Press

Information on ACK Talks, Tastemakers

 




September 29, 2023

Press Release no.3


Kyoto Prefecture (Governor: Nishiwaki Takatoshi) and the Art Collaboration Kyoto Executive Committee, together with lead partners Mitsubishi Estate and EDION Corporation, will hold collaboration and contemporary art-focused Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK), one of Japan’s leading international art fairs, from Sat. October 28 to Mon. October 30, 2023.

The details of the ACK Talks have been decided. Over 30 experts from around Japan and around the world will converge on ACK during the fair in eleven talk sessions to discuss themes ranging from the latest trends in art in Japan and abroad to timely social issues.

Individuals active in fields other than art are involved as Tastemakers, who will share their appreciation and ways of enjoying art.

Befitting the host city of Kyoto, ACK is a unique art fair full of diverse programming to enjoy this autumn.





ACK Talks

https://2023.a-c-k.jp/en/talks/

ACK Talks 2023 will feature eleven talks based on this year’s curatorial theme, “Visions of a Torn World: Circulation and Coexistence.”
The expanding networks of our information society has made new encounters and connections possible. Despite this, the recent and ongoing pandemic, conflicts between nations, economic disparities and other issues have exposed the cracks and divisions in society. Perhaps a sustainable society is one that can overcome the cycle of constant connection and disconnection, to become a society of coexistence.
In order to achieve this, we might reaffirm the place of art in society, and discuss the future mission of art and ideas of ecology. Further, with ACK’s unique perspective being set in Kyoto with its strong enduring traditions, we will grapple with the city of Kyoto’s potential in taking on a role in this.

Venue: ICC Kyoto New Hall (Simultaneous interpretation and online streaming available)
 

Saturday, October 28

12:30pm-1:30pm① Current Position of Art: Universality⇆Locality
 Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation/Artistic Director, Aichi Triennale 2025)
 Kim Haeju (Senior Curator, Singapore Art Museum)
2pm-3pm② anonymous art project 
 Artist Talk of Kito Kengo, Morie Kota and Akiyoshi Yasuda
supported by Melco Group Inc.
 Kito Kengo (Artist)
 Morie Kota (Director/Animator)
 Akiyoshi Yasuda (Sound Creator)
 Moderator: Kohashi Shinya (anonymous art project)
3:30pm-4:30pm③ Building an Art Eco-system for the Next Generation
 Aaron Cezar (Founding Director, Delfina Foundation)
 Greg Dvorak (Professor, International Cultural Studies at Waseda University)
 Nawa Kohei (Sculptor/Director, Sandwich Inc./Professor, Kyoto University of the Arts)
5pm-6pm④ New Horizons, Pioneered by Technology, Encircled by Art supported by Deloitte
 Yamamine Junya (Curator/Producer/CEO, NYAW Inc.)
 Murata Shunsuke (Project Manager, “ARToVILLA”, DX Division, Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co.Ltd.)
 Nagai Kiyohiko (Managing Director, Risk Advisory, New Business Promotion, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC.)

 

Sunday, October 29

12:30pm-1:30pm⑤ The Mission of the Arts in the Future
 Robbie Fitzpatrick (Owner and Director, Fitzpatrick Gallery/Co-Founder, Basel Social Club)
 Kour Pour (Artist)
 Jasmine Wahi (Founder and Co-Director, Project for Empty Space)
2pm-3pm⑥ Art Theory “Ecological Thinking”
 Emanuele Coccia (Philosopher/Associate Professor, EHESS)
 Hasegawa Yuko (Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)
3:30pm-4:30pmAn Intersection of Art and Ordinary Objects supported by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
 Nicolas Trembley (Art Critic/Curator/Advisor)
 and more
5pm-6pm⑧ Kyoto as a Cultural Crossroad
 Aoki Jun (Architect/Director, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art)
 Hayashi Yasuta (Director, Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts and Culture Division Agency for Cultural Affairs – Japan (BUNKA-CHO) )
 Kato Izumi (Artist)
 Moderator: Yamashita Yukako (Program Director, ACK)

 

