Past Programs

Program proceedings, discussions, and other events by the Art Platform Japan project from 2018 to 2023 have been recorded. Videos of symposiums can also be viewed.

Book Project

Conversations

A photograph taken from above of three men and two women standing by the window of an open-air room.
Conversations

March 26, 2023

How to Use SHŪZŌ? Thinking with Artists about the practical uses of museum collection databases

Nariai Hajime and Soeda Kazuho, members of the Research Resource Committee, part of the Preparatory Office of the National Center for Art Research, sat down with artists Fujii Hikaru and Iiyama Yuki to discuss SHŪZŌ, a platform which enables users to search artworks across museum collections nationwide. Tezen Wakako, who is involved in the operation of SHŪZŌ, was present from Art Platfrom Japan. Together, they consider the present and future of databases. (Titles omitted)

Two women are sitting diagonally across from each other in a white room, looking at each other.
Conversations

March 5, 2023

Recognizing what you don’t know: Kathy Halbreich x Kamiya Yukie

The landmark 1989 exhibition "Against Nature: Japanese Art in the Eighties" moved the needle on how Japanese art was understood overseas and raised the profile of several contemporary Japanese artists, such as Dumb Type, Miyajima Tatsuo, Morimura Yasumasa and Otake Shinro. Kathy Halbreich, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, was one of the exhibition’s curators and made many trips to Japan during the research period and later. Kamiya Yukie, a steering committee for APJ, spoke to Ms. Halbreich in New York recently about the impact the exhibition had on the art world and on her personally, as well as opportunities for cultural exchange and how best to support artists.

Two women are sitting diagonally across from each other in a white room, looking at each other.
Conversations

February 17, 2023

On Support for Artists: Sasamoto Aki x Kamiya Yukie

The Agency for Cultural Affairs' Art Platform Program (APJ) has organized international symposiums and provided grants to artists who have gained important opportunities through their international reputation. New York-based artist Sasamoto Aki talks about what kinds of support are most helpful for artists, as well as her hopes for the future. She was interviewed by Kamiya Yukie, who represented the steering committee for APJ (Titles omitted).

A man and a woman are sitting diagonally across from each other on the sofa, looking at each other.
Conversations

January 25, 2023

What is APJ? What We’ve Accomplished in the last Five Years and Where We’re Going: Robert Campbell x Kataoka Mami

Art Platform Japan is a project led by the Agency for Cultural Affairs whose goal is the sustainable development of contemporary Japanese art. In March of 2023, APJ will achieve a major milestone. In the interview below, Robert Campbell, who has successfully spearheaded a campaign to digitize works of classical Japanese literature, talks with Kataoka Mami, chair of the Committee on Contemporary Japanese Art, about the digitization of artifacts in Japanese art museums, translating texts into English, the successes the project has yielded thanks to its ‘three pillars,’ the work that remains, and future goals for the project. (Titles omitted)

2022

2021

2020

Photo of a person wearing headphones and operating a sound device while looking at a monitor
Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan Webinar Series

August 2020–January 2021

Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan Webinar Series: Contemporary Art After the Coronavirus and its Ecology

Due to the current coronavirus epidemic, immense challenges have been posed to both arts institutions and contemporary art professionals across the globe. By sharing the numerous issues being tackled by innumerable parties globally that the pandemic has raised, this program aims to discuss and exchange both concrete and speculative ideas regarding the global dissemination of the arts in the post-pandemic era. The program also aims to cover the conductive research into the most potentially suitable forms of future international exhibitions for arts institutions. *Archived videos and transcriptions (Japanese and English) are in preparation.

2019

A scene of a symposium being held in a large venue. Two panelists sit on the podium and speak using microphones. There is a large screen behind the podium on which slides are projected. There are many participants at the venue, all paying attention to the lecture.
Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan Symposium

September 11, 2019

The Globalization of the Art World and “Japan”: Outlook into the current state and the future

Focusing on measures to promote contemporary art, "Bunka-cho Art Platform Symposium” aims to bring together people involved in contemporary art to share what is happening on the global front and to deepen discussions on why a platform for contemporary art is needed in Japan, what needs to be done to achieve this, and what possibilities can be explored.

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Bunka-cho Symposium

March 16, 2019

How to Effectively Carry on Art Assets into the Future: Proposals for Legal and Institutional Design for a Collecting Culture

From the standpoint of protecting, increasing Japan's art collection and making the most of it for society, panelists discussed specific measures to increase the value of cultural and artistic assets, including legislation, the development of a full-time conservatorship system for museums, tax reform and the fostering of a culture of collectors, the exchange and rental of works between museums and collections, and the importance of publicizing related archives.

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2018