The Asian Art Museum, long known for its superb collection of historic Asian art treasures, will celebrate the arrival of its first large-scale contemporary art exhibition with a stimulating week of preview events beginning Saturday, May 12. Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past*—which opens Friday, May 18—will enliven San Francisco with festivities including a “breathing” public art installation in Civic Center Plaza, multiple artist and curator talks, a discussion with Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times art critic Ho... Read more

The Asian Art Museum, long known for its superb collection of historic Asian art treasures, will celebrate the arrival of its first large-scale contemporary art exhibition with a stimulating week of preview events beginning Saturday, May 12. Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past*—which opens Friday, May 18—will enliven San Francisco with festivities including a “breathing” public art installation in Civic Center Plaza, multiple artist and curator talks, a discussion with Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times art critic Holland Cotter, a “Party with Phantoms” public preview, a special free admission day, and more.

The exhibition arrives at a time of unprecedented global interest in Asian art, making preview week an auspicious occasion. It begins with an installation in Civic Center Plaza of Breathing Flower—a 24-foot illuminated kinetic sculpture of a red lotus by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa—one of the exhibition’s signature pieces. As an ancient symbol of spiritual awakening and renewal, the lotus reflects the museum’s vision to spark connections across cultures and through time by offering new perspectives on Asian art.

This fresh perspective and engagement with Asian art is at the heart of the exhibition, and is underscored throughout the week’s events. Below are more details.The Asian Art Museum, long known for its superb collection of historic Asian art treasures, will celebrate the arrival of its first large-scale contemporary art exhibition with a stimulating week of preview events beginning Saturday, May 12. Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past*—which opens Friday, May 18—will enliven San Francisco with festivities including a “breathing” public art installation in Civic Center Plaza, multiple artist and curator talks, a discussion with Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times art critic Holland Cotter, a “Party with Phantoms” public preview, a special free admission day, and more.

The exhibition arrives at a time of unprecedented global interest in Asian art, making preview week an auspicious occasion. It begins with an installation in Civic Center Plaza of Breathing Flower—a 24-foot illuminated kinetic sculpture of a red lotus by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa—one of the exhibition’s signature pieces. As an ancient symbol of spiritual awakening and renewal, the lotus reflects the museum’s vision to spark connections across cultures and through time by offering new perspectives on Asian art.

This fresh perspective and engagement with Asian art is at the heart of the exhibition, and is underscored throughout the week’s events. Below are more details.