Monday, October 30

1pm-2pm⑨ Innovation Weaves Tradition: For a Torn World supported by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
 Theaster Gates (Artist/Social Innovator)
 Hosoo Masataka (President and CEO, HOSOO)
 Izumi Reijiro (Vice Director, Chado Research Center/President, SABIÉ)
 Kataoka Mami (Director, Mori Art Museum/Director, National Center for Art Research)
2:15pm-3:15pm⑩ Society and the Arts: Communities Connected by Art
 Kikuchi Hiroko (Artist/Creative Director, NPO inVisible)
 Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel (Director of Lafayette Anticipations)
 Taguchi Miwa (Co-Founder, Taguchi Art Collection)
 Justin Yu (Senior Partner, Plan b Inc./Founder & CEO, Alife Holding Co., Ltd.)
4pm-5pm⑪ Closing Talk
 Details will be announced at the website soon.



Saturday, October 28

12:30pm-1:30pm ① Current Position of Art: Universality⇆Locality

Art festivals and art fairs are popping up in every country and region. Art itself constantly moves back and forth between a certain universality and a locality based in the unique cultures of its communities. Where does our relationship with art come from? Where is it going? Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation and Artistic Director of Aichi Triennale 2025 will be in conversation with Kim Haeju, Artistic Director of Busan Biennale 2022.
 

Photo by SEBASTIAN BOETTCHER

Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation/Artistic Director, Aichi Triennale 2025)
Hoor Al Qasimi is President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, an independent public arts organization which she established in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the arts, not only in Sharjah, UAE, but also in the region and around the world.
She has curated major exhibitions for the Foundation and other international institutions, including the critically acclaimed Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023). In addition to her role at the Foundation, Al Qasimi also serves as President of the International Biennial Association, President of The Africa Institute and President and Director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial.


Photo by Seunghee Lee

Kim Haeju (Senior Curator, Singapore Art Museum)
Haeju Kim is a Senior Curator at Singapore Art Museum who focuses on contemporary art practices in Southeast Asia and Asia. She was most recently the Artistic Director for Busan Biennale 2022, and previously was the Deputy Director at Art Sonje Center. Kim holds experience in curating numerous contemporary art exhibitions and performance programmes across various disciplines. Her curatorial approach emphasizes the consideration of the body, time and memory as key elements, while also engaging with topics including ecological perspectives, locality and its planetary connection through her research.
At Art Sonje Center, Haeju curated group exhibition Transposition (2021), Dust, Clay, Stone (2020), The Island of the Colorblind (2019) and solo exhibitions by artists such as Koki Tanaka (2020) Hwayeon Nam (2020), Donghee Koo (2019) and Lee Kit (2019) among others. Other exhibitions curated by Kim include two solo exhibitions by Shitamichi Motoyuki and Manon de Boer at Kunsthal Aarhus in Denmark, as well as Moving/Image, a three-chapter exhibition and performance programme that was presented at Seoul Art Space Mullae (2016), ARKO Art Center (2017) and Seoul Museum of Art (2020).



2pm-3pm ② anonymous art project 
       Artist Talk of Kito Kengo, Morie Kota and Akiyoshi Yasuda
       supported by Melco Group Inc.

With “anonymous art project” we have been promoting the 2023 anonymous collection. Within this, the contemporary artist Kito Kengo was recognized as Innovative Artist of the Year for his outstanding activities. At this talk event, award-winner Kito Kengo will talk with filmmaker Morie Kota and sound creator Akiyoshi Yasuda about the collaborative artworks that were produced through the support of that same project.
 

Kito Kengo (Artist)
Born in Aichi prefecture in 1977. Graduated from the Department of Oil Painting at Nagoya University of the Arts, then completed his postgraduate studies of oil painting at Kyoto City University of Arts. Currently a professor at the Kyoto University of Arts postgraduate program, and director of MtK Contemporary Art.
He uses readymade objects found abundantly in everyday life like hula hoops, cloth, scarves, and mirrors, and uses their colorful, mirror and lamé reflections, and movement made using motors and cycles to create large-scale installations as well as sculptures, paintings, photographs, and more methods of expression in his work. At this exhibition, he is showing his cartwheel galaxy series which has gone on from 2017 to the present day.
Major exhibitions include Kengo Kito: Unity on the Hudson (Hudson River Museum, New York, 2023), KAAT EXHIBITION 2022 Kito Kengo Lines ( KAAT Kanagawa Art Theatre, Kanagawa, 2022), DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow (The National Art Center Tokyo, Tokyo, 2021), Reconnecting (Japan House LA, Los Angeles, 2021) and more.


