Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures

Tokyo Swan

The Rodger Swan Memorial Fund for Japanese Studies at Western Michigan University https://wmich.edu/languages/rodgerswan

李子柒 Liziqi

Liziqi is a Chinese youtuber famous for her videos featuring food harvesting, cooking, handcrafts, and country life.  She has amassed over 20 million followers through her use of simple ingredients, cinematography, and traditional Chinese handcrafting techniques, and has become one of the most influential Chinese youtubers. Her videos feature her rural hometown in north-central Sichuan province, Southwest China.

Asian Art Museum

The Asian Art Museum is one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art and culture. Home to works of art from over 40 Asian countries, we strive to be a catalyst for discovery, dialogue, and inspiration. The YouTube channel features exhibition walkthroughs, artifact spotlights, scholar talks, meditations, food preparation videos, and more.

The MET: Videos on Asian Art

Trans Asia Photography Journal

 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 Playlists: 

 Arts of Asia Lectures

 A series of academic lectures on various aspects of the arts of Asia.

 Arts of Asia Spotlights

Asia Society

Smithsonian: National Museum of Asian Art

Committed to preserving, exhibiting and interpreting exemplary works of art, the museum houses exceptional collections of Asian art, with more than 44,000 objects dating from the Neolithic period to today. Renowned and iconic objects originate from China, Japan, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, the ancient Near East and the Islamic world. Videos span object highlights, lectures, performances, workshops and artist/curator talks.

Michigan/Shiga Webpage

Japan Foundation New York

Buddhism after the Tsunami: The Souls of Zen 3/11 Japan (Classroom Edition)

In this film Tim Graf and Jakob Montrasio follow Buddhist priests through the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters in Japan.  

A Monk Who Wears Heels - NHK World - Japan

Kodo Nishimura is a Buddhist monk, makeup artist and LGBTQ+ activist, each identity an expression of his desire to live life without limitations.

Indoor Graves at Banshoji in Nagoya, Japan

Mini-documentary on Indoor Graves at the High-Tech Temple Banshōji in Nagoya, Japan. This video introduces several of Banshōji’s indoor graves and shows how different graves represent different aesthetics, needs, and financial plans. Viewers will notice the importance placed on light and the material features involved in making religious beliefs and practices visible and tangible at Banshōji.

Flower Punk

In this documentary, Japanese artist Azuma Makoto uses plants to create stunning sculptures that connect humanity and nature.

One Artist's Audacious Pursuit of Traditional Korean Hanji

In this mini-documentary artist Aimee Lee discusses her pursuit of training in the male dominated field of hanji paper making, and how she incorporated hanji into original art pieces. 

Xu Chen: Artists Change the Way People Think

A mini-documentary released by the Tate following artist, curator and entrepreneur Xu Zhen, a leading figure among the younger generation of Chinese contemporary artists.

Brilliant Ideas: Bloomberg series on contemporary Asian artists Series

Asian-American

Michael Joo 

is an artist who freely explores genres of sculpture, performance, video art and installation. His experiences dictate how he approaches diverse topics, with keywords spanning from identity, nature, humanity and even politics. His art radiates from a singular identity to a universal identity, and at times reaches out to something else altogether, making him one of the most enigmatic artists in contemporary art today.

Ali Banisadr 

Born in 1976 in Tehran, Ali Banisadr moved to America when he was a child. His works are influenced by his experiences as a refugee from the Iran-Iraq war and his approach to abstraction mixes memory, nostalgia and violence. He is best known for his large, lush, highly intricate paintings featuring fantastical landscapes reminiscent of stained glass. Ali experiences synaesthesia, a condition which shapes his perception of the world, and a dimension of his work.

Cambodia

Sopheap Pich

Is one of Cambodia’s most exciting and internationally recognized artists. His instantly recognizable bamboo and rattan sculptures are shaping the South East Asian contemporary art world. Sopheap’s work ranges from large geometric sculpture to grid paintings to his most recent bamboo strip and natural pigment paintings

China

Xu Bing 

The modern society has changed beyond recognition. Still, we are speaking and writing in the same languages as we have been before. Xu Bing, an installation artist from China, questions this state of language use with a view that the old languages are no longer suitable for the new era. 

