Vancouver Art Gallery receives $1.6 million to study, display, and amplify Asian art
On its 10th anniversary, the Institute of Asian Art is renamed the Centre for Global Asias to reflect broader mandate
Otani Workshop. Photo by Tomohiko Tagawa
THE VANCOUVER ART Gallery is celebrating a major milestone: it is the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Asian Art (IAA), a platform for celebrating Asian art and artists through multi-language tours, performances, talks, symposia, education workshops, and more.
Now, the gallery is renaming the institute the Centre for Global Asias (CGA). The new name reflects Vancouver’s unique location as one of the most important gateways to the Asia Pacific and the gallery as a leading cultural institution for the amplification of Asian art and thought.
During a 10th-anniversary celebration on November 14, the VAG revealed the new name and expanded mandate for the CGA, along with a dedicated Centre for Global Asias fund of $1.6 million to date, specifically aimed at continuing the gallery’s commitment to Asian art programming. This fund has been initiated by a series of gifts from Roger Lee; Xiang (Shawn) He and Yu Jue (Sylvia) Zhang; Visas Consulting Group; artist Henry Wang; and the Chen Family. According to a release, the donations will directly support the gallery’s ongoing work, ensuring that this platform continues to present innovative exhibitions, foster meaningful engagement, serve as a forum for art education, and connect contemporary Asian art to the most important social and cultural issues of our time.
The gallery is also recognizing The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation for its support at the inception of the IAA with the popular exhibition The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors. Now, a decade later, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation has given an $84,000 grant to support Montréal-based artist Karen Tam in a year-long role as artist researcher at VAG. Working closely with the gallery’s senior curator, Diana Freundl, Tam will examine the lives and careers of Chinese artists who travelled to Canada in the early 20th century. This is the first time the gallery has received a research-specific grant focused on Chinese artists.
At the time of the IAA’s founding in 2014, the VAG presented two major exhibitions centred on Chinese art: the aforementioned Forbidden City and Unscrolled: Reframing Tradition in Chinese Contemporary Art, both of which attracted a record number of visitors. Since then, the VAG has presented 27 exhibitions, 15 publications, and more than 100 events under the umbrella of the IAA, welcoming more than two million visitors to exhibitions and programs off-site and in the gallery.
Recent achievements include Poets, Locks, Cages, the first major exhibition in Canada dedicated to internationally acclaimed Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanavoli; a monumental survey of the lens-based works of Korean Canadian artist Jin-me Yoon in About Time; the first Canadian exhibition devoted to the work of China’s preeminent couturière Guo Pei; the first major retrospective of Takashi Murakami’s paintings in Canada, The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg; and special talks featuring acclaimed Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang and boundary-pushing Malaysian calligrapher Jameson Yap. Significant artwork acquisitions include TL;DR (2020-22) by Japanese Canadian artist Ron Terada; Woven Chronicle (2014) by Reena Kallat; Windows 97 (1997) by Chinese Canadian artist Paul Wong; and The Book of Jests (2014) by Korean Canadian artist Hyung-Min Yoon.
In May 2025 the VAG will present North America’s first solo exhibition of Japanese artist Otani Workshop: Monsters in My Head. 
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