contemporary art to AAA. We couldn't be more thrilled, and we look forward to working with him closely as he leads the team into the future.” —Benjamin Cha, Co-chair of AAA, and Jane DeBevoise, Chair of AAA in A & board member of AAA. 

“Over the past twenty years, Asia Art Archive has documented, shared, and catalysed the complexities of art, and of Asia, with both care and fearlessness. I relish the opportunity to work alongside the team, and to collaborate with its communities and constituents, in Hong Kong and beyond. I am buoyed by the organisation’s history, and am excited for its near and distant future.” —Christopher K. Ho, Executive Director, AAA.

About 40 applications were reviewed and received through a vigorous global search over five months led by Mimi Brown, AAA Board Member and Founder of Spring Workshop, Hong Kong, alongside the international executive search firm Perrett Laver.

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