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ASIA SOCIETY ANNOUNCES EXTENSIVE RENOVATION
AND EXPANSION OF NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS
New Design Doubles Public and Gallery Spaces
Expands Asia Society's Role in the Arts, Education, and Policy & Business Issues
December 10, 1999. To meet the increasing demand for greater awareness and understanding of Asia and its dynamic
relationship with America, the Asia Society today announced plans for an extensive renovation and expansion of
its world headquarters in New York City. The $30 million initiative will substantially enhance the Asia Society's
museum galleries, as well as its public facilities and programs, and strengthen the Society's role as the only
institution in North America addressing the intersection of the arts, economics, politics, and society throughout
the Asia-Pacific region. The project builds on the Society's more than forty-year record of leadership as a forum
for cross-cultural exchange between artists, educators, performers, government officials, Asian-American community
leaders, business executives, students, and the public on both sides of the Pacific.
The renovation, scheduled to begin January 3, 2000 and be completed in
fall 2001, will re-configure the interior spaces of the Asia Society's existing red granite building at 725 Park
Avenue.
While the project is underway, the Society will relocate to interim "Asia Society at Midtown" quarters
at 502 Park Avenue, where it will continue to present exhibitions and events and where the Asia Society store will
be in full operation. Asia Society at Midtown's first exhibition will be Spiritual
Perfection: Religious Sculpture of South and Southeast Asia,
opening on February 3, 2000. Additional special exhibitions, along with a wide range of original performances and
programs, will be presented by the Society at sites throughout New York.
"The next century will be a global one, with the nations of Asia
playing an increasingly prominent role in world affairs," said Nicholas Platt, President of the Asia Society.
"It has never been more important for Americans to understand Asia than in the face of this changing world.
And never has the Asia Society's mission to assemble an extraordinary community of policy makers, scholars, world
leaders, and the media to assess fast-developing trends in Asia been more urgent. Enhancing our headquarters will
enable the Asia Society to provide a richer and more satisfying experience for our visitors and foster more informed
public opinion. At the same time, the new facilities will provide the tools for the Society to continue to match
pace with the technology and information revolutions that are transforming the relationship between the U.S. and
Asia," he concluded.
Renovation and Expansion
The new design will double the interior public and exhibition
spaces at the Asia Society's 725 Park Avenue headquarters, which house the Society's museum galleries, permanent
collection, auditorium, conference facilities, store, and offices. The creation of new public and exhibition spaces
on the Society's second and third floors, as well as the upgrading of existing conference and performance facilities,
will provide a greater opportunity to present the different voices and perspectives of Asians and Asian-Americans.
A redesigned entrance lobby on Park Avenue and new first floor Visitor Center will create a gracious public space
to welcome visitors. A new glass-enclosed, sky-lit Garden Court with sculpture, plantings, and a café on
the first floor will further enhance the visitor's experience. The Garden Court will also serve as a venue for
intimate performances, readings, discussions with artists, and other special events.
New exhibition spaces will allow masterworks from the Society's exceptional
Rockefeller Collection of Asian Art to be displayed at all times. This permanent collection includes unparalleled
artworks from South, Southeast, and East Asia including bronzes, paintings, ceramics, and sculpture dating from
2000 B.C.E. to the 19th century.
As part of the renovation, the Society is initiating a complete upgrade
and enhancement of all its technological resources. A new, flexible communications technology infrastructure will
enable the Society to broaden its reach, coordinate programs in multiple Society locations worldwide, and instantly
link audiences and individuals around the globe. Each of the Society's conference spaces will have the latest video
conferencing equipment and the auditorium will be upgraded to include distance-learning capabilities. Interactive
computer terminals in the new Visitor Center and a new Asian Arts Learning Center will provide in-depth information
on Asia Society exhibitions and programs as well as links to resources on Asian art from around the world.
The Asia Society will also enhance and enlarge its store, creating special areas for readings and events. In addition,
the store's offerings will expand to include a diverse collection of design and craft items to complement its renowned
book selection. A changing series of cultural and thematic sections will be added, each featuring pieces in a particular
medium or from a selected geographic location.
Architecture and Design
The Asia Society has commissioned noted New York architect Bartholomew Voorsanger for the project. Recent projects
by Voorsanger & Associates Architects, PC include: The Pierpont Morgan Library Garden Court and Master Plan
(1992); the New York University Center for Advanced Digital Studies (1996); The New York University/Graduate Business
Library renovation (1985); the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (1984); The Wethersfield Carriage
Museum (1996); and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum Storage (1995). The design will significantly reconfigure
the interior of the Asia Society's headquarters at 725 Park Avenue, designed in 1980 by Edward Larrabee Barnes,
and will add approximately 4,000 square feet to the building in the form of an expanded roof top enclosure over
the Garden Court, an extended service alley, and a new mechanical support area.
Exhibitions and Arts Programming
In addition to organizing acclaimed exhibitions that reflect the traditional cultures of the more than thirty countries
throughout the Asia-Pacific region, the Society has become the established leader in presenting contemporary work
by Asian and Asian-American artists. New exhibition galleries will enable the Society to expand its entire exhibition
program, commissioning pieces from contemporary artists and showing an even greater range of traditional and ancient
works.
