Setouchi Asia Forum 2022
-Think of today’s world connected through the sea

As an official program of the Setouchi Triennale 2022, the Setouchi Asia Forum 2022 will be held on Sunday, October 16 in a hybrid format, connecting the Setouchi venue with the rest of the world online.

　The Setouchi Asia Forum, launched in 2016 and held for the second time in 2019, has contributed to the formation of a network of organizations and individuals from various Asian regions involved in regional development through art and culture, and has generated dialogues and exchanges.  In 2021, due to the COVID 19 infection, we decided to organize the event online under the title “Artists’ Breath Live: Artists in the midst of the pandemic,” and transmitted live the voices of about 30 artists from 28 countries and regions around the world,  and published a booklet compiling the texts contributed by 80 artists from about 40 countries and regions on “what they felt and worked on during this period.”

In addition to the pandemic since 2020, the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops has continued, and global issues including famine, refugees, and conflicts have confronted us to question:
What is the global environment?
What is globalization?
What is a nation?
Yet, we are still living as best we can under the yoke of the countries we belong to and the time we have been living in.
Can art be a close friend of humanity at this time as it once was? We would like to explore this possibility by listening to the voices of artists and people involved in culture and the arts who are working hard in various parts of the world.

[Details]
– Dates: Sunday, October 16, 2022 / 15:00-18:00 (JST)
– Venue (Live): Conference room at Rexxam Hall, Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture
– Online (Vimeo):
URL：https://vimeo.com/event/2444534

*Simultaneous interpretation (in two languages, Japanese / English) is available for both on-site and online viewing.

[Moderators]
Fram Kitagawa [General Director, Setouchi Triennale/Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Japan]
Lyno Vuth [Sa Sa Art Projects Artistic Director, Cambodia]

[Guest speakers] (As of 12th October / in alphabetical order)
Jean-Michel Alberola [Artist, France]
Massimo Bartolini [Artist, Italy]
Christiaan Bastiaans [Artist, Netherlands]
Ayşe Erkmen [Artist, Turkey/Germany]
Mounir Fatmi [Artist, Morocco/France]
Tamara Galeyeva [Ural Federal University Associate Professor, Russia]
Kendell Geers [Artist, South Africa/Belgium]
Antony Gormley [Artist, UK]
Yoko Hayashi [Arts and culture inspectorate, Agency for Cultural Affairs]
Natsuki Ikezawa [Poet/Novelist, Japan]
Zhanna Kadyrova [Artist, Ukraine]
Tadashi Kawamata [Artist, Japan/France]
Ekaterina Kenigsberg [Belarusian State Academy of Arts Associate Professor, Belarus]
Luxury Logico (豪華朗機工) [Artist, Taiwan]
Vuth Lyno [Sa Sa Art Projects Artistic Director, Cambodia]
Koichi Makigami [Musician/Poet/Producer, Japan]
Victor Mulas [Senior Specialist, World Bank]
Paweena Nekamanurak [The Jim Thompson Art Center, Assistant curator and curatorial coordinator, Thailand]
Arin Rungjang [Artist, Thailand]
Anang Saptoto [Artist, Indonesia]
Seizo Tashima [Artist, Japan]
Yuto Yabumoto [Aura Contemporary Art Foundation Representative Director, Japan]
Lo Ka Yin [Hong Kong Arts Center Program & Operation Manager, Hong Kong]
Xu Zhen(徐震) [Artist, China]

【Program】
Opening             15:00-15:30
Introduction        Fram Kitagawa      [General Director, Setouchi Triennale]
Presentation        Soichiro Fukutake [General Producer, Setouchi Triennale]
Keynote lecture   Fram Kitagawa

Part 1                15:30-16:30
<Presentations>
Lyno Vuth [Sa Sa Art Projects,Cambodia]
Gordon Lo [Hong Kong Art Center]
Paweena Nekamanurak [The Jim Thompson Art Center,Thailand]                          　　　　
Anang Saptoto [Artist, Indonesia]
Yuto Yabumoto [Aura Contemporary Art Foundation,Japan]
Arin Rungjang [Artist, Thailand]
Victor Mulas [Senior Specialist, World Bank]
Yoko Hayashi [Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan]
Xu Zhen(徐震) [Artist, China]
Luxury Logico [Artist, Taiwan]

《Break》

<Messages>
Toyohito Ikeda [Chairman of Setouchi Triennale / Governor of Kagawa Prefecture]
Yoshifumi Sekiguchi [Chairman of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale /Mayor of Tokamachi City]

Part 2               16:40-17:30
<Presentations>
Kendell Geers [Artist, South Africa/Belgium]
Massimo Bartolini [Artist, Italy]
Ayşe Erkmen [Artist, Turkey/Germany]
Koichi Makigami [Musician/Poet/Producer, Japan]
Ekaterina Kenigsberg [Belarusian State Academy of Arts,Belarus]
Tamara Galeyeva [Ural Federal University, Russia]
Zhanna Kadyrova [Artist, Ukraine]

Part 3               17:30-18:15
<Presentations>
Seizo Tashima [Artist, Japan]
Jean-Michel Alberola [Artist, France]
Christiaan Bastiaans [Artist, Netherlands]
Mounir Fatmi [Artist, Morocco/France]
Tadashi Kawamata [Artist, Japan/France]
Natsuki Ikezawa [Poet/Novelist, Japan]
Antony Gormley [Artist, UK]

Closing              Fram Kitagawa

Antony Gormley says,
In this liminal time between the industrial and information ages, marked by climate emergency, mass migration, and the rise of divisive political discourse I have – more and more – been thinking of the potential of art to open up a place of possibility, a place of becoming that looks to the future rather than the past.

Xu Zhen says,
Besides the reality we are experiencing, my creation is another kind of reality, which is an artistic reality. I think artists should constantly create this kind of artistic reality to keep the ability to create and fight in the social reality, but not vice versa.

Natsuki Ikezawa talks about the possibilities of art in today’s war-torn world, while reflecting on his new picture book “Wandering Cat and the Camphor Tree in the Shrine” about The Army clothing depo branch, a building that did not collapse in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.