Asia Society Museum Salon Series: Arathi Menon in conversation with Xiaohan Du

Today, ideas and inspiration travel swiftly in a hyperconnected world. In the past, this process was slower, more deliberate, and more tangible. It also occurred alongside the transport of goods and raw materials across land and sea. Works of art in the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection and featured in Asia Society Museum’s current exhibition “Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Celebrating 70 Years of Asia Society and the Rockefeller Legacy” serve as visual archives that trace the many historical paths through which ideas and inspiration traveled across the continent. Asia Society Museum Curator Xiaohan Du speaks to art history professor Arathi Menon about the fascinating insights they can reveal into the innovations and human connections forged in the globally connected premodern world.