Asia Art Archive (AAA)’s 2024 Annual Fundraiser features an auction of over 50 works generously donated by artists, galleries, and individuals. This year’s fundraiser supports a crucial milestone for the organisation: building a premier digital archiving facility and training future archivists. These initiatives enable Asia Art Archive to provide free public access to resources on the histories of contemporary art in Asia. The works are now available for bidding online at www.aaa2024auction.com until 1 November, 10:30pm.
This year’s auction features work by artists including Ruth Asawa, Rosamond Brown, Luis Chan, Chan Ting, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Naiza Khan, Leung Chi Wo, Qiu Anxiong, Ayesha Sultana, Tsang Kin-Wah, Wang Wei, and more.
Asia Art Archive enables free and open access to materials on the history of contemporary art in Asia through digitisation. As of today, AAA’s Research Collections contain more than 83,000 digital records. The fundraiser provides a vital source of funding to support AAA’s infrastructure in digitisation and advocacy for accessibility and custodianship.
The establishment of a Digitisation Lab will advance AAA’s archival standards and nurture the next generation of archivists. The enhanced infrastructure and expertise will give AAA the capacity to digitise 10,000 records per year—an increase of 148%.
These records illuminate the lives of influential artists, the histories of art and cultural organisations, and the intricacies of major exhibitions. In 2024, AAA launched several important archives spanning Hong Kong, South Asia, Taiwan, and more—including the archive of local artist Siu King Chung; Tozer Pak Sheung Chuen’s collection of Sunday Mingpao; the archive of Space II, Taiwan’s first cooperative gallery; and the Jyotsna Bhatt Archive, documenting the life of the eminent late Indian ceramicist.
We also anticipate upcoming collection launches, including that of Wang Gongyi (b. 1946), one of the few women artists who achieved recognition for her artistic and teaching career in 1980s China; Project 304 (est. 1996), a Bangkok- and Chiang Mai-based non-profit that shaped the landscape of Thai art communities; and Nalini Malani (b. 1946), a pioneer of new media arts who has galvanised Mumbai’s art scene since the 1970s.
