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The fall 2024 New York art season spotlighted exhibitions by the Asian diaspora, with prominent showcases like NYU 80WSE’s Legacies, featuring 90 artists and collective of Asian descent working between the 1970s and 1990s, and AS/COA New York’s The Appearance, which highlighted 33 Asian artists working in the Americas. Alongside these institutional exhibitions, numerous solo, dual, and group presentations were hosted across commercial galleries, while new spaces like SK Gallery emerged to center Asian artists in their programming. Among these efforts, Nunu Fine Art New York launched “Project Space: Asian Voices,” a platform to elevate experimental artistic expressions from Asia and its diaspora.
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As an Asian American independent curator, I see this focus on artists of Asian descent as a significant step forward. Yet, it’s also influenced by geopolitical and market factors, particularly growing U.S.-China tensions. With the potential for additional tariffs under a second Trump administration, galleries are diversifying their rosters to reduce reliance on Chinese artists. This shift, while partially driven by economics, is welcome for its broader inclusion of other Asian and Asian diasporic artists, enriching the global art conversation.
Founded in Taipei in 2014 and establishing its New York presence just two years ago, Nunu Fine Art addresses these dynamics with its “Project Space: Asian Voices” initiative. Owner Nunu Hung envisioned a year-round experimental program in their basement space—an unconventional yet strategic choice allowing flexibility and exploration. Hung witnessed the ongoing visibility struggle and limited opportunities for Asian and Asian American artists. Having successfully worked with established artists and helped launch fresh talent in Taiwan, Hung came to do the same in New York. Amplifying Asian perspectives in the international art discourse, the Project Space supports emerging artists and offers international names an entry point into the competitive New York market.
For its inaugural season (2025/2026), the program kicks off with Networks of Kisses, an installation by Alchemyverse, a New York-based duo known for immersive works using photographic prints on copper plates, natural materials, and sound. Formed in 2020 when the pair, Yixuan Shao and Bicheng Liang, were both attending Columbia’s MFA program. Shao is Chinese American, while Liang is Chinese. Their collaboration exemplifies the gallery’s dedication to pushing artistic boundaries while highlighting connections between the local and global.
Alchemyverse has been rewarded with multiple residencies and research fellowships to create work from unconventional landscapes. Networks of Kisses consists of recordings and copper-plated photographic prints from their various studies, which include the Atacama Desert, Lake Superior, Hainan Island, and the islands of Hawaii. In each place, they were hyper-aware of their surroundings and their status as outsiders and visitors. Their recordings lead them to deep listening of the earth that gives participants a different perspective, perhaps from a worm or a grain of sand. Alchemyverse flips land art from its external settings to provide participants with the experience of being with nature indoors, so go experience the two performances scheduled for January 23 and February 8. Vibrating every surface, from attached artworks to the very ground we step on, the piece and its vast landscapes are undeniably present in the space.

Similar to the effecting installation the artists created at the end of their residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in 2023, Alchemyverse: Messa in Luce provided participants an immersive experience that transports one into their studios-in-situ, a turn of phrase that Liang noted in an interview regarding the project, meaning that their place of creation is out in the field, rather than inside an enclosed space of a standard artist studio. Alchemyverse is invested in unearthing how our planet reveals the accumulation of time and its relentless march or erosion and creation. Their unconventional studio practice signals the gallery’s experimental approach.
Nunu Fine Art’s model reflects the shifting realities of the art world, where market pragmatism and cultural advocacy intersect. By prioritizing underrepresented voices and experimental practices, the gallery navigates a complex landscape shaped by international tensions, evolving collector preferences, and market volatility. Through “Project Space: Asian Voices,” Hung demonstrates how galleries can balance economic pressures with a commitment to artistic innovation. The inclusion of Alchemyverse, with their immersive installations that bring natural elements and sound into dialogue with indoor spaces, exemplifies this approach. Their work challenges traditional boundaries of land art and studio practice, embodying the gallery’s mission to foster groundbreaking creative expressions that resonate with local and global audiences alike.
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About the writer: Sophia Ma is an independent curator and writer based in Brooklyn. Ma focuses on broadening the reach and understanding of Asian American artists and their art. She curated exhibitions at La MaMa Galleria, Dorsey Fine Art Gallery, Chiquita Room, Think!Chinatown, FiveMyles, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery at St. John’s University, Walter’s at Walter Elwood Museum, SpringBreak Art Show, Hunter College 205 Hudson Gallery and 205 Project Space, and Rockwell Studios. She was a juror for the 2025 SHIFT Program at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, the International Studio & Curatorial Program’s 2023 Helen Frankenthaler Residency Program, and Residency Unlimited’s 2024 Open Call for NYC-based BIPOC Artists. She worked in development, programming, and operations for the Museum of Chinese in America and the event fundraising consultancy Projects Plus Inc. She has written for multiple art publications, including Art Papers, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail, Art Spiel, Arte Fuse, and White Hot Magazine. Ma received her MA in art history and curatorial studies from Hunter College in 2020.