AT THIS WEEK'S Art Basel show in Switzerland, the executive director of Asia Art Archive (AAA), Claire Hsu, and her colleagues from around the region will be doing what archivists seldom do: promoting the art they collect and document.
The four-year-old body, which receives an annual grant of $700,000 from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, was invited by the so-called Olympics of the art world to attend its non-commercial section called Art Unlimited.
Unlike most archives that statically collect, catalogue and preserve information and material, the AAA also plays a role in what its mission statement describes as 'the active generating of knowledge and awareness'.
'We believe that in an age of the museum, where exhibitions and events are often spectacular, and anything short of this will not attract an audience, archives must also change their strategy to draw attention and make use of their collections,' it says.
'For a 'contemporary' archive to exist, dynamism is vital, and it's for this reason that our activities are accompanied by programmes and events. The traditional purpose of the archive, originating in ancient Greece, as paper foundations that form the administrative basis of democracy, is no longer relevant.'
According to Hsu - who founded AAA after realising there was a lack of documentation on modern or contemporary Asian art while researching her masters dissertation in London on contemporary Chinese art - the invitation to this European art market is a clear indication that the work is being recognised.
