A leader in the field of contemporary art in Myanmar, Aye Ko (Myanmar, b. 1963) is a visual artist based and Director of Yangon’s New Zero Art Space. He began his career in the into the Yangon art scene in 1988 and is known to be among the postmodern art generation in Myanmar. In 1990, he organized and participated in the “Modern Art 90” exhibition, a group show featuring 15 Burmese artists pushing the boundaries of modern art. Ko worked early with impressionist paintings, and through contacts with Yangon-based modern artists such as Maung D and Aung Myint, he also started working with abstraction. In 1994, he founded “Olive” gallery.

After 1996, as his interest changed to postmodern ideas, he practiced performance art. In 1999, he participated in the second annual Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival in Bangkok, Thailand, and subsequently made performance art works in Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, Germany, Philippines, Vietnam, France, Indonesia, Japan and New York, building his international reputation as a Myanmar performance artist.

Since 2000, Ko has practiced multimedia art and new art, and has led the activities of “New Zero Art Group,” the reiteration of the “Modern Art 90” group. In 2001, he made a performance work at Asian Performance Art Festival in New York, and in 2005, Ko received an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship to observe contemporary art activities, meet artists and curators, and participate in the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York City. Following his time in New York, Ko continued his fellowship research in Indonesia and China, where he investigated independent art spaces and galleries that served as artist service organizations.

Upon his return to Myanmar in 2007, he decided to establish an art space as a platform to unite and network artists as support for reaching the international market. Therefore, he established New Zero Art Space in 2008 to promote a young generation of artists and Myanmar contemporary art.

Throughout his career, Ko has participated in over 70 foreign group exhibitions, and more than 80 local group shows in Myanmar. He has exhibited solo shows in the US, France, Thailand, and Hong Kong, as well as in Myanmar. As the director of New Zero Art Space, he is leading the Myanmar contemporary art movement with programs including international exchange and artist residencies. In 2017, Ko received both the Art Stage Singapore award and the US Embassy Singapore Joseph Balestier Award for Freedom of Art. Ko also works as an art critic and a writer, and founded two magazines, “Fashion” fashion and beauty magazine and “Hlaing Thit” (‘New Wave’) art and literature magazine. Ko’s artworks are in the ACC collection in New York and the ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art in Karlsruhe, Germany, as well as private collections in Italy, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Belgium, Korea, Thailand, Spain, France, Taiwan, Switzerland, and Myanmar.

Courtesy of the Asian Cultural Council