painting

82 ART GALLERY MAGAZINE 83ART GALLERY MAGAZINE

Editor's note: Founded

in 2000, Asia Art Archive

is a private non-profit art

institution which has become one of the

world’s most important organizations for

contemporary art archive of Asia. Its distinct

identity of folk, independent attitude, non-

profit operation, along with its international

collection mode add power of times and

fascinating elements to it. Its office is located

in the upper floor of a commercial building

in Sheung Wan, HK Island, whose entrance

is the same as the other common offices and

whose low corridor is a little bit depressing.

Inside it, books and reference materials

are arranged orderly, showing its nature as

an archive. Desks and chairs for use are

scattered among the materials. Table lamps

and electronic equipments are all ready. The

staff is friendly and efficient. All of these

make the user feel comfortable but at the

same time curious about it.

During the Art HK 2012 held in May, we

made an interview with the partner of this

activity—colleagues of Asia Art Archive.

( N o t e : K e n n i s L a i , H e a d o f

Communications in AAA; Janet Chan,

Assistant Head of Research; and Anthony

Yung, Researcher for China, who are

hereinafter referred to as Lai, Chan, and

Yung.)

Gallery: What’s the reason and fundamental objective of founding AAA?Kennis Lai (hereinafter referred to as Lai): When our founder Ms. Claire Hsu studied

in London, she chose Chinese contemporary

WHO IS SPONSORING HISTORY谁在赞助历史

编者按：2000年成立于香港的亚洲艺术文献库（Asia Art Archive）是由私人创建的非营利艺术机构，至今已成为全世界最重要的亚洲当代艺术文献收藏机构之一。其清晰的民间身份、独立姿态、非营利性质与国际化的历史收藏模式一道，为其成功添注了时代的动力与迷人的色彩。走进其位于港岛上环一栋商厦上层的所在地，其门口与常见的办公楼无异，低矮的楼道甚至稍显压抑，等到进入内部，图书资料的井然安放立即显露了其文献馆属性——供读者使用的桌椅穿插其间，台灯与电子设备一应俱全，工作人员友好而高效，让人的舒适感与好奇心油然而生。

在今年5月的香港国际艺术展举办期间，我们对其合作伙伴——亚洲艺术文献库馆内同仁进行了采访。

（注：黎珮琪是亚洲艺术文献库的传讯策划，陈静昕是其助理首席研究员，翁子健是其中国大陆项目研究员）

民间收藏历史的范本—— 香港亚洲艺术文献库策划：李琼波 By Qiongbo Li采编：李耀 By Li Yao

Classic of Folk Collecting History—Asia Art Archive



《画廊》：请问文献库创立的缘起和基本目标是什么？

黎珮琪（以下简称“黎”）：缘起是最初我们的创办人徐文玠女士在伦敦念书时，她选定的论文题目是关于中国当代艺术的，而当她说服导师同意选题并到图书馆寻找资料时，发现关于中国当代艺术的资料非常少且分散。当她回香港做暑期工时，她到张颂仁的汉雅轩帮忙。他们觉得在香港成立一个专门收藏这些资料的机构是有价值的，而当徐女士毕业回到香港，就在张先生的支持下，建立了一个董事会并创立文献库，当时是 2000 年。

《画廊》：请介绍一下你们的资金来源与组织情况吧？

黎：我们是一个非常独立的组织，在资金方面，我们接受来自政府、公司和个人名义的资助，其中接近半数由艺术家或画廊捐赠作品的拍卖所得提供，这反映了来自艺术圈的认同和支持。而我们所在地荷里活商业中心的这两层楼，由于地产商的支持，其中一层的租金是全免的。我们没有单一的资金源，这保证了我们的独立性。到现在为止，我们整个团队有三十人，包括常驻香港和驻海外的成员在内，总监就是徐文玠女士。

《画廊》：你们是如何确定发展方向及开展工作的呢？

art as her paper’s topic. When she got her tutor’s permission

on continuing this topic and began searching for materials

in library, she found that the materials were very few and

dispersed. When she went back to HK for summer intern,

she worked in Mr. Chang Tsong-zung’s Hanart TZ Gallery.

