In March 2023, Asia Art Archive presents talks and exhibitions highlighting our ongoing research initiative on art collectives and independent art spaces. 

Join us for our annual artist’s lecture by Ade Darmawan and farid rakun from ruangrupa, view an exhibition on art collectives in Asia, and visit our display with newly commissioned works by six Hong Kong artists responding to AAA Collections in our booth at Art Basel Hong Kong.  

Exhibition | The Collective School

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Image: Gudskul, <i>Temu Wall</i>, 2022, wall graphic; <i>Gudskul’s Veranda Talk</i>, video. Part of <i>The Collective School</i>, AAA Library, 2022. Photo: South Ho.
Image: Gudskul, Temu Wall, 2022, wall graphic; Gudskul’s Veranda Talk, video. Part of The Collective School, AAA Library, 2022. Photo: South Ho.

The Collective School explores artist-driven and collective models of learning. Developed in collaboration with Gudskul, a Jakarta-based collective that runs a grassroots school for other collectives, this project asks: How do artists learn from their peers in a collective? What makes collectivity necessary for survival today? How do collectives remain adaptive and relevant to their respective contexts? Hosted at AAA Library, The Collective School exhibition began with our invitation to Gudskul, who in turn invited eight collectives from across Asia. In the display, you will see their responses to archival materials from AAA Collections, developed together through group conversations over the past year.

DATE
Through 1 Apr 2023

LOCATION
CCG Library, Asia Art Archive
11/F Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

Annual Artist’s Lecture | ruangrupa 

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Image: Sketch for lumbung Kios by Iswanto Hartono. Courtesy of ruangrupa.
Image: Sketch for lumbung Kios by Iswanto Hartono. Courtesy of ruangrupa.

This year’s Annual Artist’s Lecture welcomes Ade Darmawan and farid rakun from ruangrupa as our guest speakers. ruangrupa is a Jakarta-based contemporary art collective that provides platforms for exhibitions, workshops, critical thinking, and research. Most recently, ruangrupa provided collective artistic direction based on the core values of lumbung for documenta fifteen in Kassel, Germany. In this conversation, Darmawan and rakun reflect on the historical conditions that make independent art spaces necessary, as well as recent debates on collectivity and resource sharing in the arts. Click here to register.

Moderator: Christopher K. Ho, Executive Director, Asia Art Archive

DATE
22 March 2023

Breakfast Reception | 10–11am

Artist’s Lecture | 11am–12:30pm


LOCATION
CCG Library, Asia Art Archive
11/F Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

Exhibition | Life-Size, or Not: Another Portrait of Hong Kong Art 

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Image: Highlights from AAA Hong Kong Collections. Photo: Stephen Lam.
Image: Highlights from AAA Hong Kong Collections. Photo: Stephen Lam.

We are not so much rational, as rationalising—our actions are often opaque, even to ourselves. Retrospectively we may try to explain, to rationalise, what were largely unconscious impulses and inextricably personal drives. For Art Basel Hong Kong, we are leaning into the personal. We invited six Hong Kong–based artists to create a “portrait” of a fellow artist of their choosing, using materials from Asia Art Archive’s Collections. The selection criteria was subject to the whims of the invited artists. One chose an artist known more as a writer; another attempted to portray an artist who doesn’t want to be remembered. Every pair is deeply personal—and this personal link, in turn, informs the portraits themselves. Together, they point to that which exceeds the logic of the archive, and challenge the way we write art histories about Hong Kong. 

DATE
21–25 March 2023 

LOCATION
Level 1 Concourse, Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre 

Asia Art Archive is a Cultural Partner of Art Basel Hong Kong. 


The Collective School is generously supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, as well as Wendy Lee & Stephen Li, and Virginia & Wellington Yee.

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Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.