Australian Centre for Asian Art and Archaeology (ACAAA)

The Australian Centre for Asian Art and Archaeology (ACAAA) was established in 2006 within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with grants of $15,000 from the International Centre for Excellence in Asia-Pacific Studies at ANU, $10,000 from the Faculty of Arts, and $20,000 from discretionary funds of the former College of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

The Centre was set up to coordinate, consolidate and expand existing teaching and research in the fields of Modern Asian Art and Asian archaeology, and to couple these with work in the fields of pre-modern art not previously covered in Australia - in particular pre modern Chinese art and Islamic art and architecture.

Professor John Clark was the Director of the ACAAA from its inception until 1 August 2099 when Professor Adrian Vickers took over. It was closed from 15 December 2015.

In 2021 the Centre was connected the Sydney South East Asia Centre (SSEAC). Its role had not changed and it collaborated with research and teaching programs within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - Art History, Asian Studies, Archaeology, History, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Southeast Asian and Indian Subcontinental Studies – the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, the Faculty of Science and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

ACAAA also cooperated widely with leading Asian and Australian institutions such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, The University of Tsukuba in Japan, The University of East Anglia, Norwich, the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA) in Cambodia and the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient in Siem Reap.

Past conferences included Angkor: Landscape, City and Temple, and War Art in East Asia. ACAAA also led a number of ARC Grants and major publications in the field. [https://www.sydney.edu.au/sydney-southeast-asia-centre/our-research/related-centres/the-australian-centre-for-asian-art-and-archaeology.html accessed 06/08/2021]