Both of them consider it valuable to set up an institution

which is specialized in collecting such kinds of materials in

HK. When Ms. Hsu graduated and be back to HK in 2000,

with Mr. Chang’s supporting, she founded the board of

directors and AAA.

Gallery: May I ask you to introduce the capital source and the organization structure of AAA?Lai: AAA is an independent organization. We receive

subsidize from the government, companies and individuals.

Nearly half of it is from the auctions of donated works from

artists or galleries, which demonstrates the recognition

and supporting from the art circle. Our office occupies two

floors in Hollywood Centre. Because of the support from

land agent, one of it is rent for free. Our capital is from

multi-channel, which guarantees our independence. So far,

our team includes thirty people, including HK and foreign

countries staff. Ms. Claire Hsu is our Executive Director.

Gallery: How do you determine your direction and carry out working?Lai: Our development strategies are decided and supervised

by the Board of Directors who determines our developing

direction on the top. While other team members also take

part in their team’s working planning. Specific projects are

proposed and implemented by team members. They submit

proposal to the Board of Directors, get the approval and start

working by allocating resources independently.

Gallery: The focus of AAA’s name is on the word “archive”. So what’s your working positioning?Lai: We keep expanding our scope of work. There are three

keywords in our name— “Asia”, “art” and “archive”. As to

“Asia”, we are not limited within the geographic concept.

黎：我们策略性的发展规划都由董事会决议和监督，董事会在顶层设计上把握我们的大方向，而其他的成员也会参与团队的工作规划。具体项目的提出与执行都由团队成员承担，他们向董事会提交方案，通过就可以独立调配资源开展工作。

《画廊》：亚洲艺术文献库的机构命名落足于“文献库”，

你们的工作定位是什么？

黎：在工作中，我们会不断拓展自己的工作范围。命名里有三个关键词：亚洲 + 艺术 + 文献库，就“亚洲”而言，我们并不局限于地理上的亚洲艺术，而是把在法国、美国等较多亚洲艺术家旅居地区的亚裔艺术包括在内；“艺术”呢，我们主要关注当代艺术；“文献库”是指我们的主体是个类档案馆或图书馆的实体，对文献资料的搜集、整理与发布是我们的主要工作，此外我们还会组织一些专题式的研究项目或展览会、论坛等活动以增进对

当代艺术的理解。

《画廊》：你们以亚洲给自己命名，在工作中如何平

衡香港、中国大陆、台湾、日韩、东南亚、南亚等地

区的关系呢？

黎：我们是个只有三十人的小型机构，如何分配资源是个大问题。我们会通过延伸的脉络去触及和识别不同的范围，对于横向的覆盖，我们更在乎纵向深度的建设。比如我们已完成的一个项目是关于菲律宾一个叫罗伯特·察比（Roberto Chabet）的教育家、策展人和艺术家。这个人的资料丰富到可以透视当地的历史面貌，我们通过与他联系和搭建信息分享网络，让需要的人免费使用，而不是把资料都搬回实体空间。另外，我们不可能覆盖整个亚洲和所有层面，所以我们会鼓励不同地区文献库的创建，也会把资源集中到一些缺乏文献整理的地区，比如印度。而对日本、韩国这些在艺术文献上已较完善的国家，则节约投入。

《画廊》：你是文献库的助理首席研究员，请介绍一

下你们的工作特点吧？

陈静昕（以简称“陈”）：我 07 年加入文献库，最初是做研究统筹。所谓研究统筹，就是和我们的首席研究员以及研究团队配合制定工作计划。而我们的研究团队，往往拥有多重身份，可以是特派员，像记者一样跟踪相应艺术事件的进展，记录常规展览和游击式的艺术事件，追求尽量从现场开始建立文献，甚至参与到事件中去。

Our concept of “Asian art” includes works of immigrant

artists in the areas where many Asian artists sojourn such

as France and America. As to “art”, we mainly focus on

contemporary art. And “archive” means it’s an entity of

various archives or libraries, and our main duty lies in

collecting, systemizing and publishing document literature.

What’s more, we will hold specific activities such as research

projects, exhibitions or forums which help enhancing the

understanding on contemporary art.