Morie Kota (Director/Animator)
Founded MORIE Inc. in 2016, of which he is the representative. Active in a variety of fields including filmmaking, directing, and CG animation.
He created the Yorushika music videos for “Left-Right Confusion” “Spring Thief” and “Nautilus,” the GReeeeN music video for “Hoshikageno Yell,” the title sequence for the NHK morning drama series “Chimudondon” and “Hiyokko,” the Doraemon film “Nobita’s New Dinosaur,” Nissin Cup Noodle commercial “HUNGRY DAYS – The Final Episode” and more well-known works.


Akiyoshi Yasuda (Sound Creator)
An instrumental artist with a beautiful and evanescent electronic sound, layered with echoes of noise and colored with a range of emotion. As a personal lifelog, his memento series is based on memory and record, with a variety of works.
He has created background music for “That Lyric: Sakuragi An, I tried Haiku For the First Time,” starring Hirose Suzu; NHK evening drama “Fujoshi, Ukkari Gei ni Kokuru;” popular TV anime “Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won’t Lose” and the 2022 film “Bldg. N.” He has also remixed Moriyama Naotaro’s “Subarashii Sekai” into an ambient version. His unique worldview is gaining high praise from industry insiders.


Moderator: Obata Shinya (anonymous art project)



3:30pm-4:30pm ③ Building an Art Eco-system for the Next Generation

With its art museums, art centers and art universities, Kyoto is fertile soil for contemporary art. Kyoto-based sculptor Nawa Kohei will talk with educator and ACK 2023 public program curator Greg Dvorak and Delfina Foundation Director Aaron Cezar about carrying on the culture of this region to the future, and explore ways of developing the next generation in line with the times through Japanese and international perspectives.
 

Aaron Cezar (Founding Director, Delfina Foundation)
Aaron Cezar is the founding Director of Delfina Foundation, where he curates and develops its interrelated programme of residencies, exhibitions and public events.
Under his tenure, Delfina Foundation has hosted nearly 400 artists, curators and collectors in residence, across dynamic programmes from Politics of Food to Collecting as Practice. Cezar has also curated external exhibitions and performances at Hayward Gallery Project Space, SongEun Artspace, and as part of the official public programme of the 58th Venice Art Biennale. Independently and through Delfina Foundation, he sits on numerous boards, committees, and advisory groups.


Photo by Ono Kenji

Greg Dvorak (Professor, International Cultural Studies at Waseda University)
Dr. Greg Dvorak is Professor of International Cultural Studies (History and Cultural Studies, Art Studies, Gender Studies of Pacific and Asia) at Waseda University in Tokyo.
In addition to his 2018 book on postcolonial Pacific history, Coral and Concrete, he lectures regularly on art and resistance in Oceania and has published numerous scholarly essays. Having served in 2022 as co-curator for “Air Canoe: Art from Northern Oceania,” in the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Art (APT) in Brisbane, he has also advised other exhibitions such as the inaugural Honolulu Biennial in 2017. Project35 (project sango), the grassroots network he founded, aims to raise awareness about the Pacific Islands region in Japan through art and scholarly exchange.


Nawa Kohei (Sculptor/Director of Sandwich Inc./Professor, Kyoto University of the Arts)
Born in 1975, and based in Kyoto, Japan, Kohei Nawa received a Ph.D. in Fine Art/Sculpture from Kyoto City University of Arts in 2003 and established Sandwich in 2009. He is now a professor at the Kyoto University of the Arts.
Nawa has also worked on architectural projects, including the art pavilion Kohtei. Since 2015,VESSEL, Mist, Planet [wanderer], the performance trilogy produced in conjunction with Belgo-French choreographer and dancer Damian Jalet. In 2018, his sculpture Throne was exhibited under the Pyramid at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France. In 2023, Ether (Equality), a 25 meters-tall sculpture was installed permanently on Seguin Island on France’s Seine River.



