Contemporary art is difficult. Who in the world is it and how is it valued?
If you have ever tried to learn about contemporary art, you may have had such a puzzling experience.
Let's read the "100 People for Understanding Contemporary Art" series to cover the major domestic and international players in the art world.
1. Kataoka Mami
Mami Kataoka joined Mori Art Museum in 2003 after serving as chief curator of the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery since 1997, and has served as director since 2020.
She has curated solo exhibitions of Chiharu Shiota, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Makoto Aida, Ai Weiwei, and others, and served as artistic director of the international art festival "Aichi 2022" held in July 2022.
She engages in global and diverse work as a curator, critic, and director of international exhibitions, seeking inspiration to help each artist and viewer, whose lifestyles, languages, and ideas are disparate, see the world in a unique way and solve social problems.
2. yuko hasegawa
Yuko Hasegawa is one of Japan's leading curators and art directors. She was involved in the establishment of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and continues to serve as its director, and is also a counselor at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and professor at the Graduate School of International Art and Design, Tokyo University of the Arts.
He has organized the exhibition "Christian Boltanski" at Art Tower Mito, commissioner of the Japanese Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, introduction and exhibition of contemporary artist and film director Matthew Barney, the 7th Moscow International Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2017, the Thailand Artistic Director of the Biennale, and has been a central figure in many other projects and a leader in the art world.
He is actively disseminating his curatorial work as a leading figure in the Japanese contemporary art world and has authored a number of books.
3. fumio nanjo
Fumio Nanjo graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, in 1977 with a degree in Aesthetics and Art History, and has held several key positions, including commissioner of the 1988 Venice Biennale "Aperto 88," juror for the 2005 Venice Biennale Golden Lion National Exhibition, and artistic director of the 2006 and 2008 Singapore Biennale. He has also worked with Mami Kataoka at the Mori Art Museum.
He also managed the Mori Art Museum with Mami Kataoka and currently serves as General Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Towada and Assistant to the Special Director of the Hirosaki Renga Soko Museum.
In 2016, he was awarded the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, and in 2022 he will be honored by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. His activities have been recognized both in Japan and abroad, making him a major figure in the contemporary art world.
4. meruro washida
Director of the Towada Museum of Contemporary Art, Meruro Washida is known as a curator and is the son of philosopher Seiichi Washida.
In 2017, he served as the Japan Pavilion Curator for the Venice Biennale, and has also served as the Aichi Triennale 2019 Curator and Setouchi International Art Festival 2019 Artist Selection Advisory Board Member.
She has realized numerous art projects and has been recognized for her work in researching the Tsurugi Contemporary Art Festival, a pioneering international exhibition held in Japan, and for clarifying the role of Belgian curator Jan Huth through archival exhibitions.
5. keiko okamura
Keiko Okamura is a curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, where she has organized "Fiona Tan: The Poetics of the Gaze" (2014), as well as "MOT Annual 2000: Low Temperature Burn" (2000) and "Imagination: Journey Beyond Vision and Perception" (2008-09). He also launched the Yebisu Festival for the Moving Image in 2009 and has served as director of the 1st-5th and 9th editions of the festival.
The theme of the 2017 Yebisu Film Festival is "Multiple Futures," a collection of works that will encourage people to think about the globalization and networking of the world and how various things are connected to each other.
6. Hiroyuki Hattori
Hiroyuki Hattori is an independent curator born in Aichi Prefecture in 1978.
He completed his graduate studies at Waseda University in 2006 and served as curator at the International Art Center Aomori, Aomori Public University from 2009 to 2016.
I always keep "alternative ways of being" at the base of my consciousness.
He has developed art spaces with the abbreviation MAC in Yamaguchi, Hanoi, and Aomori. Recent co-curated projects include "SURVIVE - To the Time Travel of This Planet" at Towada Oirase Art Festival (Towada Museum of Contemporary Art, Oirase area | 2013), "MEDIA/ART KITCHEN" (Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok, Aomori | 2013- 2014), Aichi Triennale 2016 (Aichi Arts Center and others, Aichi, Japan | 2016), and Assemble Bridge Nagoya (Minatomachi Potluck Building and others, Aichi, Japan | 2016).
7. endo suijo
Mizuki Endo, the president of Higashiyama Artists Placement Service (HAPS) and artistic director of Vincom Contemporary Art Center, is a curator born in Sapporo in 1975.
In 2005, he received the Lorenzo Bonaldi Art Prize, an international award given to young curators.
He has been a member of the International Federation of Art Critics Associations and a visiting professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. He has been involved in numerous exhibitions in Japan and abroad.
8. natsumi araki
Araki is a Japanese curator and associate professor at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. She holds a BA in Literature from Keio University and an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, UK.
He received the 26th Runga Art Encouragement Award and the 10th Western Art Foundation Academic Award for the "Go-Betweens" exhibition in 2014.
She is active in planning and writing about society through contemporary art.