Gallery: You use “Asia” in your name, so how do you balance the work among Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and korea, Southeast and South Asia?Lai: AAA is a small institution with only thirty colleagues.

So how to allocate resources has become a serious problem

for us. We will refer to and recognize different scopes by

following the extending context. Compared to the horizontal

development, we prefer the vertical construction. For

example, we implemented a project on Roberto Chabet, a

Philippine educator, curator and artist, whose materials are so

abundant that through which the situation of local history can

be observed. We communicate with him and build a network

for sharing information instead of sharing in the entity. The

data can be used for free.

In addition, it’s impossible for us to cover all aspects in

Asia. Therefore we will encourage people in different areas

to build their own archives, and will concentrate resources in

the areas like India where documents need to be systemized.

As to the countries where artist documents are well collected

and organized, we will decrease the investment.

Gallery: Can you introduce your work as an Assistant Head of Research in archive for us?Janet Chan (hereinafter referred to as Chan): I joined AAA

in 2007 as a Research Manager at the beginning. The job

for a Research Manager is to determine the work plan with

the Head of Research and the rest of the team. And our team

may have different identities at the same time. We can work

as specials that follow relative art events like journalists and

record conventional exhibitions and occasional art events.

We try to set up documents at the spot, or even to participate

in the events.

Traditional archive work is defined as collecting, defining

and displaying, which is mechanical and inane and is easy

to become dependency of the official historical narration.

We hope to break through this one-dimensional narration,

and to acquire different information from front researchers’

work and the operation of the libraries. We try to collect

materials from different aspects and different points of view

on different fields, from artists’ creational elements, process

and their works to the historians’ research and positioning.

Our collections are first-hand materials made by

researchers by interviewing the artists. For example,



传统的文献工作往往被定性为收编、界定和陈列，这种工作模式显得机械而空洞，还易于沦为官方历史叙述的附庸。我们希望打破这种单向度的历史论述，从不同的前线研究员的工作与图书馆的运作去获得不同的信息。我们务求从不同层面、多元视角搜集从艺术家的素材、

过程、成品到历史学家的研究、定位的资料。我们有的馆藏，是通过研究员与艺术家访谈取得的第一手资料。比如研究员翁子健做的中国上世纪 80 年代当代艺术的项目；我们也有对越南 90 年代开放后的独立艺术空间的记录项目。当我们把这些平衡的文献摆在一起时，就同时看到了中国、越南的状态，对它们进行比较研究。我们想通过这种文献收藏去揭开有关亚洲复杂性的面目，而不是简单化地去定性。现在越来越多的研究人员需要这种资料去展开和论证他们的论述。我们希望让保存变得易于获取，以激活其社会意义和历史价值。我们的收藏是面向公众的，打破收藏的私有属性便于体现和增进其公共属性。除了向公众开放的图书馆，我们也在进行文献数码化的工作，希望通过网络让更多的人了解和使用它们，也同时成就了一种历史的保存方式。

《画廊》：你们研究员的工作性质都一样么？

陈：我们的研究员分很多种，有全职研究员、兼职研究员，也有项目性质的研究员。他们的工作重心不同，比如我们在东京、首尔聘用的是兼职研究员，主要负责广度上的推介，而非负责具体的典藏项目。他们有点像通讯员，负责提供当地艺术圈的最新信息，或者把文献库介绍给当地的艺术团体；我们也有一些重点项目的研究员，比如翁子健，他除了负责 80 年代的中国当代艺术，

现在也跟踪 90 年代及之后的艺术发展。

《画廊》：你们研究员的工作与文献库是如何衔接的？

陈：对文献库而言，两部分工作的配合至关重要，一是前线研究员的资料采集、整理和判断，另一部分是图书馆，作为我们的后方，提供了一个集合、储存与展示工作的平台。这两部分是不可或缺的整体。此外，我们还会通过一些专门活动把收集到的资料、形成的理解和结成的关系进行展示、碰撞和沉淀，以激活文献并推动专业交流与合作。这些活动包括展览、圆桌会议、讲座或