"The flexibility and range of the new exhibition galleries allow
us creative opportunities that simply haven't been possible previously. Not only will the Society be able to present
exhibitions at all times throughout the year, which is not feasible with the current configuration of the galleries,
but new spaces allow us to combine intimate exhibitions of truly exceptional works with comprehensive exhibitions
of great intellectual depth and aesthetic reach. In the same way, upgrading our performance spaces and adding new
programming venues will provide an even greater ability to present cultural and arts programs that both recognize
and cut across national boundaries and identities," said Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Vice President of the Society
and Director of Galleries and Cultural Programs.
Asia Society Internet Sites and Resources
The Asia Society is a leader in the use of communications technology and the Internet to reach and connect people
around the world. The Web sites AsiaSociety.org (www.AsiaSociety.org) and AskAsia (www.AskAsia.org) which have
earned more than a dozen national awards for excellence are joined by the newly launched site, AsiaSource (www.AsiaSource.org).
This online service offers a gateway to enormous resources of information on Asia, including background and interpretation
of breaking news stories, analysis of trends in Asia, guides to Asian visual and performing arts, as well as access
to country profiles and experts on all aspects of Asian public affairs, history, and culture. The Society's renovation
will put in place the physical resources to extend this innovative use of interactive technologies and further
promote communication between Asians, Asian-Americans, and people throughout the U.S.
Asia Society Around the World
The Asia Society's New York headquarters serves as the central
hub of an international network of Regional Centers in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Australia,
as well as Representative Offices in Seattle, Shanghai, San Francisco, and Manila. The Society's centers and offices
in Asia address a critical need for meeting grounds where Asians can work together across geopolitical boundaries
as well as expand their contacts with the United States. Renovating the Society's headquarters will improve communications
between these worldwide locations and allow seamless coordination of the hundreds of programs, performances, conferences,
seminars, and symposia held at these sites each year.
About the Asia Society
The Asia Society's combination of expertise and programming in
the arts and culture, policy and business, and education, is unique both nationally and internationally. While
there are many prominent organizations that focus on one Asian country or issue, the Asia Society is the only institution
that integrates a comprehensive range of information, analysis, and insight on all the countries of Asia and across
the fields of art, commerce, and government.
Arts and Culture
The Asia Society presents extraordinary exhibitions of traditional and contemporary Asian art, commissions original
performances, and hosts tours by Asia's most renowned dancers, musicians, artists, actors, authors, and poets.
The Society is also a premiere showcase for works by the growing number of Asian-American visual and performing
artists. These cultural programs serve as one of the Society's more powerful tools for fostering cross-cultural
understanding.
While at the interim "Asia Society at Midtown" site, the Society will organize and host numerous exhibitions
and performances. Sheer Realities: Clothing and Power in Nineteenth
Century Philippines, organized by the Asia Society, will open
at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University on February 16, 2000. Among the exhibitions to be presented at "Asia
Society at Midtown" are: Spiritual Perfection: Religious
Sculpture of South and Southeast Asia and Philippine Style 2000: Contemporary Design and Fashion.
The Asia Society is co-commissioning Forgiveness, a contemporary, multidisciplinary theater piece directed by Chen Shi-Zheng that
explores the turbulent and intertwining histories of China, Japan, and Korea. Forgiveness, which features a cast of artists from East Asia and the United States, will
tour the U.S. and Europe in 2000 and will be performed in New York in July 2001.
Policy and Business
The Asia Society not only educates the public on political and economic developments in Asia, but also informs
debate among policy-makers both in the U.S. and Asia on these critical issues. Through a wide range of meetings
with world leaders, international conferences with corporate executives, and studies exploring trend-setting developments,
the Asia Society helps decision-makers confront some of the world's most pressing social and political issues.
Central among the Society's dozens of programs is the newly launched Asian
Social Issues Initiative, a five-year project to explore solutions
to such pervasive problems as pollution, sectarian conflicts, aging populations, health care, and employment. Another
signature event is the Annual Corporate Conference in Asia, co-presented with Dow Jones & Company. The conference brings the leaders
of multinational corporations together with heads of state and key government officials to examine economic trends
and geopolitical developments in the conference site country. This year's conference, China and Asia at the Turn of the Century: Opportunities for World Business, will be held in Shanghai in May.
Education
The Asia Society's educational initiatives focus on improving the quality of education about Asia at the elementary
and secondary levels, and provide curricular materials, services, and support for teachers and schools throughout
the United States. The Society's extensive use of the latest interactive media serves as a ground-breaking model
for educational outreach.
The Asia Society's award-winning AskAsia website, launched in
early 1997, has quickly become one of the premiere resources for K-12 educators and students interested in Asian
and Asian-American studies. The site provides access to exceptionally rich original content and high-quality classroom-tested
resources, and as well as links to relevant people, places, and institutions. The development of prototype educational
products, such as the CD-ROM "Journeys along the Silk Roads," are establishing new ways to engage students in an exploration of Asian
history and its influence on modern life. The Asia Society's Education Division is preparing to announce the launch
of major national educational initiative later this year.
The Asia Society was founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd to foster understanding between Asians and Americans.
Mr. Rockefeller established the Society at a time when many in the United States still thought of Asia as remote
from American interests. As the Society has tracked the transformation of Asian countries into major participants
in global politics, economics, and the arts, it has grown to meet the increasing need for informed public debate,
becoming the preeminent organization where America and Asia meet. Asia House, on East 64th Street in New York City,
was the first home of the nonprofit, nonpolitical educational institution; the Asia Society moved to its current
home at 725 Park Avenue in 1981.
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