Building an Art Archive from and of Asia

Founded in 2009, Asia Art Archive in America (AAAinA) is an independently established and operated U.S. 501(c)3 and the U.S. hub of Asia Art Archive (AAA) in Hong Kong. 

Responding to a growing public interest in recent art from Asia and the Asian diaspora, AAAinA is one of few organizations providing well-researched and up to date information about recent art history and current art practice of these regions and communities. 

Our collection includes, exhibition catalogs, artist monographs, periodicals, reference books, videos, and artist books/zines. We are also an online access point to AAA’s extensive research collections. 

With over 13 years of programming experience, AAAinA has served an audience of more than 20,000 onsite visitors and has organized over 400 programs with artists, curators, and scholars. This includes workshops, panel discussions, screenings, and performances. For example:

We hosted our first zine residency in 2022 that supported four artists in the creation of a new zine that responded to AAA-A’s digital and physical archive and collection.

The selected residents were: Lulu Yao Gioiello, Jennifer Tobias, Frank WANG Yefeng and Alchemyverse.

And we hosted a conversation between  visual artists Bahar Behbahani and Tishan Hsu on texts that have significantly influenced their practice.

With a focus on recent art in and of Asia, AAAinA provides a platform for the underrepresented work of artists from Asia and the Asian diaspora who do not often see their contemporary cultural practices celebrated or presented in mainstream U.S. institutions.