As cultural borders complicate geopolitical boundaries, this panel will grapple with the question of Asian aesthetics. Asian and Asian American artists, fashion designers, and filmmakers have garnered global attention for their distinctive visual sensibility and original use of form, challenging public assumptions of Asian aesthetics and culture from a discrete notion to a diverse mode that is informed by many influences and ideas. AAIFF08 is excited to present this rare conversation between artists, each of whom has galvanized their particular field, to explore the question: “What are Asian or Asian American aesthetics?"

Panelists:
David Henry Hwang is a playwright, screenwriter and librettist, whose plays include M. Butterfly, Golden Child, FOB, The Dance and the Railroad, and Yellow Face. He wrote the scripts for the Broadway musicals Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida (co-author), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Disney’s Tarzan. Hwang is a Tony Award-winner and three-time nominee, a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and the recipient of three OBIE Awards for playwriting. His opera libretti include Philip Glass’ The Voyage (Metropolitan Opera), Bright Sheng’s The Silver River, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, winner of two 2007 Grammy Awards. Hwang penned the feature films M. BUTTERFLY, GOLDEN GATE, and POSSESSION (co-writer), and also co-wrote the song “Solo” with Prince. He attended Stanford University and Yale Drama School, and was appointed by President Clinton to the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities.

Mary Ping launched her eponymous label in spring 2002, and followed with Slow and Steady Wins the Race, an anonymous side project addressing fundamental design issues. Ping is a recipient of the prestigious 2005 Ecco Domani Award for New Designers and the 7th on Sixth/UPS Fashion’s Future Award in 2006. Her designs have appeared in international publications such as Vogue, Paris Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, V Magazine, GQ, Nylon, and Paper. In July 2007, Ping was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Billie Tsien received her undergraduate degree in fine arts from Yale in 1971 and her Masters in architecture degree from UCLA in 1977. Since 1986, she has been in partnership with Tod Williams, with whom she’s received numerous awards for their work, including The Natatorium at the Cranbrook School, the Rifkind residence, and the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California. In December 2001, the office completed the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, the first new museum to be built in New York in more than 30 years. Tsien maintains an interest in work that bridges the realms of art and architecture.

Wayne Wang (director, PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA) has helmed major Hollywood studio films such as THE JOY LUCK CLUB and MAID IN MANHATTAN as well as smaller, independent films like SMOKE and CHAN IS MISSING. Wang first came to the U.S. at eighteen to study painting and film. Returning to Hong Kong with a master’s degree, he went to work at the R.T.H.K. (Radio and Television Hong Kong), a launching pad for young film school-trained directors who came to be known as the Hong Kong New Wave.

Moderator:
Dennis Lim is the editorial director at the Museum of the Moving Image and the editor of Moving Image Source. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics and he writes regularly on film for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

Read more: From Far To Near: Asian American Cinema Expands and Interview with Wayne Wang.

Co-sponsored by:

On Asian/American Aesthetics will take place at the Asia Society, 725 Park Ave @ 70th St.