Erika Kobayashi (writer and comics artist) Erika Kobayashi (1978–) is a writer, comics artist and artist currently based in Tokyo. From 2008 to 2009 she was invited to New York as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow. Kobayashi has authored the novel “Madame Curie to choshoku wo” (Breakfast with Madame Curie, 2014), which was nominated for Japan’s most prestigious literary awards, the Mishima Yukio Prize and the Akutagawa Prize in 2014. Other works by Kobayashi include the manga/graphic novel “Hikari no kodomo 1,2LUMINOUS” (Children of Light: Luminous, 2013, 2016), which traces the history of the atom and of radiation.

1. Curator at the Yokohama Museum of Art, curatorial head at the Yokohama Triennale 2020. Has been curating exhibitions of mainly contemporary art, such as the recent “Hanran: 20th-Century Japanese Photography” (National Gallery of Canada, 2019‐2020) and “Showa Portraits: Tracing the People and History of the Showa Era through Photography” (Arts Maebashi, 2018). Exhibitions curated at the Yokohama Museum of Art include “BODY/PLAY/POLITICS” (2016), and one-man shows of works by Yoshitomo Nara (2012), Tadasu Takamine (2011), Teppei Kaneuji (2009) and GOTH (2007‐08).

photo:©427FOTO

Worked as Curator, Art Critic and Yoga Instructor and now working for some government institutions as an interpreter and a translator. My favorite motto is “The higher the hurdle, easy to pass through”.

Curator. Lives in Tokyo. Recent curated exhibitions and projects includes amongst others: Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda（statements, Tokyo, 2017）, Troedsson Villa Mountain School 2016（statements, Tokyo, 2016, Original concept by Tam Ochiai & Anne Eastman）, Futoshi Miyagi: American Boyfriend（2013～）.  In addition, he has curated and published artists’ books and zines as independent publisher includes: Yasuto Masumoto, Ryoko Aoki, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda, Nobutaka Aozaki and Shimon Minamikawa.

(Musician/Violinist) Yuji Katsui, an electric violinist, plays with a number of music groups such as “ROVO”, ”KOMA”, “TWIN TAIL”, “DRAMATICS”, “Yuji Katsui × U-zhaan”, and continues to explore the possibilities of expression with the electric violin.

Specializes in studying the relationship between technology and society through the lens of media art, a comparatively new form of artistic expression. She has applied her research to planning and producing exhibitions, and conducting workshops for understanding and experiencing media technology as part of exhibitions and education, as well as in medical settings. She is also involved in developing technology-based support mechanisms for appreciating art. A graduate of the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS),she has worked as a researcher at IAMAS, a director of the Digital Pocket nonprofit organization, an associate researcher at the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and as a program officer at the Japan Arts Council’ . She is currently an associate professor in the Nippon Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Advanced Engineering Department of Information Technology and Media Design.

Curator, director of Shiseido Gallery. Recently curated exhibitions include “Tsubaki-kai 8: This New World” (2021), “Surface and Custom,” “Yu Araki: Le Souvenir Du Japon” (2019), “Shuta Hasunuma:　～ ing” (2018), “Kami: Cosmic Wonder with Kogei Punks” (2017), and “Tsubaki-kai 2017: Shoshin ­– Genpei Akasegawa, Naoya Hatakeyama, Rei Naito, Zon Ito, Ryoko Aoki, and Yasutake Shimaji” (2013-2017).

Maki Kaneko is Associate Professor in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, where she teaches modern and contemporary Japanese visual arts and the art of Asian Americans and Asian diaspora. She has published the single-authored book Mirroring the Japanese Empire: The Male Figure in Yoga Painting, 1930-1950 (Brill, 2015) and co-edited “Modern & Contemporary East Asian Art,” special issue, Spencer Museum of Art The Register VIII, no. 5 (2019). Her publications also include: “Contemporary Goshin’ei: The Emperor, Art, and the Anus,” in Noriko Murai, Jeff Kingston and Tina Burrett (eds.), Japan in Heisei Era (1989-2019): Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2022), “Japanese Modern Art History in North America and the Perspective of Asian American Art Studies,” in Megumi Kitahara (ed.), Taniguchi Fumie Studies (Osaka University 2018) and “War Heroes of Modern Japan: Early 1930s War Fever and the Three Brave Bombers,” in Philip K. Hu (ed.), Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan (St. Louis Art Museum, 2016).

