Anne Samat, “Follow Your Heart Wholeheartedly” (2020), rattan sticks, yarn, rakes, washers, plastic swords, toy soldiers, beads, metal and plastic ornaments. Left: 98″ x 48″ x 7″ | Center: 131.5″ x 141.75″ x 11.75″ | Right: 105″ x 48″ x 7″ | Front: 84.25″ x 26.75″ x 12.1875″ (artwork and photograph courtesy Richard Koh Fine Art and the artist)

The Asia Society Triennial is the first recurring initiative in the United States devoted to contemporary art from and about Asia and Asian diasporas. The exhibition features over 40 artists and collectives from 20 countries and is slated to run at locations across New York City from October 27, 2020, through June 27, 2021. Participating artists work across a variety of disciplines, and nearly half have been commissioned to create new work. The Triennial website will be continually updated with web-exclusive programming.

Under the artistic direction of Boon Hui Tan, the core exhibition is cocurated by Tan and Michelle Yun. Guest curators of the Triennial are Susan L. Beningson, Ph.D., curator of “We the People: Xu Bing and Sun Xun Respond to the Declaration of Independence,” and Giovanna Fulvi, curator of the Triennial film series Dreaming in Color. Wendy N. E. Ikemoto, Ph.D., is the curator of the collateral exhibition Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum, on view at the New-York Historical Society.

Tan describes the Triennial as an artistic response to the battle lines drawn over democratic rights, threats to inclusivity, and acceptance of cultural diversity. Taking inspiration from a line in Yoko Ono’s 1964 publication Grapefruit, “A dream you dream alone may be a dream, but a dream two people dream together is a reality,” the title of this Triennial, We Do Not Dream Alone, attests to the power of art to resist our retreat into worlds of isolation during these uncertain times.

Throughout the fall, a series of online panels will address topics including artists whose practice responds to historical conflict and memory, the current playing field of artistic representation for Asian American and Asian diasporic artists, and the idea of the global contemporary in artmaking. In-person Triennial programming will begin in spring 2021 or when conditions are suitable.

For the full list of participating artists and collectives, or to reserve your free timed tickets, visit asiasociety.org/triennial.