Our Projects

The Art and Architecture of Mapping: Visual and Material Approaches to Cartographic Objects

Tuesday 20th June, 9:00am - 18:00pm BST and Wednesday 21st June 2023, 9:30am - 12:15pm BST | FREE, booking essential

This two-day symposium addresses this interdisciplinary challenge from a diverse range of perspectives that foreground such questions as: how do maps operate as representations, and how do culturally situated understandings of space shape how they ar...

Arts of the Buddhist World: Heritage and Conservation Lecture Series

Image showing part of a portrait of a woman on the left side and an X-ray image of this on the right hand side.

Digital Imaging as Disciplinary Practice: Photography and Art History

This lecture series presented work from leading researchers who use digital methods in art history and technical art history/conservation to think in new ways about our disciplines. It explores how the digital and computational can be used to advance...

Photograph of a ceramic storage jar with an olive green dripping glaze.

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Research

Collecting and Curating Southeast Asian Art: In Conversation with Alexandra Green and Rosanna Nicolson

5:30pm, 28 Nov 2023 | Free, booking essential

This conversation between the two curators, Alexandra Green and Rosanna Nicolson, celebrates two exhibitions focusing on Southeast Asian art–“Burma to Myanmar” and “Theravada Buddhism”–concurrently showing at The British Museum and at National Museum...

A dark haired man walks towards the camera through a beaded curtain. He is walking into a kitchen, barefoot, and is carrying a pair of snakeskin boots with him.

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Research

Front and (Off-)Centre: Fashion and Southeast Asia

9:00am, 5 May 2023 | Free, booking essential

The conference seeks to highlight the diversity and sophistication of fashion practices within or relating to Southeast Asia, and contributes to efforts to decentralise fashion studies....

A bronze image of Mahapratisara from Central Java

Imprints of the protective goddess Mahāpratisarā across Asia and her role in Java

6:00pm, 26 Apr 2018

Installation image of Rashid Choudhury Tapestries in Rewind, Dhaka Art Summit 2016

Entry Points: Charting Bangladeshi Art History via Asia

12:00am, 6 Oct 2017

An Interwoven World: Sensory Experiences of Textiles in the Sumtsek at Alchi, Ladakh

Jordan Quill...

Poster with graphic design of futuristic scene

Conversations in Contemporary Asian Art

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Research

Energies of Attachment: Mapping Intimacy across Art, Science and Ecology

9:30am, 1 Dec 2023 | Free, booking essential

The first annual Asymmetry International Symposium to be hosted at The Courtauld. ...

Detail “Warping the borders, fringes; fractured…” 2017 The Whitworth Gallery (still from film)

Weaving as resistance: crossing thresholds, crafting identity, and lines of conflict

6:30pm, 27 Apr 2018

Maharana Amar Singh II in Udaipur during a Monsoon Downpour, c. 1705, Udaipur. Opaque watercolor and gold on cloth

Research

The Mood of a Place: A Sensible History of India’s Eighteenth-Century Locals and Locales

5:00pm, 18 Feb 2021 | Free

Paining of man in gold outfit with crown and beard

Research

Art in Peril: The Case of the Negarestan Museum and its Collection of 18th and 19th century Iranian Art

6:00pm, 5 Mar 2020 | Free, and open to all

Krishna’s Life-Story in Bengali Scrolls: Exploring The Invitation to Unroll

Pika Ghosh...

Exhibition poster for a show entitled 'Une autre histoire du monde' at Mucem from 8 November 2023 - 11 March 2024

Research

Another History of the World

5:30pm, 29 Jan 2024 | Free, booking essential

The talk by Professor Pierre Singaravélou will take the exhibition ‘Another History of the World’ currently on view at the Mucem in Marseille as a starting point. ...