5pm-6pm ④ New Horizons, Pioneered by Technology, Encircled by Art supported by Deloitte

From sites of art creation to the art market, how will the advent of Web 3.0 transform art? Yamamine Junya, a curator at the pioneering front lines; Murata Shunsuke of the Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Store art media project ARToVILLA; and Nagai Kiyohiko, a “Web3.0×Business future vision” researcher from the Deloitte Tohmatsu Group, will explore the possibilities of Art X Tech X Business.
 

Yamamine Junya (Curator/Producer/CEO, NYAW Inc.)
After working as a curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and Contemporary Art Centre, Art Tower Mito, he established and directed ANB Tokyo. He later established NYAW Inc. to plan and consult on culture and art-related projects.
Major exhibitions include ‘Hello World: For the Post-Human Age’ and ‘ Resistance of Fog: Fujiko Nakaya’ (Art Tower Mito) and ‘The world began without the human race, and it will end without it.’ (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts). Also, Meet Your Art Festival “NEW SOIL”, an art festival organized by avex; Music Loves Art in Summer Sonic 2022, a joint project of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and Summer Sonic; and Moriyama In addition to the KOBE Re:Public Art Project, which he co-curated with Mirai Moriyama, he also supervises art programmes and special features for magazines and television. Hhe has also written, lectured and served on numerous juries, and was a 015–2016 fellow of the program of MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology – Japan).


Murata Shunsuke (Project Manager of “ARToVILLA”, DX Division, Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co.Ltd.)
After studying architecture in university, he joined the company in 2008 and began handling design direction for spaces like department store interiors and façades. In 2018 he joined Future Standard LaboratoryFuture Is Now, and in 2019 began project management at the Shinsaibashi Daimaru redevelopment project for large-scale art projects like sculptor Nawa Kohei’s collaborative work Ho / Oh, D-Wall by Panoramatiks (formerly Rhizomatiks Architecture), and more. Murata has been in his current position since 2021. He’s currently active mainly with art media ARToVILLA and incubation project Ladder Project.


Nagai Kiyohiko (Managing Director, Risk Advisory, New Business Promotion, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC.)
With his knowledge of finance and industry, he proposes strategies, creates new businesses, does R&D/Business investment management system reform support service, and leads service launches and promotion work at Deloitte Art & Finance.
In the field of culture and art, he provides business evaluations for art festivals, drafts art-based business plans for large financial institutions, formulates art-based area redevelopment plans, conducts art asset management and succession for the wealthy, conducts business strategy planning for museums, and conducts project evaluations for art prize competitions.
He has written several books including, “New Reputational Risk: Management Theory – How to respond to the acceleration and proliferation of information in the era of SNS” (Chuokeizai-sha, 2023, co-authored), “Risk Management – Seize the change” (Nikkei BP, 2022, co-authored), “Business Management and Disclosure in the Era of Climate Change” (Chuokeizai-sha, 2022, co-authored), “A Beginner’s Guide to Space Travel (University of Tokyo Press),” (2018, co-authored), and more. He has published many papers and given many lectures, including “Preparing for the risk scenario in which non-green airplanes become ‘abandoned assets,’” “Applying industrial knowledge to credit risk management for airplane finance” (Kinzai Zaimu Jijo, Feb 15, 2021), “Analysis of the development process of the Cyber Physical System concept in the aviation industry” (Kenkyu Gijutsu Keikaku, Vol. 32, No. 3), “Extracting management indicators that affect airline credit risk” (58th National Nihon Keizai System Conference) and more. On the board of directors of the Space Liner Association.
 




Sunday, October 29

12:30pm-1:30pm ⑤ The Mission of the Arts in the Future

What can art do when it comes to many contemporary social issues like gender inequality, economic disparity, and international issues? Globally active artist Kour Pour, curator and activist Jasmine Wahi, and innovative gallerist and initiator of the Basel Social Club Robbie Fitzpatrick, will consider the increasingly diverse mission of “art.”
 

