This workshop provides a common intellectual forum for students and scholars of diverse fields investigating the interaction of aesthetics with political economics as reflected in textual, visual, and performance media in East Asia. Taking as its focus the cultural products emerging out of East Asian societies as they experience modernity, the workshop confronts existing theoretical frameworks and methodological issues relevant to the study of artistic production and consumption. The workshop is a space for students to share their work, discuss major cross-regional themes, and engage the work of noted scholars in the field.