Mami Kataoka to Curate Focus Section of Art Week Tokyo

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Art Week Tokyo (AWT) has released details of its 2024 programme, which will run from 7 to 10 November, with preview days on 5 and 6 November.

This year, 52 museums, galleries, and art spaces will take part, up slightly from 50 in 2023.

The Focus section will be curated by Mami Kataoka, director of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum and the National Center for Art Research. Kataoka, who served as artistic director for the Aichi Triennale in 2022 and the 21st Biennale of Sydney in 2018, will present an exhibition exploring art practices across the Asia Pacific at the Okura Museum of Art.

The exhibition has a broader scope than last year's inaugural Focus, which was curated by Kenjiro Hosaka. He presented a survey of 64 Japanese contemporary artists titled Worlds in Balance: Art in Japan from the Postwar to the Present.

Art Week Tokyo's other curated section, AWT Video, will be led by Sohrab Mohebbi, director of New York's SculptureCenter. AWT Video will present a selection of single-channel video works in a dedicated public pavilion.

Other highlights of this year's AWT include a Louise Bourgeois retrospective at the Mori Art Museum, works by Keiichi Tanaami and Ei Arakawa-Nash at the National Art Center, Tokyo, and a solo presentation by Yuko Mohri, Japan's representative at the 60th Venice Biennale, at the Artizon Museum.

'Art Week Tokyo was founded as a new model of art event, one that combines the collecting element of an art fair with the engagement of an art festival and a commitment to bringing broad audiences to the places where art is happening in Tokyo,' said Atsuko Ninagawa, co-founder and director of Art Week Tokyo, and owner of Tokyo gallery Take Ninagawa.

She said the event aims to 'amplify all the talent and creativity the city has to offer, while providing a platform for artists and galleries who operate outside of typical market circuits.' —[O]

Main image: Mami Kataoka. Courtesy Art Week Tokyo.