Robbie Fitzpatrick (Owner and Director, Fitzpatrick Gallery/Co-Founder, Basel Social Club)
Robert (“Robbie”) Okuda Fitzpatrick is the owner and director of Fitzpatrick Gallery, inaugurated in Paris in 2021, which builds on the legacy of Freedman Fitzpatrick, founded in 2013 in Los Angeles.
He has initiated alternative art fair projects, most notably as co-founder of Basel Social Club (est. 2022), Salon d’été (est. 2023) and Paramount Ranch (2014-2016). He previously worked in Berlin as the director of Tanya Leighton, after completing his studies at the Gallatin School of Individualised Study at New York University. He is half-Japanese and half-American and grew up between Tokyo, Vienna and Washington DC.


Kour Pour (Artist)
Kour Pour(b. 1987, UK) is a British-Iranian-American artist whose visual language is informed by longstanding, global traditions of intercultural exchange. By intersecting a wide range of material and aesthetic conventions that are connected to various geographic, cultural, and national heritages, Pour allows for a remapping of the standard understanding of “Eastern/Western” cultural exchange.


Photo by Dario Calmise

Jasmine Wahi (Founder and Co-Director, Project for Empty Space)
Jasmine Wahi is the Founder and Co-Director of Project for Empty Space, a nonprofit organization in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. Her multifaceted curatorial practice predominantly focuses on issues of femme empowerment, complicating binary structures within social discourses, and exploring multi-positional cultural identities through the lens of intersectional feminism.She is currently on the Faculty of Brooklyn College in New York City.



2pm-3pm ⑥ Art Theory “Ecological Thinking”

Emanuele Coccia, popular philosopher and author of “Metamorphoses” and “The Life of Plants” will speak with Hasegawa Yuko, the Director of the Kanazawa 21st Century Art Museum who puts new theories of ecology and art into practice through exhibitions, about the relationship between art and current trends toward consideration of sustainable societies.
 

© Frank Perrin

Emanuele Coccia (Philosopher/Lecturer, EHESS)
Emanuele Coccia is associate professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris since 2011. He has been Visiting Professor at the universities of Buenos Aires, Columbia NY, Harvard, Munich, Venice, Tokyo and Weimar. He is the author of Sensible Life (2010), The Life of Plants (2018), Metamorphosis (2021) and Philosophy of the Home (2023). His books are translated into several languages. He has written a photo-theory book with Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen (Modern Alchemy 2022) and participated in the making of and co-directed animation videos such as Quercus (2019, with Formafantasma), Heaven in Matter (2021, with Faye Formisano) and Portal of Mysteries (2022, with Dotdotdot). He has written two plays together with Frédérique Aït Touati and Duncan Evenou (Earthscape 2022, Météores 2023). With François Roche he made a video installation called “La Chambre des mémoires à-veniré (2023)
In 2019, he contributed to the exhibition Nous les Arbres, presented at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. He edited the catalogs of the 23rd Milan Triennale of Architecture and Design: Unknown Unknowns. An Introduction to Mysteries. He is writing a four-handed work on the relationship between fashion and philosophy with Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele.


©Gen de Art

Hasegawa Yuko (Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)
Yuko Hasegawa is a curator, educator and writer based out of Tokyo. She currently holds positions as Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Her curatorial language is interdisciplinary, encompassing not simply art but also architecture, design, science and anthropology, and combined with global curating experience, allows her to view art as part of a single, holistic ecology. Hasegawa has also curated, either solo or in a joint capacity, international art biennials including the
7th International Istanbul Biennial (2001), the Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013), and the 7th
Moscow Biennale (2017), and the 2nd Thailand Biennale, Korat (2021).



3:30pm-4:30pm ⑦ An Intersection of Art and Ordinary Objects supported by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

Nicolas Trembley (Art Critic/Curator/Advisor)
and more
※ Details will be announced at the website soon.



5pm-6pm ⑧ Kyoto as a Cultural Crossroad

Kyoto is an international tourist city, and one can encounter a variety of both Japanese and international art and culture on a daily basis, even outside art festivals and art fairs. What does Kyoto need now, as a focal point of cultural exchange? What is the best way to spread Japanese contemporary art to the world? Artist Kato Izumi, who bases his activities in several locations in both Japan and around the world, Architect Aoki Jun who is also Director of the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Agency for Cultural Affairs Cultural Strategy Officer Hayashi Yasuta, and ACK Director Yamashita Yukako will together fix their eyes on future possibilities.
 