Sun Xu

Is one of China’s most talented and ambitious young artists. He experiments with drawings, traditional ink paintings and woodcuts, and then uses new technologies to transform them into his artistic trademark – black and white animations. 

Cai Guo Qiang 

Gun powder is Cai Guo Qiang's calling card, as the artist behind the fireworks displays of the Beijing Olympics, having also won the coveted Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale, Cai Guo-Qiang stands today as a bona-fide rock-start in the world of arts. From his "Explosion of Ants" to his gun powder drawings, to his monumental installations, his art is unique, and one seen it's never forgotten.

Cao Fei 

Chinese artist Cao Fei is one of the most ground-breaking and talked-about artists of her generation. She skillfully uses new technologies to create multimedia projects that explore themes of escapism, consumerism and the effects of economic change across China.

Ai Weiwei 

In this episode, we meet Ai Weiwei in Athens for his solo exhibition at the Cycladic Museum. We revisit his most iconic works and see how Ai Weiwei became the artist and the champion of human rights that he is today. 

Zhang Huan 

One of the public images of an artist is that he or she presents a breakaway from the things already existing. In that, Zhang Huan has taken steps to always surprise the public as an artist. The start of Zhang Huan’s steps was his first performance, which embarrassed Chinese people. Afterwards, he went to and returned from New York, suddenly embraced Buddhism, and presented sculpture installations, which are totally new compared to his performances that made him one of the world’s famous artists.

Liu Wei 

is one of China’s rebellious and unconventional artists. With the common use of surprising materials in his sculptures and construction of massive installations, his works are fearless and uncompromising. Having lived through a period that witnessed drastic urban change in China, Liu Wei frequently turns to architectural themes in his work.

Hong Kong

Samson Young 

Originally trained in music composition, Samson Young’s creative outputs now take shape in a variety of media and across many disciplines. Born in 1979 in Hong Kong, Samson studied music, philosophy and gender studies at the University of Sydney and holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University. His diverse and experimental practice includes live performances, radio broadcasts, public-participatory events, films, installations, and “sound drawings”.

India and Pakistan

Bharti Kher 

Feminist, mythology narrator and quasi-anthropologist are just some of the titles that describe artist Bharti Kher, currently at the center stage of the Indian contemporary art scene. Kher was born in London in 1969 and earned a BFA at Newcastle Polytechnic before moving to India in 1993.

Rana Begum  

Bangladeshi born, but British raised artist, Rana Begum, is best known for her minimalist, abstract sculpture. Whether it is her delicate wire structures or large-scale public installation, all her work explores the principles of light, color and form.

Subodh Gupta 

As Jean Michel Basquiat was nicknamed the “Black Picasso,” many brilliant contemporary artists will earn the sobriquet of another’s name. Subodh Gupta, though now an institution in his own right, was once referred to as the “Damien Hirst of India.”

N.S. Harsha 

"Brilliant Ideas" looks at the most exciting and acclaimed artists at work in the world today. On this episode, N.S. Harsha talks to Bloomberg.

Haroon Mirza 

London-based artist Haroon Mirza is at the forefront of British sound and installation art. Each element of Haroon’s work interacts and produces provocative sounds. Through the interplay of flashing lights, sound and object, Haroon explores profound themes of science, culture and religion, often drawn from his experiences of British and Pakistani culture.

Indonesia

FX Harsono

has been a central figure of the Indonesian art scene for over four decades. He works across many mediums, experimenting with paintings, installations, film and performance art. Harsono was among the group of artists who founded the New Art Movement (Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru), which rejected Western techniques, and promoted a more conceptual and experimental approach.

Heri Dono

was born in 1960 in Jakarta, Indonesia and is one of Indonesia’s best-known contemporary artists. Heavily influenced by Javanese “wayang” theatre, comic books and animation, Dono’s works are characterized by his penchant for the fantastical and the absurd, populated by astonishing characters and strange juxtapositions. While ostensibly playful and humorous, his works often contain incisive socio-political commentary on both Indonesia and abroad. He works across a broad range of media, from painting, sculpture, installation to performance.

