We venture from Monocle’s Marylebone HQ to London’s Dalston to learn about an organisation looking east. Asymmetry is an unusual, forward-thinking foundation dedicated to developing cultural knowledge in and about Asia. Plus: we head to Copenhagen to find out about Danish festival Heartland’s takeover of famed restaurant Noma. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to Monocle on Culture.
I'm Robert Bound.
On today's show, we venture from Monacle's Marylebone HQ out east to London's Dalston to learn about an organization also looking east.
The Asymmetry Art foundation is an unusual forward thinking outfit dedicated to developing cultural knowledge in and about Asia.
Then we'll head to Copenhagen to find out just what is happening in Renye Recipe's restaurant now that NOMA is having a semester abroad in Japan.
Do stay tuned.
That's all ahead here on Monocle on Culture.
First up, on a quiet residential road in East London and down an unassumingly leafy path, there is a quite extraordinary building.
This is the HQ of Asymmetry Art foundation, an organization which supports curators and artists of Chinese and Sinophone heritage through fellowships, scholarships and the like.
Asymmetry also hosts their own events and public programs.
I went along to Asymmetry to meet the director, Michelle Ruoy Landolt.
Michelle is part Chinese and part Swiss.
She originally trained as an art historian and cultural producer and helped build Gallery Weekend in Beijing.
She began by telling me how she first met Asymmetry's founder, Yen Do.
It's a great story.
So Yen and I, we go way back.
We met in 2016, actually during freeze week when I was not yet living in London.
And we just hit it off right away with our shared interest in contemporary art, Contemporary Asian art, and we stayed in touch.
Funnily enough, I was working as an artist liaison and in sales.
But sort of a running gag today is that I've actually never sold anything to her, who's a wonderful art collector.