Tokyo is a city where tradition and modernity collide, where ancient shrines exist alongside towering skyscrapers. In the same vein, its art scene is an intricate dance between deep cultural roots and cutting-edge contemporary practices.
Art Week Tokyo, co-founded by Atsuko Ninagawa, owner and director of Take Ninagawa Gallery, opens a window into the rich, diverse world of Japanese and international art. At its heart is AWT Focus, a curated sales platform led this year by renowned curator Mami Kataoka. Each year, AWT Focus invites a guest curator to explore fresh narratives of modern and contemporary art, drawn from the event’s participating galleries.
In this exclusive conversation, Ninagawa and Kataoka share their visions for the future of Tokyo’s art scene and the roles they play in shaping its evolution.
Atsuko Ninagawa Co‑founder and director of Art Week Tokyo, and owner and director of Take Ninagawa gallery
GRAZIA Singapore (GS): What led you to become such a powerful advocate for Japanese contemporary art?
Atsuko Ninagawa (AN): My parents are activists and I think their strong sense of social commitment rubbed off on me. When I was in university, I initially thought I might start a non‑profit art institution. But as I learnt more about the art system, I came to appreciate the flexibility and independence of the gallery model. I consider the artists I represent to be my primary clients, and that mission of wanting to support the emergence of new practices and creative visions informs my entire approach to art. So while I didn’t exactly imagine myself directing [the] massive, government‑funded, citywide art initiative [that is Art Week Tokyo], I think [everything I’m doing now] ties back to my formative experiences.
GS: The digital space is increasingly important in art. How do you think digital platforms and online experiences are impacting the way contemporary art from Tokyo is perceived internationally?
AN: Digital platforms such as [social media] have disrupted the old ways of presenting, circulating and selling art across the world. I welcome these new developments as a way of enriching and diversifying the audience for contemporary art. At the same time, I’m confident that there’ll always be a core audience of people who are really passionate about art and want to have in‑depth, in‑person art experiences. I think they’re the ones who will help guide contemporary art through this time of cultural transformation.
GS: How do you see Japan’s contemporary art scene evolving in the next decade, and what role do you hope Art Week Tokyo will play in that transformation?
AN: I believe that for all the strengths it already has, the Japanese art scene can be even stronger if we all work to build it together. By that same token, I think we can only benefit if everyone in Asia Pacific works together to build an even stronger, more cohesive regional art scene. We’ve done a lot of work at Art Week Tokyo to get both local and international audiences to appreciate the richness, breadth and depth of the Japanese art scene. Building public support for and engagement with contemporary art is the most crucial step we can take to ensure the continued vitality and growth of art in Tokyo. We also want to transform the discourse through our programming.
For example, the curated platform AWT Focus, which launched in 2023, was conceived as a laboratory for curators to experiment with new narratives of modern and contemporary art. For this year’s edition, [guest curator] Mami Kataoka delivers a highly personal and thoughtful survey of Japanese and international artists reconsidering traditional representations of the cosmos as a means of grappling with the confusion many are feeling about the direction of culture, politics and society these days. I think her exhibition will be revelatory for anyone who sees it.
GS: As a cofounder of Art Week Tokyo, how do you see the event evolving in the coming years? What are your long-term aspirations for its role within Japan’s art ecosystem and the global art world?
AN: Art Week Tokyo was conceived as a platform that could both encourage appreciation for contemporary art among local audiences in Japan and make the creativity and diversity of Japanese contemporary art more accessible to regional and global audiences. While the event has grown with every edition I think we still have a lot of work to do on both fronts. If we can continue to boost engagement from both local and international sides then it creates opportunities for really interesting exchanges to happen. We are starting to see the results of that in everything from the programming of our participating venues to our partnerships and collaborations. People are starting to understand that Art Week Tokyo is the premier time for experiencing art in Tokyo.
Another interesting development over the past year or so has been our extension of Art Week Tokyo to other urban contexts. During Art Basel Hong Kong in March, we brought a version of the pop-up AWT Bar, which features special artist-conceived cocktails, to a space in Central. Now we are collaborating with visitBerlin for the first time to produce moving art projects by Berlin-based artists that will be hosted on the AWT Buses during this edition of Art Week Tokyo. I think cities lend themselves to these kinds of fluid and dynamic collaborations, and I hope to develop more synergy with all the other exciting art scenes in the Asia Pacific.
GS: Art Week Tokyo is a collaborative event with Art Basel, a major international platform. How do you ensure the distinctiveness of Tokyo’s art scene shines through in such a global collaboration?
AN: In terms of organization, messaging, and global scope, Art Week Tokyo is doing something that has never really been done before in Japan and my production team has to put a lot of effort into the work of translation and contextualisation. For example, the language barrier is a major issue in Japan and everyone from our gallery liaison to our editorial staff and design team works to ensure that the programming of our participating institutions and galleries is being presented in the best possible light for international audiences. We are cognisant that this is one of the challenges of putting on an event that speaks equally to local and international audiences, but it’s been rewarding to see the response, as we had some 43,000 visitors to last year’s edition.
From the start Art Basel has always been very respectful and supportive of the unique conditions for contemporary art in Tokyo and that has helped us to build a constructive collaboration.
