4A TEAM
Aaron Seeto – Director
Aaron Seeto is a curator of contemporary Asian and Asian-Australian art. Aaron Seeto’s curatorial work revolves around the Asia-Pacific region and the impact and experience of migration and globalisation on contemporary art practice. He has developed significant projects and exhibitions with some of the key Asian artists working in Australia and internationally. Recent major projects for 4A include Cinema Alley, Yang Fudong – Estranged Paradise (2010); Qiu Anxiong- Nostalgia (2009), and Ming Wong – Vain Efforts (2009); Dadang Christanto – Survivor (2009) and SPEAKEASY (2009) co-curated with Vernon Ah Kee charting Asian and Indigenous histories.
He has also curated some large-scale projects for other cultural institutions (as co-curator) – Edge of Elsewhere (2010) at Campbelltown Arts Centre and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art; News from Islands (2007) an Asia-Pacific survey exhibition at Campbelltown Arts Centre; and Primavera (2006), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
He is a Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and sits on the Advisory Panel for the City of Sydney Chinese New Year Festival. In 2010 he was appointed Curator for the City of Sydney Chinatown Public Art Plan.
Summar Hipworth – Program Manager
Summar Hipworth graduated from the University of London with an Honours degree in History of Art, and studied Arts Management under curator Lisa Le Feurve. She has worked for important art institutions such as Tate Modern and The British Museum in London, and developed arts education programs for the Trojan Scheme. More recently, she managed the studios and projects for internationally renowned artists Chris Ofili and Sam Taylor-Wood. In 2011 she was Art & Australia and Gertrude Contemporary’s emerging arts writer under the mentorship with Anthony Bond from Art Gallery NSW.
Simon Soon – Community Projects Officer
Prior to curating 4As community program, Simon Soon was based in Kuala Lumpur and worked as an independent curator in Southeast Asia across a number of different platforms – art institutions, commercial galleries and independent art spaces. He is currently completing his PhD in socially engaged practice in modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art.
Yu Ye Wu – Communications Assistant
Yu Ye Wu graduated with a BA from Sydney University majoring in Art History and English Literature in 2008. She began at 4A as an intern and gallery assistant and has been Communications Assistant since 2010. Yu Ye currently coshares her skills in arts administration, project assistance and social media at Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE).
Samuel Zammit – Gallery Assistant
Samuel Zammit graduated from the National Art School with a bachelor degree in Fine Art majoring in printmaking in 2008. At present he is a master student of Art Curatorship at the University of Sydney and will be completing his studies following an internship with the Singapore Biennale in 2011. Samuel has participated in numerous student exhibitions and continues to practice as a printmaker.
4A BOARD
Daniel Droga – President
Daniel Droga is the founder of DCM Bluelake, an Australian-based Investment Fund. He is a philanthropist of the arts and avid collector of Chinese contemporary art.
Caroline Choy – Vice President and Public Officer
Caroline Choy is a Property Business Development Manager for AMP Capital Shopping Centres. She has a keen interest in the arts and has worked previously on projects for the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and South Australian Museum, Adelaide.
Adrian Williams – Treasurer
Adrian Williams has 20 years’ experience in finance and accounting within large Australian and global organisations. He is currently Head of Finance for AMP Capital Shopping Centres.
Throughout his career, Adrian has led large finance teams through periods of significant cultural, system and organisational change. Emphases on continuous improvement and awareness of trends in the external market place have also been cornerstones of his approach.
John Choi – Director
John Choi is a founding partner of Choi Ropiha. In 1996, Choi graduated from the University of Sydney with Honours in Architecture. Together with Tai Ropiha, he founded Choi Ropiha in 2000 following their win in the international competition for the re-design of the TKTS booth in Times Square, New York.
John Young – Director
John Young was born in Hong Kong in 1956 and moved to Australia in 1967. Since his first exhibition in 1979, John has exhibited extensively with his works being shown in major exhibitions both nationally and internationally, at institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and museums and institutions in North America, Europe, North and South East Asia.
Lisa Corsi – Director
Lisa Corsi is founder and Managing Director of ARTCELL, an independent agency that provides project and collection management services for the visual arts industry, including public and private institutions, private collectors, commercial galleries and artists.
She has worked with international intergovernmental organisations and with local, national and international Artist Run Initiatives, galleries and museums.
She is also co-founder and co-curator for SafARI, a community based and alternative exhibition of unrepresented and emerging artists in Artist Run Initiatives in Sydney. From 2000 – 2006, Lisa was Curatorial and Collections Manager at Sherman Galleries, Sydney.
4A ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Visual Arts Advisory Group
Dr Thomas Berghuis, Gary Carsley, Simryn Gill, George Poonkhin Khut
Fundraising Committee
Brooke Aitken, Lyndell Droga, Phillip Haw, Mike Hsu, Mark Hughes, Belinda Lai, Louisa Lee-Reizes, Monica Levy, Paris Neilson, Beata Orzel, Martin O’Sullivan