The book published in conjunction with the travelling exhibition of the same name, curated by Apinan Poshyananda for the Asia Society. This was one of the first exhibitions to bring the works of so many contemporary Asian artists to a western audience. Well illustated the catalogue includes artist bios and historical chronologies for each country.

'Contemporary Art in Asia: Traditions/Tensions might be seen as a paradigmatic project for the post-colonial, postmodern age we live in. (Most of the works in the exhibition) have been created in the last five years or so, and is evidence of the cultural and economic upheavels in all of these countries. The slash in the title betwen the terms "traditions" and "tensions" is intended to suggest the dynamic forces at work. As curator Apinan Poshyananda aptly notes, words like "tradition" and "tension" become slippery as soon as you try to pin them down. In this case, the ambiguity is intentional. As with the fluidity of those terms, the aim of this exhibition is not to define in some fixed way, to classify the developments of contemporary Asian art into neat compartments. Rather its goal is to suggest the current realities in Asia that make conventional antinomies such as "East/West" or "traditional/modern" somewhat outmoded' —Vishakha N. Desai