A little more about Adrian Jones - Engineering Student, Author, Video Game Developer, Software Entrepreneur, Sports Media Creator, Art Curator

Adrian Jones

Adrian Jones began his career in the UK in the early 1980s when he established a video games development company, working at the meeting point of art and technology.  He published his first book on the design and development of video games in 1983. After studying engineering at Cambridge University, Adrian came initially to Vietnam in 1986-87 to write a book and make a film.  During that period, he first encountered Vietnamese artists and started to collect their works, beginning a life-long passion for the region's arts.

Picasso, Nu

The collection, known as Witness Collection, today consists of nearly 2,000 works, regularly on loan at museums around the world and is accessible to researchers and scholars.

Pham Huy Thong, Buffalo Boy

As an entrepreneur, Adrian's work has been in the fields of media and telecommunications.  He was founder of the company behind WinMail, which became one of the three leading worldwide email products in the early 90s.  WinMail was adopted worldwide by IBM and won many industry awards for its effective use of graphical imagery (GUI) to improve interface ease-of-use.

From 1999-2002, Adrian was Executive Chairman of SportBusiness Group, based in London, New York and Munich, which he developed into the leading supplier of commercial information to the sports industry.  The company produced numerous specialist publications - both print and online - as well as international conferences, working closely with broadcasters, teams, sponsors and media agencies in more than 60 countries, as well as international sports organizations such as the IOC, FIFA, Formula 1 and UEFA Champions' League.

Duchamp,
Fountain

Adrian established Asiarta Foundation in 2009 to support projects in Asian art conservation, research and media.  At present, he is preparing to produce a documentary series for international broadcasters, which will look at the changing phases of the 20th century through the eyes of Vietnamese artists. Adrian also serves as a Director or Advisor to several private commercial companies and is Official Advisor to The National Gallery of Art, Singapore for their Vietnam collection.

Adrian will speak on 'What Makes Art Valuable?'  What is art?  And therefore what are we valuing? What inherent value does art have?  What broader value does art have to our community, society or country? Why do art pieces sometimes sell for such enormous sums? What underpins the commercial value of art?  And what changes it? What economic and social value does art have in Vietnam? What value does art have to our businesses? Why should we care about supporting the arts?

Event management for aSaigon/CreativeMorning welcomes Witness Collection curator, Adrian Jones powered by Eventbrite

aSaigon/CreativeMorning welcomes Witness Collection curator Adrian Jones - Friday, 18 Feb, 8:30am

'Goi Dao' - 1943 -
Tran Van Can (1910 -1994)

Adrian Jones, 44, is the founder of the Witness Collection, Director of Asiarta Foundation, and Advisor for the Vietnam collection to The National Art Gallery, Singapore. With more than 1000 pieces to date, Jones’ purpose in building the Witness Collection has been to “tell a story, the story of Vietnam’s people and society during the past century. Due to Vietnam being a microcosm for the world’s major social and political changes during that time, I [Jones] believe Vietnamese art tells the story of ‘our century’ in a way that art from no other country can."


Beyond works of art, Jones’ team has also traveled around Vietnam collecting old tubes of oil paint, unused canvases and old paper—in fact, pretty much any art material they can find that has been produced since the 1940s. They have also been interviewing elderly artists to gain a better understanding of their techniques. Jones also finds himself in a unique position helping define the value and merit of art in a nation with few domestic collectors of contemporary art.

“I’ve come to realise that, often unwittingly, we regularly take on a set of social responsibilities when collecting unique and original art – sometimes including responsibilities to a much larger community. Most artists create their works to be seen, so firstly we have at least some duty to the artist to share their works with other viewers, whether friends and family or wider afield.”, says Jones.


We're pleased to welcome Adrian and hope the morning will provide both visual and intellectual stimulation. The Witness Collection can be found here.


Register for the event here:

Event management for aSaigon/CreativeMorning welcomes Witness Collection curator, Adrian Jones powered by Eventbrite

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