Giant Robot: Thirty Years of Defining Asian-American Pop Culture by Eric Nakamura with Claudine Ko, Ed Lin, and Travis Louie

​Join us to celebrate the release of Giant Robot: Thirty Years of Defining Asian-American Pop Culture with a lively discussion between Giant Robot's co-founder Eric Nakamura and journalist Claudine Ko, writer Ed Lin, and artist, illustrator and author Travis Louie.

This event will take place in person at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor.

Celebrating the pop culture phenomenon that redefined what it meant to be Asian-American with tributes from Margaret Cho, Randall Park, Jia Tolentino, and more.

Los Angeles, 1994. Two Asian-American punk rockers staple together the zine of their dreams featuring Sumo, Hong Kong Cinema and Osamu Tezuka. From the very margins of the DIY press and alternative culture, Giant Robot burst into the mainstream with over 60,000 copies in circulation annually at its peak. Giant Robot even popped right off the page, setting up a restaurant, gallery, and storefronts in LA, as well as galleries and stores in New York and San Francisco. As their influence grew in the 90s and 00s, Giant Robot was eventually invited to the White House by Barack Obama, to speak at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and to curate the GR Biennale at the Japanese American National Museum.

Home to a host of unapologetically authentic perspectives bridging the bicultural gap between Asian and Asian-American pop culture, Giant Robot had the audacity to print such topics side-by-side, and become a touchstone for generations of artists, musicians, creators, and collectors of all kinds in a pre-social media era. Nowhere else were pieces on civil rights activists running next to articles on skateboarding and Sriracha. Toy collectors, cartoonists, and street style pioneers got as many column inches as Michelle Yeoh, Karen O, James Jean, and Haruki Murakami.

Giant Robot: Thirty Years of Defining Asian-American Pop Culture features the best of the magazine’s sixty-eight issue run alongside never-before-seen photographs, supplementary writing by long-term contributing journalist Claudine Ko, and tributes from now-famous fans who’ve been around since day one. Margaret Cho, Daniel Wu, and Randall Park celebrate Giant Robot’s enduring legacy alongside pioneering pro-skateboarder Peggy Oki, contemporary art giant Takashi Murakami, culinary darling Natasha Pickowicz, and critically acclaimed essayist Jia Tolentino.

To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Eric Nakamura founded Giant Robot as a photocopied and stapled zine in 1994 and grew the publication until late 2010. Giant Robot magazine reached a multiracial audience interested in Asian popular culture and became known as the premier magazine in the field. Nakamura built on the success of Giant Robot with stores and galleries in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and has curated over 300 exhibitions. Currently, Nakamura works in and owns the Giant Robot store and GR2 Gallery in Los Angeles,­­ which continues to offer pop culture goods and hold art exhibitions.

Claudine Ko grew up in California where she started her journalism career at the Los Angeles Times. In the Bay Area, she won a Northern California Emmy Award for her work at KGO-TV, and in New York, she was a staff writer for Jane and Giant Robot magazines. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and New York University and is currently the Culture Editor at T Brand Studio of The New York Times.

Travis Louie is a fine artist, illustrator, and author born in Queens, New York about a mile from the site of the 1964 World's Fair and Shea Stadium. He is an instructor at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. His paintings come from the tiny little drawings and many writings in his journals and are set in an imaginary world that is grounded in Victorian and Edwardian times. It is inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters who appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence. Using acrylic paint washes and simple textures on smooth boards, he has created portraits from an alternative universe that may or may not have existed. His work is about identity and remembrance, with a veiled commentary on racism and the immigrant experience. He would like the fear of "the other" to be replaced with a curiosity about the unknown and a sense of wonder regarding those things that are unfamiliar. Louie's latest book is set to be published in December.

Ed Lin has been a GR fan since 1995. He's the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards. His latest mystery novel is Death Doesn't Forget, set in Taipei, and published by Soho Crime. His YA debut, David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, was published by Kaya Press. Lin lives in Brooklyn with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung, and son.

GET THE BOOK

• Borrow: NYPL Catalog


• E-Book app: SimplyE, available on iOS and Android

Don't have a New York Public Library card? Get one here!

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

In-Person

• Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue.


• You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.


• This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

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Please submit all press inquiries to Lizzie Tribone at least 48 hours before the event: email lizzietribone@nypl.org.
 

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All programs are subject to change or cancellation. 

The 7 Stories Up Series at SNFL is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).