Asian Academy of Arts Hosts Art and Making Forum at the British Museum

2026-03-08 Editor

London, England, March 8, 2026—Steven Zhao, Canada & World Report — The Asian Academy of Arts organised the invited academic forum “Art and Making: Material Culture, Craft and Emerging Practices” on March 4, 2026, at the British Museum BP Lecture Theatre and East Foyer in London.

Organised by the Asian Academy of Arts, the forum brought together museum curators, scholars, artists and cultural researchers to explore how material culture, craft traditions and cross-cultural dialogue influence emerging artistic practices within the contemporary global art landscape.

The Asian Academy of Arts is an international platform dedicated to promoting dialogue between contemporary art practice, craft traditions and cross-cultural research.

Discussions centred on three key themes—material, craft and cross-cultural translation—with particular attention given to emerging artists and researchers investigating the relationships between materials, symbols and identity.

First Panel Discussion at the forum “Art and Making: Material Culture, Craft and Emerging Practices.”

Audience members attending the academic forum “Art and Making: Material Culture, Craft and Emerging Practices.”

Opening Remarks

In her opening remarks, Fang Ting Ting, Dean of the Asian Academy of Arts, noted that the event was not intended simply to present differences between artistic practices, nor to categorise art, craft and design into separate disciplines.

Fang Ting Ting, Dean of the Asian Academy of Arts, delivering opening remarks.

Instead, the forum was organised around a more fundamental question: can “making” be understood as a form of knowledge production within contemporary art?

Over recent decades, Fang observed, contemporary art discourse has increasingly emphasised concepts and theoretical texts, while materials and processes of making have often been treated as mere technical execution. Yet when artists interact with materials—responding to their resistance, feedback and transformation—thinking itself may emerge through that process.

If practice is itself a mode of thinking, Fang suggested, then the position of making within the contemporary art system may need to be reconsidered.

She further noted that discussing this question within the context of a museum—an institution fundamentally centred on objects—introduces a particular intellectual tension. Objects are not merely historical remnants; they carry knowledge, memory and structures of power.

Fang therefore proposed three guiding questions that shaped the discussions throughout the forum:

• Does making generate thought?
• Do objects generate meaning?
• Do long-standing hierarchies within the art system shape how different practices are interpreted?

These questions, she emphasised, were not intended to create opposition between disciplines, but to provide a clearer understanding of the structures within which contemporary practices operate.

Roundtable I
Emerging Practices Across Generations

The first roundtable discussion was moderated by Vivian Ni, cultural advisor and founder of West Link Consulting, and brought together speakers from museums, academia and curatorial practice.

Helen Wang — Objects as Sites of Knowledge Production

Former East Asian coin curator at the British Museum, Helen Wang drew on her long curatorial experience to discuss how historical objects can function as sites of knowledge production.

Using examples from numismatic collections and inscriptions, she demonstrated how material artefacts serve not only as historical records but also as primary evidence of cultural encounters.

She also reflected on the evolution of research methods in projects such as the International Dunhuang Project, noting how scholarly access has transformed from microfilm archives to digital photography.

While digitisation has dramatically expanded access to collections worldwide, it also introduces new challenges: as knowledge spreads, the desire to encounter original objects grows, creating ongoing tension between access and conservation.

Frances Wood — The Contemporary Value of Making

British sinologist and historian Frances Wood continued the discussion by reflecting on the contemporary relevance of making.

She emphasised that making has always been central to human activity. Today, however, digital platforms such as YouTube and social media allow unprecedented visibility into the processes through which objects are created.

Wood raised a central question: how do we assign value to things that are made?

In her view, a work succeeds when it fulfils the intention of its maker. Whereas in earlier decades a small number of institutions or publications could define what counted as “new art,” today the abundance of information makes judging quality far more complex.

Iris Yau — Material Histories and Power Structures

Curator and academic Iris Yau, Programme Leader at the University of the Arts London, explored the relationship between materials and global power structures.

She noted that materials carry layered histories of trade, negotiation and cultural exchange, acquiring meaning through global circulation and the hierarchies embedded within cultural systems.

Dr Xiaoxin Li — Methodological Shifts in Contemporary Chinese Craft

Xiaoxin Li, Curator of Chinese Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, addressed structural questions concerning how different forms of practice are understood within contemporary art.

Drawing on exhibitions on contemporary Chinese studio craft, Li observed that younger practitioners increasingly focus on material experimentation and global dialogue rather than presenting a fixed notion of cultural identity.

Roundtable I: Emerging Practices Across Generations.

Keynote Lecture
Lu Ying — Jewellery as Cultural Translation

Following an afternoon break, the forum continued with a keynote lecture by jewellery artist and designer Lu Ying.

Lu is the founder of Oriental Naturalism Jewellery and Baoji Jewellery. Her practice integrates French craft traditions with Eastern aesthetic structures through the development of a 1,668°C titanium forging technique, which forms the basis of her “Nouveau Deco” aesthetic framework.

In her lecture, Lu approached jewellery not simply as decoration or craft but as a situated artistic practice.

Because jewellery is worn on the body, she argued, it functions as an intimate cultural language capable of generating meaning through everyday experience.

She summarised:

“Wear, rather than explain. Let the work speak through the body, and allow each viewer to interpret it in their own way. Jewellery can become a form of cultural translation in motion.”

Jewellery artist and designer Lu Ying, keynote speaker at the forum.

Roundtable II
Cross-Cultural Imagination and Emerging Curatorial Positions

Following the keynote lecture, the forum moved into the second roundtable discussion moderated by Vivian Ni.

Speakers including Viv Lawes, Erika Song, and Luyang Zou explored themes ranging from positionality and cross-cultural dialogue to technology, identity and emerging curatorial perspectives.