驻场计划等，我们不希望作为一个静止的图书馆存在，而是很主动地带出我们的关注来。我们也会以区域研究的视角开展一些项目，而避免以一种整体化的方式去定

义亚洲。

《画廊》：你们研究员的独立性如何？

陈：我们很重视研究员的独立性。这是基于我们把他们视为参与创造历史与揭示当代艺术发展状况的主体。我们是一个年轻的机构，希望研究员可以提出自己的方案。通常他们都是熟悉艺术圈的人，在行内具有其网络和判断，这也是我们对研究员的要求，因为机构的气质和触角有时只能由其从业者去挖掘与培养。我们在乎自己的在地性，也无意急速扩展规模，因为若机构在短时间内变得过于膨胀，除了可控性和效率上都会出问题，也容易陷入只能行政主导或技术官僚的局面。维持目前的运作，让我们的项目有坚实的基础与第一手的信息，让研究员与研究对象面对面，走入他们的生活与创作之中，这些都是我们珍惜的品质，也保证了我们的工作质量。我们从事的是一种由民间主导的记录历史工作，所

以会努力保留历史主体的现场感和清晰度。

《画廊》：你们在香港的艺术生态中处于何种位置？文

献库是如何平衡传统艺术的余脉与当代艺术实践的？

陈：我觉得文献库是介乎草根与官方之间。所以我们的研究员要很小心，既关注官方的艺术，也要跟踪民间自发的艺术。当我们从零开始时，这很好地帮助我们取得各方的注意，以建立相应的地区资源。现在我们会考虑在横向和纵向上自己做得是否充分和取得平衡？我们也会在方法论上反思自己的合理性与有效性的问题。对于传统范畴的艺术，我们肯定没办法全覆盖，哪怕在一个范畴之内，也必须有所侧重。我们通过不断地反问，努力澄清自己对当代艺术的定位与思路，包括什么是亚洲、什么是艺术、什么是当代性等等。在进行文献搜集和梳理的同时，我们也会介入一些评论工作，在集中收藏当代艺术文献之余，也力图折射一些对被我们所忽略

的艺术的评价与观照。

《画廊》：你觉得文献库能在香港存在和发展的原

因是？

陈：香港处于一个充满复杂性的境况：一方面，这里一直处于被评为「文化沙漠」的论调下，另一方面，这里又举办了全亚洲最大型的艺博会和艺术拍卖，即使同时有不少人认为这些艺博会和艺术拍卖未必与本地艺术界有紧密的关系。香港同时犹如一个大型的国际中转站，区内活跃的当代艺术家、理论家和策展人都会不时经过这里，而一直以来由各个阶层自发营运的空间实践也培养了深植港人的自由价值与开放意识。从某些角度看香港社会的确很大程度上由经济主导，但从另一角度看这里直至现时为止包容了不同待政见或政治立场。我想因为政治的开放让我们拥有了很多的发展空间和机会。至今为止，香港有很多像我们这样由民间主导的事物存在。

Anthony Yung carries out a project on the contemporary

art of China in the 1980s; and we have a project recording

the development of independent art space of Vietnam since

its opening-up in the 1990s. We collect these documents

that are on the same level together and we can observe the

status of both China and Vietnam at the same time and

make comparison between them. We intend to reveal the

complexity of Asia by these documents collecting instead of

defining simply.

More and more researchers need these materials to carry

out and demonstrate their point of view. We hope to make

the preserved easy to be gotten in order to activate their

social significance and the historical value. Our collection is

open to the public, breaking through the collection’s nature

of privately owned and showing and increasing its public

property. Besides open the library to the public, we are

carrying out the digitalization of the documents which enable

more people to know and use them through the Internet.

When people are able to refer to and to use our collection

through various channels, we are creating the history or

creating a way to save the history.

Gallery: Is the work of each researcher the same?Chan: There are several kinds of researchers. We have full-

time and part-time researchers and researchers on projects.

Their working focuses are not the same. For example,

in Tokyo and Seoul we hire part-time researchers whose

responsibility is to promote, not to take charge in specific

projects. They are something like reporters who are to

send the updated information about local art circle or to

introduce AAA to the local art groups. We also have several

researchers on key projects, for example, Mr. Yung who is

following the development of art in and after 1990s besides

the one in 1980s.