Japan

Team Lab 

Founded in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab is a 400-strong Japanese digital art collective whose members include artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, architects and designers. Their multi-disciplinary, intensely collaborative practice fuses art, technology and the natural world, resulting in immersive, multi-sensory artworks that thoroughly redefine how we view and interact with art.

Takahiro Iwasaki

is best known for his detailed miniature landscapes, made from found materials such as toothbrushes, books, flags and used clothing – even hair. Takahiro’s work is very much a reflection of his relationship with Japan, having grown up in Hiroshima.

Mariko Mori

is an artist who comes from a background in fashion, modeling and design. In 1993, she moved to New York City and enrolled in the independent study program at the Whitney Museum of American Art, changing her career path from design to fine art. Mori is recognized for her distinctive style portraying Japanese tradition and futuristic thought, rarely bound to a particular space or time. She is a multifaceted artist who knows how to utilize her talents in a combination of ways.

Yayoi Kusama 

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is best known for her inexhaustible creations involving polka dots, pumpkins, and vibrant colors. Her love of design has seen her join forces with top fashion houses.

Chiharu Shiota 

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is best known for her fantastical installations made out of intricately woven yarn but her body of work is much more diverse - ranging from visceral performance art to grand sculptures created with used objects.

Singapore

Charles Lim 

Born in 1972 in Singapore, Charles Lim is a former Olympic sailor and his art is based on his special affinity with the sea. From films, installations, and photography, his works explore the biophysical, aspirational, and cerebral contours of the island city-state of Singapore, through the visible and invisible lenses of the sea.

South Korea

Im Heung Soon 

Striking, complex, and deeply moving, the poignant video works of Korean-born artist Im Heung Soon deal with serious local and international issues like war, poverty and state repression.

Kimsooja 

Born in 1957 in Daegu, South Korea, Kimsooja started attracting the attention of the international art community when she began constructing Korean bottaris in her art – a gesture and motif that continues to appear in her work till today. Her art centers on the work and labor of women –beginning with her early sewn works, to her films and video performances, and now to her sparse, experiential installations that we see today.

Do Ho Suh 

Born in 1962 in Seoul, South Korea, Do Ho Suh’s art is very much rooted by his own history of migration, having moved to the United States in his late twenties. From his sculptures, installations and drawings, his works explore the notion of personal space, the boundaries of identity, and the relationship between the individual and the collective body.

Lee Bul 

Contemporary art is often the subject of confusion and frustration. Unlike paintings of the past that were relatively consistent to the subject matter, contemporary art presented viewers with a conceptual layer that alienates the public. Lee Bul claims that prior knowledge is not a requirement in understanding her works. Instead, she underlines the importance of experience, by encouraging the public to experience her works first-hand.

Ahn Kyuchul 

Born in 1955, Ahn Kyuchul is a Korean sculpture and installation artist, writer and teacher. He has taken a different path to the circle of Korean sculptors who mainly work on decorative art and monumental sculptures, preferring instead to work with mundane objects like the hammer, the door, the table – objects with no real meaning or aesthetic value. His work explores aims to realise his long and profound examination on life and what contemporary art could be.

U-Ram Choe

is one of South Korea’s most exciting contemporary artists. Born in 1970 in Seoul, U-Ram creates meticulously intricate and beautiful art works. Biology, mathematics, robotics and engineering shape his work.

Yeondoo Jung

mesmerizes audiences with his photography and video. From live performance art to virtual reality photo booths, he blurs the lines between the real and the ideal. And delving into the hopes, dreams and passions of ordinary people, his artwork has a profound effect.

Vietnam

Dahn Vo

Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Vo often draws on his own personal experience to investigate larger historical, social or political themes, especially those relating to Vietnam towards the end of the 20th century.

Tiffany Chung 

Artist, researcher and historian Tiffany Chung has made a name for herself with her stunning cartographic works. Her experience as a Vietnamese refugee has influenced the subjects of her art. Her work examines conflict, migration and urban transformation in relation to history and cultural memory. She is a contemporary artist whose work crosses many mediums including video and performance art, embroidery and beadwork on canvases, and sculptures and archaeological discoveries.