The modern concept of a museum can be traced to the sixteenth-century wunderkammern, or cabinets of curiosities, which were settings for objects procured from around the world to showcase the unique taste and knowledge of their owners. Across the globe, collections of valuable works of art by imperial courts form the basis of many of today’s best-known museums. Given changes in artistic production as well as new tools afforded by today’s technological advancements, artworks no longer need to exist in the physical dimension and can be experienced outside the white cube, which creates new possibilities for finding more democratized forms of viewing art. With so many museums investing in online visitors, the changing distribution of wealth globally, and the exponential economic growth in Asia, it is worth examining collection practices in the arts and museums of the twenty-first century. 

The 2019 Arts & Museum Summit will feature presentations, panel discussions, and a workshop featuring leading arts professionals from the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Participants will share their insights on current collection practices and philosophies at arts institutions, including non-collecting museums and artists’ estates. The program will be held in New Delhi, India from October 11 to 12, 2019.

Please note: This portal is only for India based attendees. International attendees can register via AsiaSociety.org/arts/2019-arts-museum-summit

Keynote Addresses

James M. Bradburne, Director General, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Tasneem Mehta, Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum

Kavita Singh, Dean and Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Speakers

Yasmine Chemali, Head of Collections, Sursock Museum, Beirut

Kateryna Filyuk, Chief Curator, Izolyatsia—Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv

Gridthiya Gaweewong, Artistic Director, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok

Ma. Elizabeth "Mariles" L. Gustilo, Senior Director, Arts and Culture, Ayala Foundation, Inc., Manila; and Senior Director, Ayala Museum, Manila

Mami Kataoka, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Laura Kuhn, Director John Cage Trust, Red Hook, New York; John Cage Professor of Performance Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

Pip Laurenson, Head of Collection Care Research, Tate, London

Pablo León de la Barra, Curator at Large, Latin America, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York; Chief Curator, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro; and Associate Curator, Museu de Arte de São Paulo

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai

Sneha Ragavan, Senior Researcher, Asia Art Archive in India, New Delhi

Akansha Rastogi, Senior Curator, Exhibitions and Programming, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi

Abhay Sardesai, Editor, ART India, Mumbai

Aaron Seeto, Director, Museum MACAN, Jakarta

Frankie Pochi Su, Director, Hong-gah Museum, Taipei

Akira Tatehata, Director, Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo

Arlette Quỳnh-Anh Trần, Director and Curator, Post Vidai Collection, Ho Chi Minh City

Ashok Vajpeyi, Managing and Life Trustee, The Raza Foundation, New Delhi

Ikko Yokoyama, Lead Curator, Design and Architecture, M+, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Hong Kong

Agenda

Day 1

Friday October 11, 2019

National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi

1:00­—2:00 p.m.

Registration

2:00–2:30 p.m.

Welcome Remarks

Boon Hui Tan, Vice President of Global Artistic Programs and Director of Asia Society Museum, New York

Bunty Chand, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Society India Center, Mumbai

Raghvendra Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Ministry of Culture, India 

2:30–3:00 p.m.

Keynote 1: Tastemakers and a Platform for Different Voices

In recent years, the call for more inclusion and diverse representation in collections has pushed museums to reconsider and broaden their scope of research to better serve their publics and present narratives that are relevant and relatable to their audiences. This presentation provides insight into how this practice is currently executed and implemented in museums whose mandate clearly defines their collection.

James M. Bradburne, Director General, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan 

3:00–3:15 p.m.

Break

3:15–4:25 p.m.

With the ever-growing interest in art collecting and progressing ideas of what institutions should collect, this panel takes a different approach and looks at collection as a means to preserve and conserve existing works of art, especially in more challenging mediums and scales.

Ma. Elizabeth “Mariles” L. Gustilo, Senior Director, Arts & Culture, Ayala Foundation, Inc., Manila; and Senior Director, Ayala Museum, Manila

Pip Laurenson, Head of Collection Care Research, Tate

Ikko Yokoyama, Lead Curator, Design and Architecture, M+, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Hong Kong 

4:25–4:40 p.m.

Break

4:40–5:40 p.m.

Workshop: The Future of Institutional Collecting

Day 2

Saturday, October 12, 2019

India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

9:30–10:00 a.m.

Keynote 2: Collecting in the 21st Century

Many museums established in past centuries are quickly adapting to new trends in museology. This presentation will examine how a museum founded in the nineteenth century to educate the public about world culture is now leading the change in collection practices. 

Tasneem Mehta, Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum 

10:00–11:10 a.m.

