LONDON.- The Directors of the SOAS Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art will be hosting an expert panel on Asian Art, exploring how museums, auction houses, art fairs, galleries and artists are adapting to the challenges of Covid-19.

Panelists
• Calvin Hui Founder of Ink Now and Co-owner of 3812 Gallery • Anna Jackson Keeper of the Asia Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, Curator of ‘Kimono: From Kyoto to Catwalk’ • Jonathan Stone Co-Chairman of Asian Art, Deputy Chairman, Asia Pacific, Christie’s • Victor Wong TECH-iNK Artist Chair • Dr Malcolm McNeill Director, SOAS Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art, Senior Lecturer in Arts Education

This event is free and open for to all to attend. For more details and to register your attendance please email asianart@soas.ac.uk

All of our lives have been transformed by the covid-19 pandemic. Our interaction with the art world is no exception. This panel brings together experts from the museum world and the art market, alongside a practicing contemporary ink artist with a unique perspective on digital technology. Together they will address the most pressing questions that arise from this unprecedented global moment. How are online interactions changing our relationship with objects and exhibitions? Who collects in a crisis? And how might covid-19 reshape global experiences of East Asian Art.

Calvin Hui Founder of Ink Now and Co-owner of 3812 Gallery
Calvin Hui is an acclaimed cultural entrepreneur, art advisor, collector and curator based in Hong Kong. Recognised as one of the leading figures in the local art scene, he has been active in promoting modern and contemporary Chinese art over the years, with a focus on promoting ink art.

Hui’s art business has been expanding rapidly and internationally in recent years: he founded 3812 Galleries in Hong Kong in 2011 and expanded to London in 2018; appointed as the Co-Chairman and Director of FINE ART ASIA from 2011 to 2017 and was the Founder and Director of INK ASIA from 2015 to 2017. Hui was also being appointed by Ms. Pansy Ho, Co-chairperson of MGM China Holding as the art consultant and curator for building the Chairman’s Collection for the MGM Cotai project, which aims to enrich the MGM Cotai Art Collection. In 2018, Hui announced the establishment of INK NOW, the world’s first cultural brand specialising in the promotion of contemporary ink art and had organised the first INK NOW Art Expo in January 2019 in Taipei, which was awarded “The Twelfth Taiwan Interior Design Award - The TID Award of Public Space”. In November 2019, Hui launched INK NOW Shanghai collaborating with Suning Art Museum to co-present Inquiry on Water exhibition and the first international ink art symposium. Following the notion “Eastern Origin in Contemporary Expression”, he aspires to raise international attention to Chinese ink art by grounding it in academic research and market insights.

Anna Jackson Keeper of the Asia Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, Curator of ‘Kimono: From Kyoto to Catwalk’
Anna is Keeper of the Asia Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum. A specialist in Japanese textiles and dress, she is the curator of the exhibition Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk and editor of the accompanying publication. She has written widely on the subject and on the cultural relationship between Asia and Europe. In 2004 she was co-curator of Encounters: the Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500-1800 and in 2009 lead curator of Maharaja: the Splendour of India’s Royal Courts, which subsequently toured internationally including, in revised form, to Beijing.

Jonathan Stone Co-Chairman of Asian Art, Deputy Chairman, Asia Pacific, Christie’s
Jonathan Stone, Co-Chairman of Asian Art, Deputy Chairman, Asia Pacific, is based in Hong Kong and leads the specialist departments for Christie’s Asian Art auctions, private sales and e-commerce around the world, as well as supporting the company’s regional activities. Joining Christie’s after gaining an M.A. in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, Mr. Stone served in London for ten years as a specialist and later head of department. In 2000, he moved to Tokyo and was subsequently appointed Representative Director of Christie’s Japan. He was appointed International Business Director of Asian Art in 2005 before assuming his current role in 2011. Christie’s sales of Asian art worldwide continue to increase significantly and the firm has seen rapid growth in Asia, with the establishment of Hong Kong as Christie’s third largest sale site and a major hub in the global art market. Prior to the Courtauld Institute of Art, Mr. Stone worked in branded consumer products role in Japan for a number of years. He also holds a Master’s degree in History from Peterhouse, Cambridge University.

Victor Wong TECH-iNK Artist Chair
Victor Wong (b.1966) is best known for his digital work and special effects. He invented and created A.I. Gemini, the first-ever artificial intelligence ink artist in the world in 2018. In 2019, Victor Wong's Escapism series was unveiled at INK NOW Taipei Art Expo in January, marking the beginning of the TECH-iNK era. In April, he held his debut exhibition in Europe Far Side of the Moon at 3812 Gallery London. Within one year, 3812 Gallery presented Wong’s TECH-iNK in many cities including London, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, and Nanjing. TECH-iNK has brought ink art to a whole new level, expanding the possibilities technology can offer creativity whilst mindfully exploring the challenges of this relationship. His works are held by numerous important private collectors, including Uli Sigg Collection. The first A.I. ink painting Escapism 0001 was featured on the cover of Cathay Pacific’s inflight magazine Discovery in January 2019 and it was collected by Cathay Pacific. In May 2020, Wong was commissioned by SAMSUNG to create a new work, The Fauvist Dream of Gemini, which the digitalized version is collected at SAMSUNG THE FRAME 2020.

Wong graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1989. His visual effects (VFX) production company, vfxNova, has produced over 800 TV advertisements and designed special effects for over 100 films from Hong Kong and Hollywood, including Iron Man, Fantastic Four, The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D, Rise of the Legend, CJ7, Initial D, among others. Many of his productions won accolades from JIAA of Japan, New York Festival of the US, Hong Kong Film Awards and the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards. Wong was named one of Hong Kong’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons in 2005. In 2019, renowned French brand Martell honoured him the Martell Artist of the Year and Our Hong Kong Foundation presented him an InnoStars Award for his emphasis on innovation and heritage preservation in his passionate artistic journey.

Dr Malcolm McNeill Director, SOAS Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art, Senior Lecturer in Arts Education
Malcolm is the newly appointed Director of the SOAS Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art and Senior Lecturer in Arts Education in the SOAS History of Art and Archaeology Department. Malcolm joins SOAS from Christie’s, where he was a Specialist in Chinese Painting responsible for the European market. While at Christie’s Malcolm was also deeply engaged in developing educational events and programmes for the company’s international clientele. He has worked in curatorial, research and public access roles at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the National Palace Museum Taipei, and Asia House in London. He speaks Mandarin and has worked as a translator for various major museums in mainland China and Taiwan. Malcolm holds a PhD and an MA from SOAS, and an MA from Cambridge. He has strong research and teaching interests in Chinese and Buddhist visual culture, text-image relationships, and in the study of curation and display.