As the title indicates, the course will have two main foci of discussion: the construction of identity and politics broadly defined during the 20th and 21st centuries. Here we will consider arts within political regimes; politics of display, and politics of gender using visual examples from China, Mongolia, Japan, and Korea. The first part of the course will discuss the issues of Western technology and Asian aesthetics, culture and politics based on well-known works as Yan’an by Fu Baoshi, Mother by G.Sosai, and TV Buddha series by Nam June Paik. We will then discuss representations and questions of (how to) be in a global in Asian art today. Here we will learn about works and ideas presented by Gu Wenda, Xu Bing, and Enkhbold as well as writings by Wu Hung, Ian Findley-Brown, and John Clark. We will proceed to looking at female arists, Yayoi Kusama and Mugi, among others, discussing how and if Western theories of feminism can be applied to Asian works. A particular attention will be given to recent feminist exhibitions as Global Feminisms (2007) with contribution by Linda Nochlin, and a recent international exhibition Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012 organized by Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan (2013).