In May 2012, nearly thirty leading contemporary artists from throughout Asia presented arresting and provocative work at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Art objects from the museum’s extensive collection of traditional art were juxtaposed with the contemporary works—not so much to compare the past and present as to expand our imaginations beyond space and time into the spiritual world and the afterlife.
Phantoms of Asia, the resulting publication, is a unique and intriguing exploration of the concept of Asia not as a block of political and economic interest but as an interconnected network of "phantoms" of invisible spiritual energy.
Mami Kataoka is chief curator of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
Allison Harding is assistant curator for contemporary art, at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