Gallery: How is the researchers’ work connected to AAA?Chan: As for an archive, the coordination of these two parts

is crucial. The researchers collect, systemize and decide

materials, while as our backup, the library provide a platform

for assembling, saving and displaying the works. They are

an unbreakable entirety. Moreover, we will hold specific

events to display and restore the collective materials, the

understandings and the relationships, in order to activate

AAA and to promote professional communication and

cooperation. This kind of events includes exhibitions, round

tables, lectures and residency plan. We hope to exist not only

as a still library, but also with our concentration. We will also

implement project with regional research, avoiding defining

Asia with the way of integration.

Gallery: How’s the independency of the researchers?

Chan: We take much count of the independency of the

researchers. That’s because we consider them the main body

to create history and to reveal the abundance of art. AAA

is a young institution, and we encourage the researchers to

propose their own ideas. They are often acquainted with

the people in art circle, and they own their networks and

judgments within the circle, which are our requirement to the

researchers. That’s because the temperament and sensibility

of an institution sometimes can only be discovered and

cultivated by its practitioners. We care about our localization

and we are not intended to expand our scale, because if

the institution becomes over-expanded, the controllability

and efficiency will be affected. Maintaining the current

operation, ensuring the solid foundation of our projects and

the first-hand information, and enabling our researchers to

communicate with their study objects and to go into their life

and work, are the qualities that we cherish and the guarantee

of our working quality. The work we are working on is

recording and collecting history which is led the folk, so we

will try our best to preserve the liveness and sharpness on the

historical body.

Gallery: What’s AAA’s position in HK’s artistic ecology? How does AAA balance the traditional art and the contemporary practice?Chan: I think AAA is positioned between the grass-roots and

the official. Therefore, our researchers must be very careful,

and concerning both the official and the folk art events. We

start from scratch. It helps us to catch the eyes of all parties so

as to set up relevant regional resources. Now we are checking

whether we have horizontally done well or not. We are also self-

examining our rationality and effectiveness.

As to the traditional art, we are not able to cover it all. Even

if it’s only within one field, we shall have the highlighted. By

self-inspecting, we make effort to clarify our positioning and

thinking toward contemporary art. The questions include “what’s

Asia?” “What’s art?” and “What’s contemporary?” etc. When

collecting and systemizing the documents, we will do some

reviewing jobs, in order to reflect some comments and insights



这些因素都有助于文献库在香港的成长，这既是民间社会的权力，甚至还是我们的义务。成立至今 12 年，我们在香港很好地融入社会并参与了不同地区的工作，你可以看到我们有来自不同国家和地区的同事，我们的团

队本身就是一个开放的群体。

《画廊》：文献库关于中国大陆当代艺术的收藏主要

有哪些呢？

翁子健（以下简称“翁”）：我们既收藏一般性的展览目录、参考书和期刊等，也有特別收藏，里面很多是通过 80 年代研究计划收集的，包括艺术家张晓刚、毛旭辉等等，

策展人吕彭、费大为和学者郑胜天等的个人档案。

《画廊》：你负责了一个叫“80 年代中国当代艺术”

的项目，能否从该项目的立项、执行和成果介绍文献

库的工作模式？

翁：首先我们会定一个计划的大纲，比如年代、出发点、切入点、方法论等等。具体到这个项目就是：“年代：80 年代中国”。出发点：很重要，很多人有研究的兴趣，但是文献不集中，很多事情只是听说，没有材料；切入点：80 年代的文化热，艺术与社会变革的关系；

方法论：访问及资料收集；做法：我们先定一个访问名单，再通过访问扩大这个名单，最后做了九十个访问。我们会向每一位受访者收取相关资料，可能是原件，也可以是扫描件。（上面提到

的一些人，是给了我们特别多资料的。）

《画廊》：你们在大陆有建立什么形式的工作网络么？

与大陆艺术界的合作如何展开？

翁：我们没有跟大陆的具体机构开展合作，而一般都是直接找艺术家。由于我们从事这个工作已经好几年，通过各种机会，比如展览、讨论会、活动等等，已经跟很多艺术家和机构认识了，他们也知道和理解我们的工作，

当我们要做与他们相关的研究工作，他们一般都很支持。

《画廊》：这种工作关系是常态式的还是偶然性的呢？

翁：我们的工作都以研究项目为主导，不会特别跟踪某

个艺术家，所以还没有固定的模式和常态化。

《画廊》：对于大陆这么大范围的当代艺术，你们涉

及哪些地域和类型比较多呢？

翁：我们也是根据研究项目的需要而定。比如 80 年代这个项目，比如 80 年代的几个重要事件，星星画展、

on art which are easy to be ignored.

