Mary Pansanga (Director/ Curator, STORAGE)

Mary Pansanga is an independent curator working across contemporary art and artists’ moving image contexts. Her interests lie in exploring the curatorial landscape of spatial perception. She has put together exhibitions, screenings, and related projects in art spaces, film festivals, and other possible platforms. Her curatorial projects include In Transit (2013) at the Art Center, Chulalongkorn University; Multiple Planes (2018) as part of PhotoBangkok at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre; In Situ from Outside: Reconfiguring the Past in between the Present (2019) at National Museum Bangkok; Orbiting body (2024) at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and the 7th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival (2025). She founded ‘cloud’, a project space in Bangkok that was active from 2014 to 2015. In late 2020, she co-founded an ongoing project, ‘expensive to be poor’ and has been a programme director for STORAGE, an independent art space in Bangkok, since 2023.

Kazuhito Tanaka & Kaoru Kan (Director and Co-Founder, artist-run space soda)

Kazuhito Tanaka (Artist, soda Director)
Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1973. After graduating from the Faculty of Commerce, Meiji University in 1996, he worked in the corporate sector before moving to the United States in 2000. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts, New York, in 2004. Focusing on the relationship between photography and painting, he explores new forms of expression through photography and exhibits his works both in Japan and abroad. He also serves as the director of the Kyoto-based artist-run space soda, where he engages in exhibition planning. He is currently based in Kyoto and Fukuoka.
Winner of the Grand Prix at the TOKYO FRONTLINE PHOTO AWARD 2011.

Kaoru Kan (Japanese-style painter and picture book author, soda co-founder)
Born in Oita Prefecture in 1976, she graduated from the Department of Japanese Painting at Kyoto University of Art and Design (now Kyoto University of the Arts) in 2000. Using traditional Nihonga techniques, she explores a form of painting that evokes fundamental and primitive imagery. Her works primarily feature “water” as a motif. In recent years, she has also been actively engaged in producing picture books. In 2018, she co-founded the Kyoto-based artist-run space soda with artist Kazuto Tanaka. She is currently based in Kyoto and Fukuoka.

Mira Asriningtyas & Dito Yuwono (Co-Directors, Cemeti – Institute for Art and Society)

Mira Asriningtyas and Dito Yuwono are the directors of Cemeti – Institute for Art and Society, Indonesia’s pioneering platform for contemporary art founded in 1988 in Yogyakarta. Appointed in 2024, they continue Cemeti’s legacy of socially and politically engaged practices while reimagining sustainable institutional models and exploring art as a form of civic action.
Mira is an independent curator and writer, while Dito is an artist, curator and formerly co-director of Ruang MES56 (2020–2023). Together, they bring over a decade of collaborative experience as LIR, a curatorial collective known for site-specific and research-driven projects. Their leadership envisions Cemeti as a vital meeting point for critical artistic discourse in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Takuya Tsutsumi (Program Director, ICA Kyoto)

After completing an MA in Cultural Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in 2019, Tsutsumi has focused on creating ephemeral, performative experiences, with a particular interest in non-institutional practices across Asia. Since 2018, he has served as Co-Program Director of Yamanaka Suplex, a shared studio in Shiga Prefecture.

Huang Shaoan (Curator, Hong Foundation)

Huang Shaoan is the art program supervisor and curator at the Hong Foundation, where she facilitates art sponsorships through commissioned projects and supports artists’ research and creative development. Recent projects include the foundation’s ongoing support for Tehching Hsieh’s retrospective exhibition, currently on view at Dia Beacon; Stereoblind (2025) at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and the preliminary research for The Sorrowful Football Team (2024–2025), both by Val Lee; Ghost in the Sea (2024) by Musquiqui; and Banana Coin (2023) by Li Kuei-Pi. Previously, she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, joined the “Global Seminar” at Kyoto University of the Arts, and curated a parallel exhibition of the Cyprus Biennale (2023) in Athienou, within the UN Buffer Zone.

