SYMPOSIA

International Symposium “How to Curate a Good Biennale?”

Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation available

Since the 1990s, international exhibitions known as biennales and triennales have proliferated globally, with over 300 now said to exist. Diverse models have emerged based on their founding contexts and regional circumstances - whether prioritizing internationality or locality, adopting urban or regionally distributed formats, and how best to balance the geographic and cultural diversity of participating artists. How can we evaluate these diverse international exhibitions? What does a “good biennale” mean? What challenges arise when curating an international exhibition in a cultural context different from one’s own?

The international symposium “How to Curate a Good Biennale?” is presented as part of the “Global Art Professionals Development Project,” an initiative aimed at fostering early to mid-career curators based in Japan. This project is implemented as part of the Support Programs for Cultural Facilities Function Enhancement, grant from Japan Creator Support fund, Japan Arts Council / the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.

The symposium brings together speakers who have served as artistic directors and curators of recent international exhibitions to discuss the significance of biennales and criteria for their evaluation from their respective positions. Furthermore, the symposium encourages participants to critically reflect on their own ongoing curatorial practices, deconstructing them into their essential elements and components, and to reexamine them through dialogue with the speakers and fellow participants. By reexamining these parts, the program aims to further develop participants’ past and current exhibition projects into more advanced and rigorous curatorial practices.

We look forward to welcoming you to this international symposium.

Date and Time

18:30-20:00, Friday, May 29, 2026 (Doors open: 18:00)

Venue

International House of Japan, Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
East Wing B1F, 5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Access: https://ihj.global/en/access/

Capacity

150 (booking required, first-come basis)

Fee

Free

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Speakers

Eungie Joo (Independent Curator)
Carol Yinghua Lu (Art Historian, Curator, Director of Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum)
Adriano Pedrosa (Artistic Director, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP))

Moderator

Kataoka Mami (Director, Mori Art Museum)

Profiles

Eungie Joo
Independent Curator

Eungie Joo is a curator, writer and educator. She was Curator and Head of Contemporary Art at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 2017-2024; Curator of Sharjah Biennial 12: The past, the present, the possible from 2013-2015; Director and Curator of Education and Public Programs at the New Museum, where she also ran the Museum as Hub initiative (2007-2012); Commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, Condensation: Haegue Yang (2009); inaugural Director and Curator of the Gallery at REDCAT (2003-2007); and co-founder of the participatory space Six Months: Crenshaw (2003). Her curatorial practice relies on sustained relationships with artists through the production of new work, activating discursive and performative platforms, and exhibition making. Joo earned her PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.

Carol Yinghua Lu
Art Historian, Curator, Director of Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum

Carol Yinghua LU holds a Doctorate in art history from University of Melbourne and directs Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum since 2017. She was artistic director and senior curator of OCAT, Shenzhen (2012-2015), guest curator at Museion, Bolzano (2013) and China researcher for Asia Art Archive (2005-2007). She was recipient of ARIAH East Asia Fellowship (2017) and visiting fellow in the Asia-Pacific Fellowship Program at Tate Research Centre (2013). She was co-artistic director of Gwangju Biennale (2012) and co-artistic director of the 8th Yokohama Triennale with Liu Ding (2024). She was a jury member for Golden Lion Award, Venice Biennale (2011).

Adriano Pedrosa
Artistic Director, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP)/h4>

Adriano Pedrosa has been the artistic director of Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), since 2014. He was adjunct curator of the 24th Bienal de São Paulo (1998), co-curator of the 27th Bienal de São Paulo (2006), curator of InSite_05 (San Diego, Tijuana, 2005), artistic director of the 2nd Trienal de San Juan (2009), curator of 31st Panorama da Arte Brasileira-Mamõyaguara opá mamõ pupé (Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, 2009). In 2023, he received the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence from Bard College, and he was the curator of the Biennale Arte 2024, in Venice.

Kataoka Mami
Director, Mori Art Museum

Director of Mori Art Museum, Executive Advisor of the National Center for Art Research (NCAR) Japan, and Director of ICA Kyoto at Kyoto University of the Arts Graduate School. Kataoka has led the curatorial team at Mori Art Museum since its inauguration in 2003 and was appointed Director in 2020. She served concurrently as International Curator at the Hayward Gallery, London (2007-2009). She has held the roles of Co-Artistic Director of the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012), Artistic Director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018), and Artistic Director of Aichi Triennale 2022. She is Co-Curator of the Helsinki Biennial 2027. At CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art), she served as Board Member from 2014 to 2022, including as President from 2020 to 2022. She serves as Senior Director of the Mori Contemporary Art Foundation and Representative Director of the Fukushima Tomioka Art Foundation, among other roles. She is widely active as a member of numerous committees related to culture and the arts, juror for international art awards, and speaker at lectures and symposia.

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Organizer

Mori Art Museum

Grands from

Japan Creator Support Fund (Japan Arts Council)

Administration

AMCN Co., Ltd.

Contact

Learning, Mori Art Museum E-mail here

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