Interchanges in American Art

"A Long and Tumultuous Relationship": East-West Interchanges in American Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C.
October 1-2, 2009

This two-day symposium will explore the complicated interactions between
American and Asian artists and visual traditions from the eighteenth century
to the present. Speakers will include Virginia Anderson, Fogg Museum, Harvard
Art Museum; Jacquelynn Baas, University of California Berkeley Art Museum;
John P. Bowles, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; David
Cateforis, The University of Kansas; Gordon H. Chang, Stanford University;
Eunyoung Cho, Wonkwang University; Nicole Fabricand-Person, Marquand Library
of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University; Hiroko Ikegami, Osaka
University; Patricia Johnston, Salem State College; J. M. Mancini, National
University of Ireland Maynooth; Partha Mitter, University of Sussex;
Alexandra Munroe, Guggenheim Museum; Ding Ning, Peking University; Jenni
Sorkin, Yale University; Jennifer Way, University of North Texas; and Bert
Winther-Tamaki, University of California, Irvine.

Papers by both senior and emerging scholars and curators will explore
cultural interactions in a variety of "contact zones" ranging from the
Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States to venues of artistic
production in India, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Speakers
consider the circulation of artists, objects, and ideas over time and the
impact of these crossings on art and culture at large; reflect on the
changing face of Orientalism; look at international conversations about race
and identity; and explore developments in studio craft and the import market.

No registration is required to attend the conference talks. Advance online
registration is required, however, for a variety of related tours being
offered on the morning of October 1. The symposium also will be available for
viewing in a simultaneous and, later, an archived webcast. For more
information about this event, including a full program, speakers' bios and
abstracts, and tour registration, please visit the web page at
www.americanart.si.edu/research/symposia/2009/ .

"A Long and Tumultuous Relationship": East-West Interchanges in American Art
is being organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in partnership with
the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. It is supported by a generous
grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.