Taro Inamura (Program Director, The Saison Foundation)

After graduating from university, he joined Wacoal Art Center Co., Ltd. /Spiral, where he was involved in planning and curating contemporary art exhibitions and running an artist-in-residence program. Following his move to the UK, he has taken charge of the artist-in-residence program at The Saison Foundation from 2011 and has served as the foundation’s Program Director since 2022. In recent years, he has collaborated with Footscray Community Arts, located in the suburbs of Melbourne, on cultural exchange projects for Aboriginal artists. This project was nominated as a finalist for the Asia Pacific Arts Awards 2025 by Creative Australia. From 2011 to 2019, he worked at the Arts and Culture Project Office at NLI Research Institute, Inc., where he conducted research on cultural policy and cultural facilities.
Co-authored “Artist-in-Residence: Connecting Communities, People, and Art” (Bigaku Shuppan, 2023)

Rune Kobayashi (Lecturer, The Professional College of Arts and Tourism)

Lecturer at the Professional College of Arts and Tourism. She received her PhD from the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University and MA in European Cultural Policy and Management from the University of Warwick. Her research interests include British Cultural Policy and historical analysis of the Arts Council system. She was an Art Director of Outenin, a Programme officer of Global Seminar at Graduate School of Kyoto University of the Arts, a Part-time lecturer at Nara Prefectural University and a Research fellow of Center for Promoting Intercultural Studies at Kobe University before assuming her current position. Her main publication is British Community Arts Movement and the Arts Council of Great Britain (Suiyosha, 2023) (awarded Encouragement Prize of the Japan Association for Cultural Policy Research)

Kenjiro Hosaka (Director, Shiga Museum of Art)

Born in 1976. M.A. from Keio University. He was a curator at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT) before he was appointed as a director of the Shiga Museum of Art (SMoA). He has curated many exhibitions for MOMAT including Francis Bacon (2013), Guess what? Hardcore Contemporary Art’s Truly a World Treasure: Selected Works from the YAGEO Foundation Collection (2014), The Voice Between: The Art and Poetry of Yoshimasu Gozo (2016), and The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945 (2017). He has also curated for SMoA; Genius: The Human Gift for Creating and Living (2022) and for other institutions, including Logical Emotion: Contemporary Art from Japan (Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, etc., 2014-15), The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945 (MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts, 2016), AWT FOCUS 2024 Worlds in Balance: Art in Japan from the Postwar to the Present (Okura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2023), and Made in Shiga (Omotesando Crossing Park, 2024). Author of many articles on Francis Bacon, art brut, architecture, modern and contemporary art.

Takeshi Matsuoka (Curator, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art)

Born in Osaka in 1975, he graduated from The University of Osaka’s School of Letters. He has been a curator at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art since 1998. He has been involved in exhibition planning and collection development at the museum. His curatorial interests focus on marginal phenomena, expressions, and activities within art and museums, which he has explored through exhibition-centered programs. He also oversaw the museum’s renovation from 2020 to 2023 and managed off-site projects during its long-term closure. Since its reopening, he has been exploring ways to reintegrate these activities into the museum.
Recent major projects include: Tadashi Tonoshiki—the Source of a Compelling Reversal (2017), 30th Anniversary Special Exhibition: The Seven Lamps of The Art Museum (2019), RE-Presentation-Site, (representation of long-term projects during the museum’s closure) (2023), and Between Memories and Objects -Monuments, Museums, and Archives- (2025).

