AWT TALKS

Discourse is an essential part of art infrastructure, and it is only enriched by broad participation. This year sees the return of the full lineup of AWT Talks—the Symposium, Directors Conversation, and Roundtable—with new programs in the works as well. Meanwhile, the latest online talks add to a growing archive of videos featuring some of Japan’s leading artists, critics, and curators discussing overlooked currents in art and cultural history.

The Symposium is the headlining event of the AWT Talks program, bringing together leading thinkers from diverse backgrounds to discuss critical approaches to art and its place in contemporary society before a broad audience. What can art do? Why does it matter? And how does it translate across cultures and contexts?

This year’s Symposium invites speakers Gen Adachi, Rasha Salti, and X Zhu-Nowell to address the theme “Unquiet as It’s Kept: Art and the Afterlives of History.”

SPEAKERS

GEN ADACHI

Historian of art and society; Director, Mochizuki Katsura Research Collective

RASHA SALTI

Researcher, writer, and curator; Advisor to the Artistic Director, 61st Venice Biennale

X ZHU-NOWELL

Executive Director and Chief Curator, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, and Curator, AWT Video

MODERATOR

ANDREW MAERKLE

Editorial Director, Art Week Tokyo

The Directors Conversation gathers global museum leaders for a public chat about everything from administration to programming and outreach.

This year’s Directors Conversation features Mary Ceruti of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Doryun Chong of M+, Hong Kong, and Andrea Lissoni of Haus der Kunst, Munich. The talk will be moderated by Shihoko Iida, the chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

SPEAKERS

MARY CERUTI

Executive Director, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

DORYUN CHONG

Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+, Hong Kong

ANDREA LISSONI

Artistic Director, Haus der Kunst, Munich

MODERATOR

SHIHOKO IIDA

Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Convened in the historic Ex-Noguchi Room at Keio University’s Mita Campus, the closed-door Roundtable brings together Japanese and international curators for frank exchanges on urgent issues in contemporary art. Please note participation in the roundtable is by invitation only.

PANELISTS

KEYNA ELEISON

Director of Research and Content, Bienal das Amazônias, and Cocurator-at-Large, 36th Bienal de São Paulo

VICTORIA SUNG

Phyllis C. Wattis Senior Curator, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

KATSUO SUZUKI

Chief Curator, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Art Week Tokyo’s popular online talks video series invites artists, art historians, critics, and creators from other fields to produce lectures and discussions on overlooked currents in Japanese art and cultural history. Recent talks include a dialogue between artist and critic Nodoka Odawara and researcher Hiroki Yamamoto on the topic of de-imperializing Japanese art history. Click on the link below to start watching.