Jane DeBevoise, Chair of the Asia Art Archive board / Photo Philippe Casgrain
On January 23, 2013, Jane DeBevoise, chair of the board of directors of Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong and New York, delivered the lecture “Hong Kong as Cultural Construction Site: A View from Asia Art Archive” at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. The talk was part of the Asia Contemporary Speaker Series, a partnership between the Canadian Art Foundation and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s National Conversation on Asia and its sponsors.
Before moving to Hong Kong in 2002, DeBevoise was deputy director of the Guggenheim Museum, where she was responsible for museum operations and exhibitions globally. She joined the museum in 1996 as project director of “China: 5000 Years” (1998), a blockbuster exhibition of traditional and modern Chinese art that was presented at the Guggenheim museums in New York and Bilbao. Prior to 1996, DeBevoise was managing director at Bankers Trust Company, where she worked for 14 years in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London. DeBevoise holds a BA from Tufts University, an MA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from the University of Hong Kong, all in art history. She was appointed by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong government to the Committee for Museums from 2004 to 2007 and to the Museums Advisory Group for the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District from 2006 to 2007. She is also a trustee of the Asian Cultural Council, New York. The full video of her talk is viewable below:
The Asia Contemporary Speaker Series explores the rise of Asia on the international scene as one of the most compelling stories in contemporary art. Provocative artworks command ever-higher prices as markets expand, and impressive new museums, schools and biennials continue to proliferate. Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Tokyo and Beijing have established themselves as major art-world hubs, competing directly with London and New York. In order to understand this phenomenon and its connection to global movements of economic and political power, the Asia Contemporary Speaker Series will bring five recognized leaders in the field to speak in cities across Canada in 2012 and 2013. For more information about upcoming talks, please visit our events page. To view past lectures in this series, please visit our talks page.
