This symposium, produced by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in collaboration with Rice University, is the first academic symposium to focus on writing critical narratives on modern Asian art and architecture histories and practices, as well as on recent developments in their methodologies and historiographies, and on the tensions, problems and opportunities in the field.

Rather than simply investigating the current state of the field, this symposium aims to rethink and challenge the academic discipline of art and architecture history, as it currently faces changes brought by the ongoing globalization and transnationalization of the world.

This symposium not only explores, through discussing select writing projects in thematic sessions, Asian modern and contemporary art and architecture in a comparative framework, but also traces and projects the artistic and visual transformations of the field in a global context. It discusses the roles of narratives created by historians, curators, and artists in further expanding the field, and contribute to a critical reconfiguration of a "global art history," beyond national and geographical ranges, in order to achieve a transformative reconception of the discipline of art and architecture history.

This symposium contributes to the My Voice Would Reach You contemporary arts festival and exhibition, to be held April 14 through 20, organized by the Chao Center for Asian Studies, Rice University.

Schedule April 13

• 10 a.m. - Opening Remarks by Gary Tinterow.
• 10:15 a.m. - Introduction by Yasufumi Nakamori.
• 10:30 a.m. - Session 1: "Transnationalism," presented by Lawrence Chua, Hamilton College; Yasufumi Nakamori, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Tiffany Chung, artist. Discussant: Christine Starkman, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
• 1 p.m. - Session 2: "Decentering Modernism," presented by Ming Tiampo, Carleton University; Iftikhar Dadi, Cornell University; and Shilpa Gupta, artist. Discussant: Mari Carmen Ramírez, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
• 3 p.m. - Session 3: "Contemporaneity and Globalization," presented by Reiko Tomii, independent scholar; Vimalin Rujivacharakul, University of Delaware; and Y. David Chung, University of Michigan. Discussant: Graham Bader, Rice University A reception follows.

Schedule April 14

• 10 a.m. - Second-Day Opening Remarks by Tani Barlow.
• 10:15 a.m. - Session 4: "Agencies of Archive," presented by Nora Taylor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Joan Kee, University of Michigan; and Dinh Q. Lê, artist. Discussant: James Clifton, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
• 12:30 p.m. - Remarks by Respondent-at-Large, Alexandra Munroe, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.