For Asher, art was not only an inspiration that opens new perspectives on life, but a life-giving and driving force, a raison d’être. It seemed fitting that his initials spelled ART. I have met few people in the art world who were as passionate and generous as Asher, a born connector who genuinely enjoyed linking people and ideas, forging bonds and generating creative synergies. As creative producer, he facilitated collaborations with international organizations from Bell Labs and Arts at CERN to the Maker Faire in Rome. Asher was driven, radiating a seemingly tireless and communicable energy geared towards nurturing arts. The list of organizations he brought into life and fostered was more than impressive. He launched the Remy Toledo Gallery (2004–2006) in New York, specializing in Feminist, Post-Feminist and new media art and showing artists from Carolee Schneemann and Ana Mendieta to Judy Chicago and Monika Weiss; and the Yuanfen Gallery (2006–2008) and tech incubator in Beijing. He co-founded and co-curated No Longer Empty (2009–2020), the New York-based organization that took over empty spaces for site-specific installations; founded Hyphen Hub, devoted to the convergence of art and creative technologies, in 2014; was part of the 2015 founders team of New York Creative Tech Week and one of the guest curators of the Festival de la Imagen in Manizales, Colombia, in 2018 and 2019. Over Hyphen Hub’s more than twenty-year existence, Asher organized dozens of events in New York and internationally, featuring mergers of digital technologies, performance, sound art, and music.
While being an extraordinarily prolific producer, Asher was the antidote to the stereotypically controlling manager who brims with intense urgency. Unassuming and kind, he was a generous host who conceived inspiring social environments. The heart of Hyphen Hub was Asher’s salons—gatherings of artists, designers, choreographers, composers, curators, academics, scientists or representatives of city governments who would convene at his home for drinks and food, watching artists’ presentations or performances and discuss their work. The soirées at Asher’s house always were a memorable fusion of traditional formats, high tech, and philosophical discussion. The first salon I attended in 2013, a conversation between artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and theorist Manuel DeLanda, was emblematic of the thoughtful selection of participants that generated lasting exchanges. Asher was a thinker who was always keen to discuss the ways in which the latest technologies affected art, culture, and the societies we live in. I will always remember our conversations and miss strategizing approaches for broadening digital art audiences together. While Asher had a lot more to give, he contributed more than a lifetime to the field of art and technology, initiating events and relationships that will keep spreading and growing.