Researcher on post-war Japanese avant-garde art and curator of Fuchu Art Museum. Received MA in art from the Tokyo University of the arts. Based on researches of artworks and documents、has written a history of post-war Japanese avant-garde art through curating exhibitions and writing essays.

Exhibitions include Jiro Takamatsu; Universe of his Thought(2004), At/From Tamagawa 1964-2009(2009)、Kaku-Co; O JUN 1982-2013(2013). Writings are Drawing Seen As a Pssibility, in “Jiro TakamatsuAll Drawings”(2009), Return after 20 Years, in “Reflection: In Return to Koji Enokura”(2015), “Noe Aoki : Nagare no naka ni Hikari no Katamari”(2019). Co-edited an anthology “Reading Jiro Takamatsu”(2014).

Benrido, Overseas Division Director
Taka Kawachi has extensive international experience, having graduated from the Academy of Art University of San Francisco, to then working in New York City as a book editor and curator for 15 years. Returning to Japan in 2011, and Kawachi published his first book Art no Iriguchi (Entrance to the Arts, on American Art) followed by his second publication on European Art released in 2016.  His publications illustrate his experiences of art and photography and offers readers an opportunity to engage with the history and subjects of both regions from his unique point of view. He is currenlty the Director of the Overseas Division of Kyoto’s Benrido, working to disseminate the classic and rare photographic process of Collotype.

Music writer, radio DJ and university lecturer. Studied composing and musicology at Tokyo College of Music, and is currently involved particularly with classical music, contemporary music, jazz, and film music. He writes for a wide range of publications, including Intoxicate, Latina, Record Geijutsu, Bravo, and Kyoiku Ongaku, and has contributed to Jazz The New Chapter 5, given lectures at the New Japan Philharmonic’s regular Ruby concerts, written music commentary for major orchestras in Tokyo, and has a weekly 4-hour live show on the Ottava internet radio station.
Photo: Taira Tairadate

Curator and coordinator. Lives and Works in Tokyo. Having worked as an assistant curator of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2001-9), she then moved to New Delhi India between 2009-18. While in India, she coordinated and researched for numerous projects. Worked as a project coordinator of Japan Foundation’s “Omnilogue: Journey to the West” at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in 2012, a research curator of Indian art for the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2014, and coordinated to create a new video and painting installation of “The Returns of K.T.O.” by Japanese artist Tsuyoshi Ozawa for Yokohama Triennale 2017. Recent coordination is “Eiko Ishioka – Blood, Sweat , and Tears – A  Life of Design ” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

Graduated from Keio University, specialized in French literature. Critic of art and music, painter, graphic designer & art consultant. One of the members of ULYSSES. He is the author of “In Case Of Suzanne Lafont ” (1999), and  supervised “T.Rex File” (2005), “Friction  The Book” (2007), “Acid Folk” (2008) and many other books. He was currently assisting to re-publish Andy Warhol / Gerard Malanga’s “Screen Tests / A Diary” and writing a long study on “Screen Tests”.

Researcher in the field of dance. Her main area of investigation is contemporary dance since the 2000s. Continuously engages also in research focusing on the organization and application of dance archives. Studied in France on a scholarship from the French government in 2015-2016, and received her master’s degree (science of art) from the Université Paris VIII. Has been involved in the productionof numerous dance performances and festivals, including Mikiko Kawamura’s performance of ”La fleur éclôt en enfer” in Paris. Member of the jury in “Dance-Ga-Mitai! Newcomer Series Vol.16 & 17.” Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1). Is presently enrolled in a doctoral course at Waseda University, Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences.