NOW Live from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

This two-day symposium will explore the complicated interactions between American and Asian artists and visual traditions from the eighteenth century to the present.

Time:
Thursday-Friday, October 1-2, 2009
 
Location:
Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Eighth and G streets, NW
 
Metro:
Gallery Place-Chinatown
(Red, Yellow, and Green lines)

Papers by both senior and emerging scholars and curators will explore cultural interactions in a variety of “contact zones” ranging from the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States to venues of artistic production in India, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Speakers consider the circulation of artists, objects, and ideas over time and the impact of these crossings on art and culture at large; reflect on the changing face of Orientalism; look at international conversations about race and identity; and explore developments in studio craft and the import market.

“A Long and Tumultous Relationship”: East-West Interchanges in American Art is being organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in partnership with the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. It is supported by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art, which is dedicated to fostering the exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of American art for national and international audiences.

The program will begin on the morning of October 1 with a number of tours of related Smithsonian exhibitions and archives, followed by the opening panel at 1 p.m. A full day of lectures is planned on October 2. Advance registration will be required for the tours; no registration is required to attend the conference talks. The symposium will be available for viewing in a simultaneous and, later, an archived Webcast.

Click here for more detailed program information >>