Announcement
A PIONEERING PARTNERSHIP SUPPORTING NEW CURATORIAL ROLES SPECIALISING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
Tate Modern, London
Alvin Li is now Curator, International Art, and Hera Chan Adjunct Curator, Asia-Pacific
Tate Modern, image courtesy of Tate Modern
We are delighted to announce our new partnership with Tate Modern as supporters of two new curatorial posts specialising in the Asia-Pacific region. Alvin Li has been appointed as Curator, International Art, supported by Asymmetry Art Foundation, and Hera Chan as Adjunct Curator, Asia-Pacific, supported by Asymmetry Art Foundation.
Tate has long been committed to telling an increasingly expansive and diverse art history through its collection and programme. Visitors to Tate Modern today will see many recent acquisitions from the Asia-Pacific region in the gallery’s free collection displays. These include rooms exploring the experimental Gutai Art Association in Japan in the 1950s and the radical performance practices in Beijing’s ‘East Village’ in the 1990s. There are also displays dedicated to Singaporean artist Ming Wong, Hong Kong born artist Tseng Kwong Chi, and the Korean-American collective Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, reflecting the multiple artistic practices from this vast and culturally diverse region of the world.
ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
Both roles ensure that vital expertise on art from the Asia-Pacific region is embedded in Tate Modern’s curatorial team, devising and delivering ambitious exhibitions, displays and initiatives in the gallery. They will also research new strategic acquisitions of modern and contemporary art for Tate’s collection, and forge new relationships with artists, cultural producers, scholars and curators based in the region.
'Tate is dedicated to rethinking modern and contemporary art from multiple geographies and perspectives. In recent years we have made great progress in the way we represent groundbreaking art from the Asia-Pacific region, and these two curatorial appointments will allow us to take that progress much further. I’m very grateful to Asymmetry Art Foundation for their support of this important work here at Tate and across the UK visual arts sector, and I look forward to all that we will achieve thanks to their generosity.'
-Karin Hindsbo, Director of Tate Modern
'As a young organisation with an ambitious vision in supporting curatorship and cultural agents in the arts ecosystem, it is important for us to also collaborate with different organisations, from independent commissioning art spaces to renowned universities and established collection-based institutions. Our varied approach in building partnerships have resulted in numerous initiatives, while giving presence to Sinophone artistic voices from Asia and its diaspora. We acknowledge the importance of contextualising curatorial knowledge about the distinctive regions of the Asia-Pacific in the global art world and we are excited to further shape the future of curatorial, art-historical, and institutional practices in a more inclusive and diverse landscape through this invaluable partnership with Tate.'
-Yan Du and Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, Directors, Asymmetry Art Foundation
PARTNER:
BIOGRAPHY
Hera Chan is a curator and writer based in Hong Kong. She was formerly Associate Curator of Public Programmes at Tai Kwun Contemporary and Director/Curator at Videotage, and has staged exhibitions and events in Asia, Europe and North America.
Alvin Jiahuan Li is a curator and writer based in London and has also been an adjunct curator at Tate since 2021. He previously worked as a contributing editor to frieze magazine and an artistic advisor to the 59th Venice Biennale. He has curated projects in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and London, and is a frequent contributor to art periodicals and monographs.