Mami Kataoka Curator of AWT Focus at Art Week Tokyo 2024 and director of Mori Art Museum
GRAZIA Singapore (GS): Tell us more about this year’s edition of AWT Focus; what themes or narratives does it explore?
Mami Kataoka (MK): Entitled Earth, Wind, and Fire: Visions of the Future from Asia, this edition of AWT Focus examines the cosmic elements of earth, wind, fire, water and wood, as well as the invisible energies that generate their circulation. The exhibition brings together representations of the universe and its energy cycles in contemporary art, spanning from Asian world views to those of other diverse cultures.
GS: What do you hope to achieve with this curated selection of works?
MK: The art scene in Tokyo, which includes historic museums, art museums, commercial galleries and other spaces, combines a wide array of functions and has been built up gradually over the years since Japan embarked on its radical modernisation campaign in the late 19th century. [This year,] AWT Focus is hosted by the Okura Museum of Art, which was [established in 1917], and incorporates special displays of antiquities from [its] collection. My selection of works for AWT Focus will provide viewers an opportunity to think about how artists from across different generations and localities have sought to understand the structure of the universe, invisible energy, knowledge of the natural world, and other themes. I think they’ll also come away with a glimpse of how the contemporary art scene in Tokyo has developed within a multilayered and multifaceted ecosystem for art and culture.
GS: Could you elaborate on how you approach curating works that challenge or reinterpret conventional narratives?
MK: The exhibition-making process of AWT Focus, where the curator comes up with an overall narrative based mainly on artists and works proposed by Art Week Tokyo’s participating galleries, was a fascinating experience that also helped me to encounter artists and works with which I wasn’t familiar before.
In using ancient Asian cosmologies as a starting point for my exhibition, and juxtaposing religious and cultural perspectives with scientific perspectives in order to think about forms of natural energy that are beyond human control, I wanted to reconsider the contemporary world through more astronomical or geological scales of space and time, without being restricted by political or economic readings or issues of identity politics.
GS: With your extensive experience curating for international and regional art institutions, what do you believe is the curator’s role in shaping an art ecosystem like Tokyo’s? How does this differ when working with global institutions?
MK: While every locality has its own art ecosystem, since the 1990s we’ve seen the emergence of different actors in the global art ecosystem beyond the existing museum and gallery systems, such as art fairs and biennale- and triennale-style international exhibitions that celebrate the specificity of the host locality’s history, culture, and industry. Concurrent to this, we have also seen an increase in the magnetism of city culture.
With all these local ecosystems scattered around the world, the organizers of new initiatives have to be conscious of what kind of audiences they want to attract. To my mind it’s not a question of international or regional, as every “place” always belongs to some region or locality, whereas there is nowhere that is truly international. What we refer to as “international” institutions are those that consciously consider how to connect the local and the global by thinking about how to link different localities with each other. This is not just about relations between nations but also relations between localities, which requires being able to grasp the individual and the whole at once.
In that sense, one thing that curators can do wherever they work is to research the historical, cultural, and social accomplishments of the place and showcase their appeal to audiences. The curator’s role is to connect experiences with stories, and that stays consistent no matter where you are.
GS: How do you see your role as a director and curator in supporting emerging talent within Japan’s art scene?
MK: It’s not just emerging artists in the sense of “the next generation” who need support, but also the artists of diverse genders as well as local and cultural contexts who’ve been marginalised by art institutions to date. As a museum director and curator, I give a lot of consideration to initiatives that allow art to more equitably reflect the state of the world from diverse perspectives. We’re living through a time when artworks produced in different historic and cultural contexts all around the world are being presented together on global platforms. This means that artists are increasingly being asked to explain their diverse contexts and backgrounds, and identify and speak about the connections and continuities their works have with various local contexts from a culturally comparative perspective.
GS: Given that Art Week Tokyo attracts both a regional and international audience, how do you ensure that the programming resonates on both levels?
MK: As a citywide initiative that brings audiences to the different neighborhoods where art is happening in Tokyo, Art Week Tokyo offers new discoveries even for locals, while it provides for international visitors a chance to see different sides of Tokyo, from the shitamachi neighborhoods that still retain an air of old Edo to the more affluent and fashionable yamanote areas. Art Week Tokyo’s learning programs are also designed with diverse audiences in mind, encompassing everything from children’s programs and other events for newcomers to contemporary art to an international symposium featuring debates on specialist topics.
GS: How do you think the contemporary art scene in Tokyo will evolve in the next decade, and what role do you hope Art Week Tokyo will play in that transformation?
MK: I think the richness of Tokyo’s art scene stems from the fact that you can still read the cultural and artistic legacy of ancient Japan in the city’s 150‑odd years of accumulated museum activity as well as in the architecture and landscapes of the city itself. One of the most fascinating things about Tokyo is the way that cutting‑edge and traditional cultures are linked so seamlessly and continuously here. While modern and contemporary art will always be the focus of Art Week Tokyo, I think that if the event were to incorporate the city’s historic or craft museums and extend its dates a bit longer, it could give an overview of the Tokyo art scene to an even broader audience and generate even more excitement.
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