A still from a film showing nine rectangular boxes containing hands holding photographs

Research

susan pui san lok: seven x seven - Courtauld x GSA x GI2021

5:00pm, 17 Jun 2021 | Free, booking essential

Vulnerability and Real Time in the Two Koreas

6:15pm, 9 Mar 2018

Photograph of a large statue of Buddha in a lying position

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Research

Recreating Angkorian Worlds: Out of Chaos

6:00pm, 15 Mar 2022 | Free, booking essential

This talk will examine the reclining Buddha and Vishnu figures sculpted into the landscape of Angkor’s Kulen Mountains as embodying a site-specific re-birthing of the world. ...

Screenshot of the Late Hokusai website homepage

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Research

The Development of Historical Digital Methods: Late Hokusai as case study

6:00pm, 18 Jan 2022 | Free, booking essential

Tim Clark and Dominic Oldman will share more about their 'Late Hokusai' project and the ResearchSpace system. ...

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Research

The Many Lives of Fragmented Letters: Buddhist Death Rituals, Palimpsests, and Reuse in Medieval Japan

6:00pm, 3 Nov 2021 | Free, booking essential

While a fading practice today, handwritten letters in medieval Japan were the sole form of communication between long-separated lovers, parents unlikely to reunite with their children, and distant friends, artists, and poets. ...

A room covered in wood, with a drum on the floor, two golden Buddha figures and a painting hanging from the wall

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Research

Redisplaying the Buddhist Collection at Chiddingstone Castle

5:30pm, 12 Mar 2024 | Free, booking essential

In this talk, Naomi Collick and Dr. Nick Swann will discuss the processes of research, consultation, and collaboration undertaken by museums like Chiddingstone Castle to redisplay, reframe, and decolonise their Buddhist collections...

Still from a video work depicting a group of kids in uniform (composed of a white t-shirt and orange sweatpants) dancing in a circle on a public park.

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Lee Kai Chung: Espionage and Disposable Lives

6:00pm, 30 Apr 2024 | Free, booking essential

Artist and researcher Lee Kai Chung shares excerpts from his recent moving image work exploring the roles of intelligence operatives in British Hong Kong and Guangzhou during the Cold War, weaving in themes of historical erasure, colonialism, ecology...

Bodhisattva, limestone, 6th century, from Qingzhou, Shandong

The Buddhist sculpture hoard from Qingzhou – 20 years on

6:00pm, 6 Dec 2017

Abstract blue, red and yellow rectangular shapes intersecting

Artists in Conversation: Rasheed Araeen and Rana Begum

Monday 5th June, 18:00pm-19:00pm BST | Free, booking essential

The inaugural event of a new seminar series in curating will bring in conversation two leading contemporary artists based in London. It is organised on the occasion of the release of Rasheed Araeen’s book Islam and Modernism in which the artist takes...

picture of a black hole surrounded by white feathers

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Research

Gravity is the momentum of feeling: Xin Liu and Joni Zhu in conversation

6:30pm, 9 Mar 2023 | Free, booking essential

Join us in person or online for the second lecture in the Asymmetry Distinguished Lecture Series. ...

A photograph of a wall sculpture made of painted cardboard, depicting an island with an ignited volcano. The fumes from the volcano release into the sky, which is not rendered, acting as the negative space from the sculpture. There are cloud pieces floating above the large island piece, and a sun painted green.

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Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Offerings for Escalante

6:00pm, 14 May 2024 | Free, booking essential

Following Asymmetry's recent collaboration with the CCA Berlin (Centre for Contemporary Arts Berlin) to present the public programme accompanying the exhibition 'Offerings for Escalante' by Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien, we are delighted to announce that...

Photograph showing 7 silver metal bowls of different sizes with different objects inside, set on a stone surface

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Research

Porous Beings: Lotus Laurie Kang in conservation with Xiaowen Zhu

6:00pm, 5 May 2023 | Free, booking essential

For the third event in the Asymmetry Distinguished Lecture Series Kang will introduce her most recent body of work that will be shown in her upcoming exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery, and discuss issues of care, belonging, matter and memory in co...

a small audience watch a projection screen in an opulent room

Present Elsewhere: Rashid Rana

6:00pm, 3 Oct 2016

Installation shots of BP Spotlight: Anwar Shemza

Manuela Ciotti on For a Politics of Presence

6:00pm, 24 May 2016

Men Leaving their Villages to Walk to the Relief Centres in the District Towns

Sunil Janah and the development of a modern ocular aesthetic 1943-56

6:00pm, 22 Nov 2017

Image of the front cover of the book 'In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine 1900 - 1930s'.

