Art Collaboration Kyoto to Present Vision of a Torn World
This year, 33 new exhibitors will join the fair, which pairs Japanese galleries with those from overseas in collaborative booths.
Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) main venue (2022). Courtesy ACK. Photo: Kotaro Tanaka.
Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) has announced the theme and the 64 galleries participating in this year's fair, which takes place from 27 to 30 October.
Set by Program Director Yukako Yamashita, the curatorial theme is Vision of a Torn World: Circulation and Coexistence. It explores ways of living in a world emerging from division.
The theme speaks to one of the fair's founding goals: to bridge the gap between Japan and the rest of the art world in the wake of the pandemic.
'While you may already be familiar with many of our galleries individually, the collaboration between galleries in a shared booth will spark a profound dialogue, resulting in unique presentations that can only be experienced at Art Collaboration Kyoto,' Yamashita said.
This year, the fair's Gallery Collaborations section will pair 27 international galleries with 26 galleries in Japan.
Those presenting in Japan for the first time include Union Pacific (London), who will partner with XYZ collective (Tokyo), and A Thousand Plateaus Art Space (Chengdu), who will partner with Satoko Oe Contemporary (Tokyo).
Some of the returning galleries have conceived of thematic presentations for their booths.
Taro Nasu (Tokyo) and Galerie Eva Presenhuber (Zurich) will trace the trajectory of conceptual art, while SCAI The Bathhouse (Tokyo) and Axel Vervoordt Gallery (Antwerp, Hong Kong) will spotlight artists making space for geopolitical dialogue and meditation.
ACK's other gallery section, Kyoto Meetings, will feature 11 presentations with strong connections to the city of Kyoto.
Osaka's Artcourt Gallery, for instance, will present new works by sculptor Kozo Nishino, indigo dyer Shihoko Fukumoto, and painter Chihiro Yoshioka, all of whom have ties to the city, while neugerriemschneider (Berlin) will present works by Olafur Eliasson that are inspired by the former Japanese capital's Zen Gardens.
The full list of galleries participating in ACK can be viewed on their website. —[O]