Gallery: In your opinion, what’s reason for AAA to exist and develop in HK?Chan: Some people consider Hong Kong a cultural desert.

As a matter of fact, Hong Kong has held the largest art

fair in Asia and some top auctions of the Christie’s and the

Sotheby’s. It’s a large international transfer station where

active contemporary artists, theoreticians and curators in

the region often visit. And the long-term spatial practice

cultivates the value of freedom and the awareness of opening

in Hong Kong people’s mind. Though we are mainly led

by the fund, we keep our political neutrality relatively. I

think that the openness of politics gives us many space and

opportunities to develop. So far, there are a lot organizations

led by the folk in Hong Kong. So we feel it common to talk

about “non-government” and “non-profit” which help AAA

to grow in Hong Kong. It’s the power of the civil society,

and also our obligation. In the past twelve years since AAA

was founded, we have integrated well with the society and

taken part in different regional work. You can see that our

colleagues are from different countries and regions, and our

team is an open group.

Gallery: What are the main collections about Mainland China’s contemporary art in AAA?Anthony Yung (hereinafter referred to as Yung): We collect

general exhibition index, reference books and periodicals,

as well as special collections many of which are gathered

through the project on the 1980s’ art, including profiles of

artists Zhang Xiaogang, Mao Xuhui, curators Lv Peng, Fei

Dawei and scholar Zheng Shengtian.

Gallery: You are taking charge of a project named China’s Contemporary Art in 1980s. Will you describe the work pattern of AAA by introducing the approval, the implement and the outcome of the project?Yung: Firstly we will make an outline of the plan, including

the age of the art, the purpose, pointcut and methodology,

etc. About this project, points are:

Age: 1980s, China.

Purpose: It’s important. Many people are interested in

researching this topic, but there are not concentrated

documents for them. Much of the information is heard of,

without supporting materials.

Pointcut: The cultural craze in 1980s and the relationship

between art and social transformation.

Methodology: Interview and data collection.

Working method: We decide an interview name list. Then

supplement the name list by the interviews. In the end, we

have made ninety interviews. We collect materials either

original or scanning copy from each interviewee. (People

mentioned above give us particularly many.)

Gallery: Is there any working network in Mainland China? What’s the form? And how is the cooperation with the art circle in Mainland China carried out?Yung: We don’t have cooperation with certain organizations

in Mainland China. We use to contact the artists directly. For

we have worked on this job for several years, we have met

many artists and institutions by various opportunities such as

exhibitions, forums and events. And they also understand our

work. When we are carrying out research work related to them,

they will always support us.

Gallery: Is this working relationship conventional or occasional?Yung: Our work is project-oriented, and we are not following a

certain artist, so there is not fixed mode or normalization.

Gallery: Contemporary art in Mainland China is a large scope

of concept. Which regions and what types are you referring to more?Yung: It’s decided by the need of the researching project. As

for the 1980s project, there were several milestones in 1980s

including Star Star Group, 85 New Wave, New Academism

and Vag Artists. We know the representatives in these issues,

and they will tell us about other people and other issues. So a

network is built.

Gallery: Is there any new plan about Mainland China?Yung: The new project is focused on some profiles in the end

of 1980s and the beginning of 1990s, which is not suitable to

be revealed. There are many precious materials about it. What’s

more, there is a new digital platform on our new website where

plenty of data collected by us previously will be uploaded,

including pictures and detailed index.

Gallery: What’s your reason to work in AAA? Can you share your impression of it with us?Yung: When I was a college student, I began to take up

some light work in AAA. Many of my knowledge about

contemporary art in Asia are learnt from here, which have great

influence on me, especially the part about Chinese art. Because

the archive was working on Wu Shanzhuan’s album, I had the

opportunity to read much about him. I thought he was great

and I became interested with Chinese contemporary art. Later,

I worked as an intern in Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum,

and I got more knowledge about Chinese art. After I graduating

from college, the archive is carrying out this 1980s project, so I

am lucky to be invited to work on it.