Research

Modernism in Ukraine - Panel Discussion and Book Launch for ‘In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s’

6:00pm, 1 Feb 2023 | Free, booking essential

Join Dr Klara Kemp-Welch, Dr Maria Mileeva, and Katia Denysova for this panel and launch for the book 'In the Eye of the Storm: ...

Research

A Nod of a Hat: Rooftops of Old Tehran

5:00pm, 5 Jun 2023 | Free, booking essential

In this talk, Ahmadreza Schricker, the principal of Architecture North (ASA North), discusses his newest project, the transformation of the abandoned Argo beer factory in downtown Tehran into a new museum, artist residency and cultural centre....

Image of a film camera overlaid with pink and purple filters

Research

We Are One #Iran
Short Film Festival

6:00pm, 29 Nov 2023 | £3 - £6.16

Persia Educational Foundation, Film Buzz Festival and the Courtauld Institute will host the launch of 'We Are One #Iran'. This event will include a screening and in-person panel of experts. ...

Performance and De-synchronization: Opening the Past in Contemporary Indian Photography

5:30pm, 8 Dec 2015 | Open to all, free admission

Sculpture in marble of a male figure with a bag over his head

Research

Reza Aramesh in Conversation with Sussan Babaie

6:00pm, 22 May 2019

The word punk overlaid over a photograph of a city

Research

Wuhan Punk: Chris Zhongtian Yuan

6:30pm, 2 Jun 2021 | Free, booking essential

Film still of person applying lipstick to another person

Research

In Conversation: Blueprints for the Otherwise

11 May 2021 | Free, booking essential

Photograph of a man in an alley way in Shenzhen

Research

Seecum Cheung: Artist Talk

6:30pm, 25 May 2021 | Free, booking essential

Research

Myths, Memories and Miniatures: The Art of Shahzia Sikander

6:30pm, 6 Nov 2019

Research

Buddhist Heritage of Sri Lanka: Moving away from the Notion of ‘Pious Vandals’ in Conserving the Sacred

6:00pm, 14 Mar 2023 | Free, booking essential

Speaker Gamini Wijesuriya will explore the impact of conservation and its development in Sri Lanka around Buddhist heritage. ...

Research

DMZ Revisited: Nikolaus Hirsch and Kyong Park in Conversation

6:30pm, 7 Nov 2019

Photograph showing the colourful decorated spines of a series of books

Research

Exploring the provenance and digitisation of the British Library’s Hugh Nevill Sri Lankan Palm Leaf Manuscripts

6:00pm, 28 Mar 2023 | Free, booking essential

Join Arani Ilankuberan as she presents on the British Library’s holdings of the Hugh Nevill collection of over 2,000 Sinhalese palm leaf manuscripts from Sri Lanka, with a focus on what is currently known about Hugh Nevill and his collecting practice...

Research

Worldbuilding for 2065

6:30pm, 4 Nov 2020

Still from a film of a woman rubbing lipstick across her face

Research

Sussan Deyhim: Performance and Practice

6:30pm, 5 Nov 2019

Abstract image with shapes in grey, brown, white and black

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Research

Conserving Buddhist stupas and religious nationalism in Sri Lanka

6:00pm, 27 Feb 2023 | Free, booking essential

Jagath Weerasinghe explores the notion of 'authenticity' around the excavation and exploration of Buddhist stupas in Sri Lanka ...

Research

Radical Alternatives: Temporal and Spatial Mediations in Contemporary Iranian Art

5:00pm, 10 Nov 2020

Photograph showing the inside of a Buddhist Temple

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Research

Safeguarding the Past: Conservation and Research of Mural Paintings at the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang

6:00pm, 6 Oct 2023 | Free, booking essential

Join Dr Bomin Su for an insight into the work undertaken by the Dunhuang ...

