SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Asian Contemporary Arts Consortium San Francisco announced the second edition of the Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW-SF). Partnering with 19 cultural institutions throughout the Bay Area, ACAW-SF will bring together an international group of artists from over 10 different countries to participate in an eight-day event celebrating the diversity and dynamics of Asian contemporary art practices.

ACAW-SF Highlight Programs
This year’s centerpiece, titled “In Dialogue: Drop a Pin,“ brings four distinct panelists (Inti Guerrero, James T. Hong, Mariam Ghani, and Gimhongsok) to the Bay Area to participate in a discussion reflecting on the generalizing of globalization and the oversight of individual localities. The program references the virtual motion of dropping a pin on a map and the ability to draw new paths to any other point in the world. The daylong dialogue serves as an open platform to examine each speaker’s practice and the geopolitical specificities that have shaped it. Panelists will pull from their specific points of departure (Hong Kong, Zhejiang, Kabul and the fictional Xijing), linking them to various destinations and viewpoints, including the culturally diverse Bay Area. (Saturday, September 21, 11am to 4pm, at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts)

In collaboration with Et. al., a project-based gallery in San Francisco, ACAW-SF 2013 will launch Alter-Circuit, a new initiative focusing on diasporic practices in which identity is always in a state of change and synthesis, particularly those coming into contact and conflict with Asia. Working closely with an individual artist, Alter-Circuit draws paths into and out of the artist’s practice via durational endeavors composed of exhibitions, events, research, writing, blogging, etc., while also inviting other collaborators to participate in the conversation. Debuting with artist Virlani Hallberg, Alter-Circuit: Virlani Hallberg features the single-channel video Receding Triangular Square (RTS), a collaboration between the artist and the psychoanalyst and cultural theorist Leon Tan. RTS explores the philosophies and practices of healing in Taiwan, in contrast to the alternative but dominant Euro-American psychiatric and psychotherapeutic paradigms. (Opening Wednesday, September 25, 7 to 10pm at Et. al)

Other ACAW-SF 2013 Highlight Programs include “Visions of Urban Change in China: A Conversation with Daniel Brook and Hu Fang” at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; History of Histories: 50 Years of Afghan Films at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, guest programmed by Mariam Ghani and Leeza Ahmady; and “In Conversation: Yanagi Sōetsu Comes Here, without Invitation,” a discussion between artist Koki Tanaka and curator/writer Hu Fang at Kadist Art Foundation.

ACAW-SF 2013 Participating Organizations include:
AhmadyArts / Arts Research Center / Asian Art Museum of San Francisco / California College of the Arts / CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts / Center for Asian American Media / Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco / Don Soker Contemporary Art / Ever Gold Gallery / Et. al. / Exploratorium / Gallery Paule Anglim / Gallery Wendi Norris / Hackett | Mill / Kadist Art Foundation / Marin Museum of Contemporary Art / San Jose Museum of Art / UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive / Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

For complete program information, locations, and latest updates, please visit www.asiancontemporarysf.org/acaw.