Photo by Yoshiba Masakazu

Aoki Jun (Architect/Director, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art)
Born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1956 and graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1982. After working with Arata Isozaki and associates, he founded Jun Aoki & Associates in 1991 (reorganized to AS in 2020). Subsequent works have included not only architecture such as a series of houses, public facilities, and fashion boutiques for Louis Vuitton, but also art work like and . Received Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award (1999, 2020) and Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize (2005). Mainichi Art Award (2020). Professor of Tokyo University of the Arts. Director of Kyoto City Museum of Art.


Hayashi Yasuta (Director/Arts and Culture Division, Agency for Cultural Affairs – Japan (BUNKA-CHO) )
Hayashi Yasuta has served as the director of the Agency for Cultural Affairs since July 2021. Mr. Hayashi joined the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 1994 and has worked in several management positions, including responsibilities for protecting cultural properties and launching the Power of Culture from Kansai project, proposed by Hayao Kawai, former Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, in 2003. Based on research regarding the promotion of contemporary art in Japan since August 2013, Mr. Hayashi was responsible for facilitating the Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan project (2018–2022).


Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli

Kato Izumi (Artist)
Born in Shimane prefecture of Japan in 1969. Kato lives and works between Tokyo and Hong Kong.
His recent solo exhibitions include Red Brick Art Museum (Beijing, 2018), Fundación Casa Wabi (Puerto Escondido, Mexico, 2019), Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo / Hara Museum ARC (Tokyo / Gunma, Concurrent exhibition, 2019), SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah, USA, September 2021 [tentative]), WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, 2022).


Moderator: Yamashita Yukako (Program Director, ACK)
Born in Tokyo in 1988 to a family that runs a tea ceremony utensils business in Kyoto. Completed an MA in Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London. After an internship at Sotheby’s London, she joined Sotheby’s Japan, where she oversaw the sales of contemporary art. From 2017 to 2022, she was the managing director of THE CLUB.
She has been a visiting professor at Kyoto University of Arts since 2020. She was appointed Program Director of Art Collaboration Kyoto and Kyoto City Growth Strategy Promotion Advisor in 2022.
 




Monday,October 30

1pm-2pm ⑨ Innovation Weaves Tradition: For a Torn World supported by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 

While contemporary society has become inexhaustibly connected to others through globalisation and information technology, it also faces many problems related to COVID-19 and conflicts between nations and so on. In this talk, we invite artist Theaster Gates, Director of Mori Art Museum Kataoka Mami, Hosoo Corporation President Hosoo Masatak and Urasenke Tea Ceremony Museum Vice Director Izumi Reijiroto explore ways to survive in an ever-changing world while preserving the traditions that are becoming buried in this society.
 

Photo by Lyndon French

Theaster Gates (Artist/Social Innovator)
Theaster Gates is an artist and social innovator who lives and works in Chicago. Over the past decade, Gates has translated the intricacies of Blackness through space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance. Through the expansiveness of his approach as a thinker, maker, and builder, he extends the role of the artist as an agent of change. His performance practice and visual work find roots in Black knowledge, objects, history, and archives.
Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and serves as the Special Advisor to the President for Arts Initiatives.


Hosoo Masataka (President and CEO, Hosoo)
Masataka Hosoo was born in 1978. After graduating from university and after a brief career as a musician, he entered a well known Japanese jewelry brand. After leaving the company to study for a year in Firenze, Masataka joined Hosoo in 2008. He has been overseeing Hosoo’s new endeavor in developing contemporary textiles since 2009. He is a member of the “GO ON” project, a unit consisting of 6 members, each a representative of a hereditary business in the traditional crafts. In 2014, Masataka was selected as one of “Top 100 Japanese Business Men” by the Nikkei Business Magazine. In 2016, he has been appointed as a member of the Director’s Fellow program hosted by the MIT Media Lab.


Izumi Reijiro (Vice Director, Chado Research Center/President, SABIÉ)
Second son of Izumi Soko, who is himself the younger brother of the Urasenke 16th Iemoto Zabosai. His tea name is Sorei. In addition to studying Urasenke tea ceremony, he is also active as a researcher of tea ceremony history and handicraft history. After graduating with a PhD in fine art from from Kyoto University of the Arts, he went on to work as a curator at the Sakai City Museum, and is currently Deputy Director of the Chado Research Center Galleries, Vice Principal of Urasenke Gakuen, Chairman of Wa-no Gakko, and President of Sabié. With a central focus on Urasenke tea ceremony, he is expanding his activities into a range of fields.


