The Japan Foundation runs a program inviting art experts such as curators and scholars to Japan to gain insights and experiences that will help them to introduce Japanese contemporary art overseas.

This year, we have invited five curators who specialize mainly in contemporary art at museums in the Midwestern and Southern US.

The program will be held December 11–20, 2017. During the 11-day stay, we will visit art museums and art spaces in Tokyo, Kanazawa, and Osaka and artist studios in Kyoto to have opportunities for meeting with Japanese curators and artists in order to share ideas and promote networking among visual art professionals of Japan and the US.

Program Outline

Program Period

Monday, December 11–Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Participating Curators

• Jordan Carter (Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago)
• Toby Kamps (Director and Chief Curator, Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston)
• Nicole Soukup (Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art)
• Lisa Sutcliffe (Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Milwaukee Art Museum)
• Reto Thüring (Chair of Modern, Contemporary, and Decorative Art, and Performing Arts and Curator of Contemporary Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art)

Museums and Art Spaces to Be Visited

Tuesday, December 12:

Lectures, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum

Wednesday, December 13:

Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, galleries in Tokyo

Thursday, December 14:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, The D.T. Suzuki Museum

Friday, December 15:

The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Artist Studio (Kyoto)

Saturday, December 16:

Artist Studio (Osaka)

Sunday, December 17:

Yayoi Kusama Museum

Monday, December 18:

Curatorial Session

Tuesday, December 19:

Yokohama Museum of Art