Panel 2: Private and Corporate Collections and Institutions

Many of today’s world-renowned museums began as the ambitious dream of a single person or family to bring art to the people. As many of Asia’s private institutions and corporate collections assume this same responsibility, they face similar and a variety of challenges, particularly as they continue to grow.

Gridthiya Gaweewong, Artistic Director, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok

Mami Kataoka, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Akansha Rastogi, Senior Curator, Exhibitions and Programs, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi

Aaron Seeto, Director, Museum MACAN, Jakarta 

Moderator: Frankie Su, Director, Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei 

11:10–11:30 a.m.

Break

11:30 a.m.–12:40 p.m.

Panel 3: Artist Estates and Archives

Artworks often outlive their creators and their longevity allows us to witness the genius of artists through what they left behind. Since the twentieth century, it has become a common practice for artists and their heirs to set up foundations and trusts to look after their intellectual property when they are gone. As a result, there is an increasing number of organizations that focus on documenting and archiving materials for artists’ estates. Panelists, each of whom represents an organization that takes care of the legacy of an artist, will share what it takes to keep artistic vision and creation alive and relevant.

Laura Kuhn, Executive Director, John Cage Trust, Red Hook, New York

Akira Tatehata, Director, Yayoi Kusama Museum and Yayoi Kusama Foundation, Tokyo

Ashok Vajpeyi, Managing and Life Trustee, The Raza Foundation, New Delhi

Moderator: Sneha Ragavan, Researcher, Asia Art Archive in India, New Delhi 

12:40–1:40 p.m.

Lunch

1:40–2:10 p.m.

Keynote 3: Museums: New Locations, New Definitions

In recent years museums have proliferated in regions with rapid economic growth. These new institutions range from the spectacular architectural structures with global ambitions in China and the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, to the humbler, community-based organizations aiming to address local needs. What are museums doing in their new locales, and what are they trying to be? And how does this ferment among museums fit with the recent, failed attempt by International Council of Museums (ICOM) to adopt a new museum definition? This presentation raises questions in a field with few answers.

Kavita Singh, Dean and Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 

2:10–3:10 p.m.

Panel 4: Changing Public Museums and Institutions

Collections and collecting practices have to change with the times and with the growing demand for more diverse cultural representation and post-colonial narratives, push the boundaries of what a museum or a public institution should do. This panel will also explore how collecting practice reacts to multiple historical perspectives and sociopolitical events. 

Yasmine Chemali, Head of Collections, Sursock Museum, Beirut

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director, Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum, Mumbai

Moderator: Pablo León de la Barra

, Curator at Large, Latin America, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Chief Curator, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 

3:10–3:30 p.m.

Break

3:30–4:40 p.m.

Panel 5: Finding Understanding through Collections

The arts, museums, and collections can serve as sanctuaries for people to express ideas freely and raise awareness about social issues. However, the notion of art and what it represents may still be new in parts of the world, where arts education and collecting are still at their naissance. This panel will examine the challenges art collections and artistic activities have encountered in different regions and how the arts help bring together communities.

Kateryna Filyuk, Chief Curator, Izolyatsia—Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv

Dawn Ross, Head of Collections, Art Jameel, Dubai

Arlette Quỳnh-Anh Trần, Director and Curator, Post Vidai Collection, Ho Chi Minh City

Moderator:

Abhay Sardesai, Editor, ART India, Mumbai 

4:40–4:50 p.m.

Break

4:50–5:50 p.m.

Workshop Report: The Future of Institutional Collecting

5:50–6:00 p.m.

Closing Remarks

Boon Hui Tan, Vice President of Global Artistic Programs and Director of Asia Society Museum, New York 

About the Arts & Museum Summit

The biennial Arts & Museum Summit brings together museum and arts and cultural leaders from across Asia, the Americas, and Europe to explore challenges, share new models, and develop deeper connections across the field. The Summit provides a forum to exchange ideas, strategies, and cultural issues relating to the arts of Asia. It presents the opportunity for the arts community to take part in important discourse with luminaries on the most pressing topics in the field of Asian arts and culture.

For more information, please visit AsiaSociety.org/arts-museum-summit, or email MuseumSummit@AsiaSociety.org.

About Asia Society

Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future.

Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with major centers and public buildings in New York, Hong Kong, and Houston, and offices in Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Zurich.

About Asia Society India Centre

The Asia Society India Centre, which is now 13 years old, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 and has rapidly become an important forum for the discussion of regional and global affairs and is increasingly recognized as a leading source of arts and cultural programming.

The India Centre, through its diverse and multidisciplinary programming initiatives including public lectures, business discussions, policy roundtables, guided art tours, performances, lecture demonstrations and leadership programmes, cultivates nuanced understandings of Asia Pacific affairs.