‘Rewind: Selections from the Harold & Ruth Newman New Media Collection’ now on view in New York

Nam June Paik. (Detail) Li Tai Po, 1987. 10 antique wooden TV cabinets, 1 antique radio cabinet, antique Korean printing block, antique Korean book, 11 color TVs; H. 96 x W. 62 x D. 24 in. (243.8 x 157.5 x 61 cm); Duration: continuous loop. Asia Society, New York: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold and Ruth Newman, 2008.2. Photography by Bruce White

Asia Society in New York presents an exhibition of new media works commemorating the institution’s 60th anniversary and honoring the vision and generosity of the Newman family. Rewind: Selections from the Harold and Ruth Newman New Media Collection, on view from June 9 through August 7, 2016, comprises a selection of new media works from the Museum’s collection that illustrates the breadth and depth of the Newman’s patronage, and their support of the Museum’s efforts to remain at the forefront of collecting Asian contemporary art. Artists included in the exhibition are: Makoto Aida, Patty Chang, Cao Fei, Akino Kondoh, Dinh Q. Lê, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Nam June Paik, Hiraki Sawa, Koki Tanaka, and the collective Tromarama.

In 2007, Asia Society Museum inaugurated its contemporary art collecting program with a significant gift from the Newman family, which provided the means for the Museum to develop a solid foundation for its contemporary collection. The Harold and Ruth Newman New Media Collection comprises thirty-four objects by twenty-three artists from eight countries. These include seminal works by Cao Fei, Dinh Q. Lê, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Koki Tanaka, and Yang Fudong, among many others.

Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba (b. 1968, Japan). Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex — For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards, 2001. Singe-channel video projection with sound. Courtesy of the artist

The Newman gifts provided the Museum an opportunity to collect new media artworks at the highest level to continue the precedent of connoisseurship set by the gift of traditional Asian art that John D. Rockefeller 3rd made to the Museum in 1979. The collection of contemporary Asian new media art aims to broaden understanding of Asia’s artistic production through the acquisition of works that demonstrate advances in new technologies, many of which were developed in Asia. To date, the collection of contemporary works includes ninety-one objects by fifty-seven artists from fourteen countries across Asia and the diaspora. It is one of the largest institutional collections of contemporary Asian new media art in the world.