八五新潮、新学院派、盲流艺术家，我们知道这些事件里比较重要的代表人物是谁，这些人物又会告诉我们其

他的人和事，这样就构成一个网络。

《画廊》：你们有什么关于大陆的新计划么？

翁：新的项目是一些重点在于 80 年代末 90 年代初的个人档案，暂时还不适宜公布，但都有很多很珍贵的材料。另外，我们新的网站上有了新的数码平台，我们会将以前收集的大量资料，上传到网络上，包括图片和详细的

目录等。

《画廊》：能介绍下你个人与文献库的接触缘起和印

象么？

翁：我是读大学时已在文献库帮忙做点小工作，很多亚洲当代艺术的知识都是在这里学的，影响了我挺大，特别是关于中国的部分。因为当时文献库正在出版吴山专的专集，我看到他的很多资料，觉得他很棒，对中国当代艺术便产生了兴趣。后来我到过上海的当代艺术馆做实习生，对于中国大陆的当代艺术又多了一点了解。毕业后，他们正在开展这个 80 年代的计划，于是我有幸

被邀请从事这个项目。



《画廊》：请从个人角度谈谈你与文献库的关系吧？

徐文玠（以下简称“徐”）：亚洲艺术文献库（以下简称“文献库”）就好比我的第一个孩子。从创始到目睹它获取自身独立的生命是个非常强烈的体验。在过去的12 年里，我从来都无法预知它所经历的变化，对于它发展成为激励区域内艺术的重要基地，我感到很欣慰。

《画廊》：从创立文献库至今 12 年，你所遭遇的最大

困难是什么？

徐：我认为最有难度的是如何回应艺术界的内在需要。其次是要覆盖亚洲艺术的范围 , 对再大型的机构来说都非易事 , 更何况我们这个相对较小规模的团队呢。另外 , 在香港 , 资金筹集亦有一定的难度。作为一家非牟利的视觉艺术机构 , 我们一定要策划一些比较有效和有趣的方案去筹款。

《画廊》：请问你如何评价文献库目前的运营状态与

工作质量呢？

徐文玠：文献库的创建与成长采编：李耀 By Li Yao

Gallery: Please talk about the relation between you and the archive from individual level.Asia Art Archive is my first child. It’s been a very powerful

experience to start AAA from scratch, and watch it take on an

independent life of its own. I could never have predicted the

changes it has undergone in the last 12 years and I am proud

of the role that it plays in promoting a critical foundation for

the art of the region.

Gallery: In the twelve years since AAA was founded, what’s the biggest difficulty you have ever met?Hsu: I think the biggest trouble lies in responding to the inner

needs of the art circle. Secondly, it’s not easy even for a large

institution to cover all the scopes of Asian art, not mentioning

that AAA is only a small team. What’s more, fund raising in

Hong Kong is relatively difficult. As a non-profit visual art

institution, we have to hold some effective but interesting

events to raise fund.

Gallery: How do you assess AAA’s current operation status and quality of work?2012 is a milestone for Asia Art Archive. In June of this year,

we launched the Collection Online and our new website,

both of which will help us move towards our goal of making

our collection more accessible to the public.. The Collection

Online is a continuously growing digital archive of primary

徐：2012 年是文献库发展的一座里程碑。今年 6 月份，我们把库藏上线并推出了新的网站，这两者都有助于我们通向使库藏便于公众接触的目标。在线的库藏就是座持续生长的数码文献库，提供由亚洲不同城市的个体实践者和研究者甄选的主要原始资料，其中的许多材料是首次向公众开放。9 月份我们将迎来哈马德 • 纳沙（Hammad Nasar）作为我们新任的研究和项目主管。纳沙将在拓展文献库的库藏并将文献库导向一个研究型平台方面发挥关键作用。通过新的举措与项目，纳沙将帮助文献库围绕库藏材料和就区域内的艺术生发新的思维。

