VISION
MISSION: Asia Contemporary Art Forum (ACAF), formerly Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW), connects Asia-based and Asian diaspora artists, curators, and cultural practitioners in the United States and worldwide to collaborate and exchange ideas. Through initiatives and gatherings shaped by lived experience, ACAF centers Asia's artistic practices, histories, and knowledge traditions in conversation with diverse artistic communities across cultures, disciplines, and geographies.
BRIEF HISTORY: Established in New York in 2001 as Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW), the organization was founded to heighten awareness and visibility of contemporary art practices from Asia. It realized this mission by bringing museums, galleries, and cultural institutions together to present exhibitions and public programs across New York. From 2001 to 2018, ACAW collaborated annually with more than 60 partner museums, galleries, and cultural institutions and presented the work of more than 3,000 established and emerging artists. It also foregrounded voices often overlooked within global art discourse, particularly from Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In 2019, the organization changed its name to Asia Contemporary Art Forum (ACAF) to reflect nearly two decades of curatorial evolution and a changing arts landscape.
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VISION: Today, Asia Contemporary Art Forum advances its mission through year-round initiatives. FIELD MEETING is a nomadic forum that convenes artists and curators around questions of place, spirituality, lived experience, and creative process. TALKING PEERS supports artist-led dialogue, shared learning, and peer exchange. ARTS FOR AFGHANISTAN supports Afghan artists and cultural practitioners through mentorship, visibility, and international engagement. Together, these initiatives strengthen shared learning, sustain creative exchange, and build meaningful connections among artists, cultural practitioners, and the broader public.
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Past ACAW Editions—including exhibitions, performances, forums, participating institutions, galleries, and artists—are archived at acaw.info.
Consortium Partners—A diverse group of visionary figures from leading galleries, museums, and grassroots arts organizations. For a full list of ACAC members, click HERE​​
