On December 4, 2025, MoMA PS1 hosted Archival Thinking: Artist Archive Symposium, a full-day gathering that brought together leading thinkers from the worlds of art, archives, and the humanities. Jointly organized by the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) and the Cai Foundation, with support from the Rattray Kimura Foundation, the symposium offered an illuminating look at the evolving role of artist archives in contemporary practice. Cultural curator and moderator Paul Holdengräber guided the day’s conversations with his signature depth.

The event drew artists, scholars, archivists, and arts administrators eager to examine how archival thinking can shape artistic legacies—and expand creative possibilities. Panels and discussions delved into the questions facing today’s artists: How should a lifetime of creative work be preserved? What stories do archives tell, and who gets to tell them? And in an age of constant documentation, what does it mean to intentionally craft one’s archive?

This year’s symposium held particular significance: it coincided with the 30th anniversary of Cai Guo-Qiang’s first ACC grant, awarded in 1995. That grant transported the artist from Tokyo to New York for a residency at the P.S.1 Studio Program—his first U.S. studio and the launchpad for his international practice. Cai’s early years in Queens seeded a long-lasting dialogue between artmaking and archival consciousness, one that continues to inform his work and the practices of emerging artists around the world.

Artist archives are not passive repositories but dynamic tools that can shape cultural narratives, fuel new work, and ensure that artists’ stories continue to resonate across time.