Section

Society

Society is The Banquet's study of patronage, power, and cultural influence: who builds institutions, who collects, who leads quietly, and how a new generation of Asian and diaspora figures is rewriting the canon.

ProfilesPowerCultureLeadershipCreative Figures

Featured

Royal Pavilion Brighton onion domes and minarets across the lawn

Europe's Courts Were Already Half Asian

Porcelain services, lacquer cabinets, and chinoiserie pavilions were not Europe inventing Asia as wallpaper. They were Asia already inside European power. Here is how to read that genealogy on a Grand Tour stop.

Start Here

Essential Reading in Society

Gallery white cube with controlled lighting during a contemporary art fair preview

The Collectors Buying Beyond the Auction Room

How Frieze Seoul, Art Basel Hong Kong, and a new patron class are rewriting the Asian art canon.

Contemporary art fair booth with visitors during preview hour

Why Art Basel Hong Kong Owns March

Art March turns the harbour city into a diaspora calendar event. What happens inside HKCEC, across West Kowloon, and at the dinner table afterward.

Art Basel fair hall, Basel, Switzerland, 2025

Why Design Miami Basel Matters to Asian Collectors

Collectible design week in Basel is changing shape. For Asian buyers building homes and museums, the June calendar still matters.

Editor's Route

Patronage & Power

Foundations, boards, and the economics of cultural influence.

M+ Sigg Collection: Four Decades of Chinese Contemporary Art exhibition, Hong Kong, 2016

How the Sigg Collection Built M+

Classical art in a museum setting

Who Really Pays for the Culture

Museum interior with visitors

The Patrons Who Earned the Job

Editor's Route

Collectors & Creatives

The figures shaping what gets seen, acquired, and remembered.

Gallery white cube with controlled lighting during a contemporary art fair preview

The Collectors Buying Beyond the Auction Room

Contemporary art fair booth with visitors during preview hour

Why Art Basel Hong Kong Owns March

Seoul cityscape at dusk

Why Frieze Seoul Owns September

Art Basel fair hall, Basel, Switzerland, 2025

Why Design Miami Basel Matters to Asian Collectors

Light-filled creative studio with materials and works in progress

The Names Behind the Canon Shift

Quiet executive office with city view

The Leaders Who Never Post

All Stories

The Archive

Asia Society headquarters at 725 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan

Seventy Years of Asia Society, Still on Park Avenue

Wedding tea set arranged for a ceremony in Hong Kong

Chinese Wedding Guest Etiquette, Across the Diaspora

Art Basel fair hall, Basel, Switzerland, 2025

Why Design Miami Basel Matters to Asian Collectors

M+ Sigg Collection: Four Decades of Chinese Contemporary Art exhibition, Hong Kong, 2016

How the Sigg Collection Built M+

Contemporary art fair booth with visitors during preview hour

Why Art Basel Hong Kong Owns March

Seoul cityscape at dusk

Why Frieze Seoul Owns September

Gallery white cube with controlled lighting during a contemporary art fair preview

The Collectors Buying Beyond the Auction Room

Museum interior with visitors

The Patrons Who Earned the Job

Quiet executive office with city view

The Leaders Who Never Post

Light-filled creative studio with materials and works in progress

The Names Behind the Canon Shift

Classical art in a museum setting

Who Really Pays for the Culture