Research

Inarticulate Depths: Victoria Sin in conversation with Kostas Stasinopoulos

6:00pm, 27 Feb 2020

Research

Inarticulate Depths: Victoria Sin in conversation with Kostas Stasinopoulos

6:00pm, 27 Feb 2020

Aerial photograph of an Indian fort-palace

Research

Aman Nath: Cultural Heritage Preservation and Restoration in India

5:00pm, 11 Jun 2022 | Free, booking essential

Join us for a talk by Aman Nath about his work on restoring and preserving ancient Indian forts and other historic buildings. ...

Aerial view map with a white outline around a series of buildings

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Research

Investigating Xinjiang's network of detention camps: digital mapping and architectural investigations

6:00pm, 23 Nov 2021 | Free, booking essential

China has built a vast network of detention camps in the north west region of Xinjiang, as part of its campaign of oppression against Turkic Muslims. It is believed that more than a million people have been detained. Our team used satellite imagery, ...

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Research

Structuring a Virtual World of the Buddha: In the Case of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pavilion (Wanfoge) in Beijing Zhihua Temple (1444)

6:00pm, 13 Jan 2022 | Free, booking essential

Multistoried structures stood out in pre-modern Chinese architecture, built mainly in wood and characterized by horizontal sprawl of spatial arrangement and building complexes....

Photograph showing two men standing outside against a backdrop of mountains, holding a fabric hanging between them.

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Research

“Salvage and Selvage: An Art Historian’s Misadventures Sponsoring Thangka Remounting in Western Himalayan Village Shrines”

6:00pm, 14 Oct 2021 | Free, booking essential

Although monastic and palace shrines have the most splendid holdings, they can also be the most complicated for an outsider like myself to study and document. My talk is about a different model of mutual benefit I have recently stumbled upon....

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Research

Investigating Xinjiang's network of detention camps: digital mapping and architectural investigations

6:00pm, 23 Nov 2021 | Free, booking essential

China has built a vast network of detention camps in the north west region of Xinjiang, as part of its campaign of oppression against Turkic Muslims. It is believed that more than a million people have been detained. Our team used satellite imagery, ...

Grey book cover with a painting of people on it

Research

Book event: Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa

5:30pm, 20 Nov 2020 | BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Research

The Shah and the ‘Ulama: A Tale of Two Mosques in Safavid Isfahan

6:00pm, 9 May 2019

Rasheed Araeen in conversation: Art and Activism in Post-War Britain

6:30pm, 17 Nov 2017

Cover of the book 'International Departures: Art in India After Independence' by Devika Singh. The photograph on the cover shows a large, freestanding staircase up and down which people are climbing.

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Research

International Departures: Art in India after Independence

5:30pm, 11 Dec 2023 | Free, booking essential

Join us to celebrate the publication of 'International Departures: Art in India After Independence', with author Dr Devika Singh and a panel of contributors. ...

Gandhara and Beyond: The Influence of Andhra on the Art of Gandhara

6:00pm, 13 Nov 2015

'Changing Perceptions': A Talk by Aga Khan Museum Director and CEO, Henry Kim

6:30pm, 4 May 2018

a nude man overlooks a town from a balcony at night

Bhupen Khakhar & The Politics of (Re)Presentation

6:00pm, 8 Nov 2016

Sculptural work showing a part skeleton figure with large black tusks and fabric wings

Research

Rina Banerjee: Make Me a Summary of the World

6:00pm, 8 Nov 2018

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Research

Shen Xin and Alvin Li in conversation

5:00pm, 21 Oct 2021 | Free, booking essential

Artist Shen Xin joins curator and writer Alvin Li for an intimate conversation in this online event. In lieu of a conventional studio visit, the two interlocutors will proceed by posing each other a series of questions informed by their ongoing resea...

a pair of hands holding a note that reads

State of the Arts in Singapore: Where is the Periphery?

5:30pm, 20 Apr 2017

Amrita Jhaveri on Anwar Jalal Shemza

6:00pm, 3 Mar 2016

Our Projects

Past Projects

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