For our second Open Research Program, we invited the artist and curator currently representing Japan at the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale to deliver a report on their experience. Koki Tanaka (artist) and Mika Kuraya (Chief Curator of the Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) spoke about the process leading up to their exhibition, including the selection process of the Japan Pavilion—wherein a competition is held between nominated curators for participation—and how they jointly developed the exhibition concept. Japan received a Special Mention for National Participation for “the poignant reflection on issues of collaboration and failure”. Tanaka and Kuraya showed a thirty-minute documentary film on the Japan Pavilion and discussed the “issues of collaboration” in their nine projects and behind the scenes at the Venice Biennale.
335 audience members were present for this report. The Parasophia Office would like to thank the sixteen students from Doshisha University, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto Institute of Technology, and Osaka University for their assistance in this program. A transcript of this report (in Japanese) and an abridged English translation, along with supplementary notes added by the editors, are available in our Publications section as Parasophia Chronicle vol. 1 no. 2 (PDF and EPUB).

For more information about the exhibition at the Japan Pavilion, see: 2013.veneziabiennale-japanpavilion.jp

(Photos by Ayaka Nishiura [above] and Takahiro Mitsukawa [below])

Open Research Program 02 [Report] Koki Tanaka & Mika Kuraya “abstract speaking—participating in the Venice Biennale”
Date: Saturday, July 27, 2013 7:00–8:30 PM
Venue: Doshisha University Imadegawa Campus (Ryoshinkan B1F Room 2)
Presented by the Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture Organizing Committee, Kyoto Association of Corporate Executives (Kyoto Keizai Doyukai), Kyoto Prefecture, and Kyoto City
Under the auspices of The Japan Foundation

More information

About the Open Research Program
The Artistic Director and his curatorial team will conduct part of their research for Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 publicly, in the form of lectures and other events in this program.