Photo by Ito Akinori

Kataoka Mami (Director, Mori Art Museum/Director, National Center for Art Research)
Kataoka Mami joined the Mori Art Museum in 2003, taking on the role of Director in 2020. She has also taken on the position of Director of the National Center for Art Research since April 2023. Visiting Professor of the Kyoto University of the Arts and Advisory Board Chair, ICA Kyoto. Beyond Tokyo, Kataoka has held positions at the Hayward Gallery in London, where from 2007 to 2009 she was the institution’s first International Curator; she has also acted as Co-Artistic Director for the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012), Artistic Director for the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018) and Artistic Director for the Aichi Triennale 2022. Kataoka served as a Board Member (2014-2022) and the President (2020-2022) of CIMAM [International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art].



2:15pm-3:15pm ⑩ Society and the Arts: Communities Connected by Art

With the many cross-disciplinary initiatives in contemporary society, how can a diverse community be built around art? Coming together to discuss this topic are lawyer and art collector Jacques Verhaegen; Director Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel of France’s hot new Lafayette Anticipations; Justin Yu, Taiwan-based influencer who connects culture and business of the circular economy sphere and community designer and artist Kikuchi Hiroko, who has been involved in many art projects in Japan and abroad.
 

Kikuchi Hiroko (Artist/Creative Director, NPO inVisible)
Born in Tokyo. Influenced by the avant-garde art movements of the 1960s in America (Fluxus, social sculpture), and performance art. Collaborated with local cultural institutions such as the Asia Arts Initiative, Boston Public Library, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Yerba Buena Arts Center. Also involved in projects both domestically and internationally that focused on social education and community engagement, including MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Berkeley Art Museum, Aichi Triennale 2013, and the Mori Art Museum. Graduated from the Sculpture Department of Boston University and completed the pre-doctoral program at Tufts University in the United States.


© Chloé Magdelaine

Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel (Director of Lafayette Anticipations)
Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel is the director of Lafayette Anticipations, a Foundation established by the Galeries Lafayette Group where she has curated several exhibitions such as the Marguerite Humeau and Jean-Marie Appriou exhibition, the 2021 Martin Margiela exhibition as well as the 2022 Cyprien Gaillard exhibition.
She was the Chief curator of the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA) in 2021.
From 2011 to 2019, she was a curator at the Palais de Tokyo where she gave carte blanche to, notably, Tomas Saraceno for ON AIR (2018-2019), along with the carte blanche to Tino Seghal, which gave place to the largest living art exhibition in the world (2016).


Taguchi Miwa (Co-Founder, Taguchi Art Collection)
After working in field practice in social welfare and teaching , Miwa Taguchi took on the practical management of the contemporary art collection started by her father Hiroshi Taguchi, founder of Misumi Group, from around 2013. She organizes exhibitions of the collection in response to requests from museums around the country, and she established the Taguchi Foundation for Contemporary Art in August 2020 and started activities to enhance the public benefit of the collection, including delivery exhibitions to primary and junior high schools. She is interested in contributing to the improvement of people’s art literacy through the collection and in activities that lead to its introduction into education. She is currently an ambassador for the art platform South South, a member of the International Advisory Board of the São Paulo Biennial, a member of the Tokyo Gendai Advisory Group and a senior advisor to Startbahn, Inc..


Photo Credit by Plan b Inc.

Justin Yu (Senior Partner, Plan b Inc./Founder & CEO, Alife Holding Co., Ltd.)
As a serial entrepreneur and investor of multiple industries, Justin Yu was also invited to serve as youth advisory committee by Executive Court of Taiwan. In 2010, he founded Plan b Inc. (www.theplanb.cc), a consultancy and planning company that applies sustainable development as strategic principles. Over the years, they have proposed a wide range of solutions to both domestic and foreign well-known enterprises, non-profit organizations, government departments, and various other fields. In 2021, he founded Alife Holding Co., Ltd. (www.alife.cc), a company that provides residential and office rental services, and all kinds of lifestyle solutions.



