After Darkness Exhibition Walkthrough with Boon Hui Tan

Friday, January 12, 4:00pm
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021

Please join us for a walkthrough of the current Asia Society exhibition After Darkness: Southeast Asian Art in the Wake of History, led by Boon Hui Tan, Vice President for Global Arts & Cultural Programs and Director, Asia Society Museum, New York. The exhibition examines the work of seven contemporary artists and one artist group from Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam and explores the questions of how, at a time of social and political tension, should art and artists respond to the challenges of the moment, and does art have the power to change the world, or does the world shape the evolution of art.

Boon Hui Tan is Vice President for Global Arts & Cultural Programs and Director, Asia Society Museum, New York, where he leads the organization’s global arts and cultural activities. He oversees Asia Society Museum’s exhibition programs and the Asia Society Museum Collection. Prior to this, he was Assistant Chief Executive (Museum & Programs) at the National Heritage Board (NHB) in Singapore, overseeing exhibitions, programs, and outreach events across the Board’s museums, institutions, and divisions. As Director of the Singapore Art Museum from 2009 to 2013, he led the transformation of the museum into a contemporary art institution focused on Southeast Asia and assembled the largest public collection of contemporary art from the region. He conceived the regional focus and group curating approach of the groundbreaking Singapore Biennale 2013: If The World Changed, as well as serving as its Project Director and Co-Curator.

Image caption: FX Harsono, (Still) Writing in the Rain, 2011, Single-channel video with sound, Duration: 6 minutes, 2 seconds, Image courtesy of the artist and Tyler Rollins Fine Art.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.