《画廊》：请问文献库未来的发展方向与目标是？

徐：未来的 10 年，文献库将继续完善其常规库藏，也将通过特别研究和数码化项目对其主要资源进行优化配置，以便确认和建立其在本领域的深度。文献库也将把建设亚洲当代艺术的研究机构，成为区域内具领导性的艺术机构作为目标，并开创性地把“文献库”实践成为区内艺术项目与新思维的策源地。文献库也将致力于增强其库藏的全球可访问性，以增加本地与环球的观众，并努力在香港建立永久性驻地。

source material culled by individual practitioners and

researchers in cities across Asia, with much of this material

available to the public for the first time.

In September we will welcome Hammad Nasar as AAA’s

new Head of Research and Programmes. Nasar will play

a major strategic role in developing AAA's collection and

guiding its growth as a platform for research. Through

new initiatives and programmes, Nasar will help AAA to

generate new thinking around the material in the collection

and about the art of the region.

Gallery: What’s the direction and target of development of AAA?Over the next decade, AAA will continue to build the general collection but will allocate the majority of its resources to identifying and building up areas of depth through specialised research and digitisation projects. AAA will also establish itself as a research institute for contemporary art in Asia as well as one of the leading arts organisations in the region, pioneering the use of the ‘archive’ to generate projects and new thinking about the art of the region. AAA will also work to increase global accessibility to its collection, to grow local and global audiences, and to establish a permanent home in Hong Kong.Hsu: We launch a special documents project titled as

The Founding and Growing of AAA

徐文玠：亚洲艺术文献库联合创办人及行政总监

Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary

Chinese Art from 1980-1990. We have spent four years

in collecting, systemizing and saving these precious

documentary and original materials. We collect hundreds of

publications in 1980s, implement 75 video interviews and

finish a documentary. We also scan the collections of many

famous curators and artists (including Fei Dawei, Zhang

Xiaogang, Zheng Shengtian, Lv Peng, Mao Xuhui, Wu

Shanzhuan, etc), building the world’s largest and the most

systemized archive of the art in 1980s. Now these materials

are available on www.china1980s.org for free. In October

2010, led by Prof. Jane Debevoise, professor on Chinese

contemporary art and Chair of Broad of Directors of AAA,

AAA launched news conferences in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong

Kong and New York with MoMA.

Besides, there are important scholars on Chinese art in

AAA’s Advisory board, for instance, Dr Gao Shiming, Lv

Peng and Prof. Wu Hung, who will often advise on AAA’s

development.

The cooperation between the art circles in Hong Kong and in

Pearl River Delta area or even in Mainland China is always

close. For example, we have invited Song Dong to AAA as

a resident artist. After studying in AAA for several months,

Song decides to hold a large exhibition in Hong Kong on this

residency plan in the January of the coming year.

《画廊》：你们与中国大陆艺术圈的合作状况如何？

徐：我们有一个专题文献项目：“未来的材料：记录1980—1990 当代中国艺术”，花了 4 年时间，收集、整理和保存这些弥足珍贵的纪实和原始素材。我们汇集了数百本 80 年代的出版物，完成了 75 次录像采访及一部纪录片的制作，并将一批著名策展人和艺术家 ( 如费大为、张晓刚、郑胜天、吕澎、毛旭辉、吴山专等 ) 的个人珍藏进行数字扫描，这成为世上最具规模和最有系统的 80 年代艺术文献库。现在这批资料已经在网站www.china1980s.org 免费开放。于 2010 年 10 月，由中国当代艺术的专家、文献库董事会主席杜柏贞博士领导，文献库还与美国现代艺术博物馆 (MoMA) 在北京、上海、香港和纽约联袂推出发布会。另外，文献库的咨询委员会中也有举足轻重的中国艺术学者，如高士明、吕澎、巫鸿等，他们会不时对文献库的发展提出建议。其实香港的艺术界与珠三角甚至中国大陆艺术圈的合作本来就挺紧密的。比如今年我们邀请到宋冬在文献库作驻场艺术家，结果经过在文献库几个月的研究之后，宋冬决定来年一月份于香港举办一个有关这次驻场计划的大型展览。



Documents

painting