4pm-5pm ⑪ Closing Talk

※ Details will be announced at the website soon.





Tastemaker

The Tastemakers are leaders in the creative industries, who will share their must-see highlights from ACK and introduce how they enjoy art in their everyday life. ACK is thrilled to invite the next generation of leaders across the world who are shaping the future of their industries, from fashion, food and entertainment to tech and traditional crafts. This year’s Tastemakers will select their favorite works and presentations at ACK and introduce them on ACK’s social media and newsletters during the fair. We look forward to sharing their choices, and their unique perspectives on collecting and enjoying contemporary art.
 

George Inaki Root (Milamore Fine Jewelry CEO&Creative Director)
Licheng Ling (Founder/Creative Director of Homeism)
Blanche Loiseau (Loiseau du Temps Chef de Cuisine)


George Inaki Root
Licheng Ling
Blanche Loiseau




ACK 2023 Overview

Art Collaboration Kyoto is an art fair held in Kyoto with collaboration at its core. One of the leading art fairs in Japan specializing in contemporary art, Art Collaboration Kyoto presents unique collaborations forged between Japanese and international galleries; government and private sectors; and fine arts and other cultural spheres in Kyoto. Hosted in the Kyoto International Conference Center, the fair consists of two sections: “Gallery Collaborations”and “Kyoto Meetings” where galleries display and sell their works. Moreover in support of the fair’s commitment to bettering the future of the art world through educational programming, the fair will also host self-organized programs “ACK Curates” across the main venue such as “Public Program” exhibition, “ACK Talks”, and the “Kids’ Program” for families and youth. “Special Programs” will also be hosted in collaboration with partner companies.

Dates: Preview (by invitation only): Friday, October 27, 2023
    Public opening dates: Saturday, October 28, 2023 – Monday, October 30, 2023
Hours: Saturday, October 28 noon–7pm
    Sunday, October 29 11am–7pm
    Monday, October 30 11am–5pm
    *Please note that the last entrance is 1 hour before closing
Venue: Kyoto International Conference Center (Takaragaike, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City) and others
Number of participating galleries: 64 (from 16 countries and 24 cities)

Organizer:Art Collaboration Kyoto Executive Committee; Kyoto Prefecture; Association for the Promotion of Contemporary Art in Japan; Contemporary Art Dealers Association Nippon; Culture Vision Japan Foundation Inc.; Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and the Kyoto Convention and Visitors Bureau
Program Director: Yamashita Yukako

Support: The Cabinet Office, Government of Japan in the fiscal 2023, the Japan Tourism Agency, Government of Japan in the fiscal 2022, and Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in the fiscal 2023
In cooperation with: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan Tourism Agency, Agency for Cultural Affairs, JETRO Kyoto, Kyoto City, The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Japan Association of Corporate Executives, Japan Association of New Economy, Kyoto Association of Corporate Executives, The Kyoto Shimbun,The Asahi Shimbun Kyoto General Bureau, The Mainichi Newspapers Kyoto Bureau, The Yomiuri Shimbun Kyoto Bureau, The Sankei Shimbun, NHK Kyoto, Kyoto Broadcasting System Company Limited, U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe, British Council, Consulate General of The Republic of Indonesia, Australian Consulate-General in Osaka, Korean Cultural Center Osaka, Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Osaka-Kobe, Embassy of Brazil, Ambassade de France / Institut français du Japon, Embassy of Mexico in Japan

URLa-c-k.jp

Partners:

 

Please note:

※ In 2022, Art Collaboration Kyoto obtained bonded status, allowing international exhibitors to be exempt from the 10% sales tax that otherwise would have been imposed pre-sale. The fair has reapplied for bonded status for its 2023 edition in October.

※ Information listed here is current as of September 2023. There may be some changes due to extenuating circumstances.
For updated information, check the website or social media channels.

 

 

Media Contact
Art Collaboration Kyoto | Yoshiko Nawa and Rasa Tsuda | press@a-c-k.jp

Internet Explorerでの閲覧は非対応となっております。

お手数ですが、
Microsoft EdgeGoogle ChromeFirefoxなど
他のブラウザにてご利用ください。