Programme for the seventh edition

Raising awareness, commitment and ecology in Asia. Join ASIA NOW to celebrate the seventh edition of the project’s art fair dedicated to Asia at large, October 22–24 with a preview opening on Thursday, October 21, by invitation.

For its 2021 edition, Asia Now wishes to take part in the upheavals of the world under the auspices of anthropologist Anna L. Tsing’s essay “The Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet.” Thanks to the artists, curators, collectors, institutions and galleries who contribute to this new edition, Asia Now claims a more assertive commitment to solidarity and ecology.

Making Worlds Exist, curated by Kathy Alliou, with the support of Sisley.
It is from this inspirational theme this year that Kathy Alliou designed her exhibition with the allure of a sensory and gathering journey, a wandering of the gaze between the cyma of the walls and the floor strewn with podiums. “Beyond the dualisms that the notions of native land or adoption, of inherited or constructed identities, of chosen or forced displacement, of descent or diaspora,” the curator has taken the decision to interweave the destinies and paths of nine artists—Alexis Chrun, Kim Farkas, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, My-Lan Hoang-Thuy, Odonchimeg Davaadorj, Trevor Yeung, Thu-Van Tran, Seulgi Lee, Xie Lei—in order to initiate other proposals of regeneration and mutations. Artists of Asian origin most studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. Thanks to the fluidity of their cultural or family heritage, they all revisited in their own way the history of the matsutake, this living, multicellular organism, extinct in Japan, but capable of growing back in the devastated forests of Oregon, in the United States, participating in new biotopes and making new value systems emerge. 

SHUN—a carte blanche given to Nicolas Bourriaud
If Western thought is based on a opposition between nature and culture and advocates a brutal appropriation, leading to plunder the planet’s resources, Eastern thought prefers to “go with the flow”, according to the philosophical concept called “shun”.”But what about this form of thought when nature has become the expression of human industry, the image of its omnipresence?”, asks Nicolas Bourriaud. By highlighting the work of eight representatives of the Asian scene—Hu Xiaoyuan, Haegue Yang, Guan Xiao, Natsuko Uchino, Ji Hye Yeom, Timur Si Qin, Tetsumi Kudo and Shimabuku—his exhibition, soberly entitled “SHUN”, attempts to sketch out a state of play. “If some of them still seem to seal an ideal harmony between man and his environ- ment, other visual artists denounce with a bang the desolate spectacle of an earth gangrened by catastrophe”, explains the curator. Among these works from China, Mongolia, Korea or Japan, are the large immersive videos of Timur Si Qin, contemporary variations of Far Eastern landscape paintings and their intimate relationship to the sacred.

In this awakened perspective, ASIA NOW is happy to continue its exploration by widening its perimeter towards West Asia, featuring artists who live and work in Iran today. Amongst the 40 international, European and French gallery exhibitors, some of which will present artists from the Iranian diaspora, eight galleries showing 40 artists coming directly from Tehran will be gathered in Paris for the first time.

+2 Gallery, Tehran / A2Z Art Gallery, Paris, Hong Kong / Aaran Gallery, Tehran / Ab-Anbar Gallery, London, Tehran / Aktis Gallery, London, Paris / Azad Art Gallery, Tehran / Bavan Gallery, Tehran / Behnoode Foundation, Paris, Dubai / CMS Collection, Paris / DANYSZ, Paris, Shanghai, London / Dumonteil Contemporary, Paris, Shanghai / Etemad Gallery, Tehran- Galleria A41, Rome / Galerie ANTHOLOGIE, Paris / Galerie Félix Frachon, Brussels / Galerie La La Lande, Paris / Galerie LJ, Paris / Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, Brussels / Galerie Nouchine Pahlevan, Paris / Galerie Taménaga, Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto / Galerie Templon, Paris, Brussels / Galerie Vazieux, Paris / HdM Gallery, Beijing, London / Intersections Gallery, Singapore / Louis & Sack, Paris / March Art, Geneva / Mark Hachem Gallery, Paris, Beirut, New York / Mohsen Gallery, Tehran / Over The Influence, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Bangkok / Perrotin, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul / Praz-Delavallade, Paris, Los Angeles / Primo Marella Gallery, Milan / Red Zone Arts, Frankfurt am Main / Sato Gallery, Paris / SARADIPOUR Art Gallery (SARAI), Tehran, Mahshahr / Yavuz Gallery, Singapore, Sydney / Zeto Art, Paris

Tehran Now
As part of Tehran Now platform, designed by Studio Kargah, Odile Burluraux, curator of Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, proposes BURNING WINGS, a video program of female artists living in Iran and from the diaspora: Atousa Bandeh Ghiasabad, Samira Eskandarfar, Parisa Ghaderi, Elika Hedayat, Anahita Hekmat, Shiva Khosravi, Tahmineh Monzavi, Melika Shafahi, Rojin Shafiei, Sanaz Sohrabi. Farideh Lashai Foundation showcases several works by the artist, throughout her distinguished career which spans over five decades. Other Iranian artists are presented and supported by the Behnoode Foundation founded by Behnood Javaherpour. International galleries also present major Iranian artists such as Farhad Moshiri at Perrotin, Tahmineh Monzavi at Galerie Félix Frachon and Sepand Danesh at Galerie Nouchine Pahlevan.

L’Asie Maintenant at National Museum of Asian Arts—Guimet
Asia Now contemporary off site program at Guimet this year features an in situ installation of Thu-Van Tran, Faits du même bois, curated by Kathy Alliou, with the support of Almine Rech gallery, in the historic library; and the first monographic exhibition of the Vietnamese artist Huong Dodinh, A la conquête de la Lumière, curated by Hervé Mikaeloff with the support of CMS Collection.

Panel discussions curated by Thanks for Nothing
On the theme of art, the awakening of consciousness, ecology and solidarity, on the ground of Asia, Thanks for Nothing curates four round tables on Friday, October 22 which will be broadcasted live:
11am: “Nature in the face of capitalism as a source of creation: the Taoist concept of “shun” and the mushroom of the end of the world by Anna Tsing” including Victoria Jonathan, Nicolas Bourriaud, Kathy Alliou, Thu-Van Tran and Natsuko Uchino 
2pm: “The crisis situation in Afghanistan” including Guilda Chahverdi, Maria-Carmela Mini, Kubra Khademi,
4pm: “On Burning Wings” including Odile Burluraux, Elika Hedayat, Rojin Shafiei,
Melika Shafahi, Shiva Khosravi
6pm: Discussion of arts initiatives in Asia with high social impact (pre-recorded format), including Ilaria, Mari Spirito, Abidjan Toto

For other special projects and events happening at ASIA NOW October 21–24, visit here.

Information: contact [​at​] asianowparis.com

Opening hours:
VIP preview by invitation only: Thursday, October 21, 2–8pm / Friday–Saturday, October 22–23, 10am–8pm / Sunday, October 24, 10am–6pm  
ASIA NOW public days: October 22–23, 11am–8pm / October 24, 11am–6pm