Heejung Park (Residency Manager, Changdong, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA))

Heejung Park studied Art History and holds an MA in Art History with a thesis on social consciousness in Le Salon de la Jeune Peinture. Since 2015, she has managed MMCA Residency Changdong, operated by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), transforming it into a vibrant hub where artists, curators, critics, researchers, and the public intersect. She supports resident artists through exhibitions, open studios, and public programs, while actively connecting the residency to national and international art networks, fostering dialogue and experimentation in contemporary art. Her curated and co-curated projects include Yaloo’s solo exhibition Pickled City (Saga, Seoul, 2022), AS_Pedia Project Vol.2 (Institute of East Asian Studies IN-EAST, University of Duisburg-Essen, 2018), alles bewegt sich (Kulturpalast Wedding International, Berlin, 2017), Ruins (Korean Cultural Center in Shanghai, 2015), and The Young and The Restless (Common Center, Seoul, 2014).

Mami Kataoka (Director, ICA Kyoto)

Director of ICA Kyoto, Director of the Mori Art Museum, head of the National Center for Art Research; Kyoto University of the Arts Graduate School professor. Joint artistic director of the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012), artistic director for the 21st Sydney Biennale (2018) and the Aichi Triennale (2022). Board member (2014–20) then president (2020–22) of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM). Director of the KUA ANNUAL exhibition for the Kyoto University of the Arts 2017–19.

punto [Kyoto]

punto is a shared studio located southeast of Kyoto Station. Originally a bag factory, it was renovated and opened in the spring of 2014 as an atelier for visual artists. Now in its 11th year, it is home to seven artists—Eri Okamoto, Haruka Shima, Miyako Tengyu, Yuki Hasegawa, Saya Minematsu, Saki Moriyama, and Sayuri Yamamoto—who work in various genres, including painting and sculpture. Each uses the space as a base for their creative practice.
The name “punto” comes from the Latin word for “point,” symbolizing the hope that this place will be a starting point from which diverse expressions and activities can expand into lines and planes. While each artist pursues their individual work, gathering in a shared space fosters new encounters and ideas. Punto aims to be a place that nurtures these kinds of connections.
punto website

TRA-TRAVEL [Osaka]

Founded in 2019, TRA-TRAVEL has carried out projects with more than 50 creators across over 15 countries, including exhibitions, residencies, talks, and art tours. Taking advantage of not having its own fixed space, it specializes in planning and executing projects, functioning as a “mobile project” that develops flexible art initiatives in collaboration with diverse venues such as art spaces, cinemas, and co-working offices. It proposes sustainable forms of artistic exchange for society.
So far, it has collaborated with organizations such as the Chishima Foundation for Creative Osaka, Japan Foundation Manila (Philippines), Sàn Art (Vietnam), and OCAC (Taiwan). Every year, it conducts new projects in different regions, building connections across domestic and international art networks.
TRA-TRAVEL website

MOMENT Contemporary Art Center [Nara]

MOMENT Contemporary Art Center opened in 2025 on Sanjo Street, Nara City, with the aim of introducing contemporary art from Japan and abroad, and of creating “moments of the extraordinary within the everyday” through artist residencies, workshops, and events. Based on the philosophy that art is an activity that reflects society and the times, the center provides opportunities for works created through residencies to be exhibited and for dialogue to take place, aiming to foster new perspectives in collaboration with audiences.
MOMENT Contemporary Art Center website

Kodama Kanazawa (Special Project Director, ICA Kyoto)

Contemporary art curator. Following 12 years at public art museums including the Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, began working as an independent curator in 2013. Deals in domains outside the existing art framework, such as media art, manga, art and community, and art and disability. Has organized numerous exhibitions in Japan and overseas. Joint head of the consulting firm Code-a-Machine.

Rune Kobayashi (Lecturer, The Professional College of Arts and Tourism)

*See “Session 2” for speaker profiles.

Mami Kataoka (Director, ICA Kyoto)

*See “Session 3” for speaker profiles.

Takuya Tsutsumi (Program Director, ICA Kyoto)

*See “Session 1” for speaker profiles.

Kodama Kanazawa (Special Project Director, ICA Kyoto)

*See “Pitches by local players in the Kansai region” for speaker profiles.