What are the activities of the Society for Indo-Asian Art Berlin (GIAK) ?
The Society for Indo-Asian Art Berlin was founded on 24 April 1993 as a non-profit organisation.
The Society aims to disseminate, deepen and promote the knowledge and understanding of Indian art,
which, according to scholarly opinion, also includes the art of South-East and Central Asia. It is therefore
hereafter referred to as Indo-Asian art.
In particular, the GIAK supports the collection of South, South-East and Central Asian art at the Museum
of Asian Art, which was founded on 4 December 2006. The museum combines the former Museum of
Indian Art and the Museum of East Asian Art and is one of the Berlin State Museums.
The aim of the Society is to help overcome Eurocentric thinking in the perception of art and to ensure that
Indo-Asian art takes its rightful place in the public consciousness.
Tasks / Activities
The Society for Indo-Asian Art Berlin (GIAK) has been supporting the Museum of Indian Art, now the South, South-East and Central Asian Art Collection in the Museum of Asian Art, since 1993. It
- supports and facilitates special exhibitions, as well as the purchase and loan of art objects
- organises lectures, excursions, visits to collectors
- advises collectors, reviews works of art and art literature
- publishes Indo-Asian Journal (IAZ) annually with academic contributions
- provides a forum for people interested in the manifold arts and cultures of Asia to exchange ideas with others who are similarly interested.
The statutes of the Society for Indo-Asian Art Berlin are available as a PDF: GIAK statutes.
Board of Directors
1. Chair: Prof. Dr. Felix Gross, Patent Attorney, Berlin, an excellent connoisseur of Indian art collections wordwide and a frequent traveller to India
2. Vice Chair: Dr. Caren Dreyer, Indologist, freelance at the Museum of Asian Art for many years, author of several publications on Central Asian studies, organiser and leader of our member tours
Treasurer: Dr. Dörte Eriskat , Historian
Secretary: Elisabeth Ruhe, Biologist
Member of the Board: Dr. Ines Konczak-Nagel, Indologist, research associate at the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig, specialist for Central Asian wall paintings
E-mail: E-Mail to GIAK
