As one of the initiatives toward the exhibition on Southeast Asian art, scheduled to open in the summer of 2017, the Mori Art Museum, the National Art Center, Tokyo, and the Japan Foundation Asia Center organized the symposium to revisit how Japan and Southeast Asia had communicated (and still are communicating) with each other through the arts; to reflect on Japan’s role while Southeast Asia’s contemporary art scene was developing and to set up an arena for which to discuss how the accumulated experience and knowledge could be channeled and reflected into the exhibition-making process.

The first half consisted of the presentations by the three panelists. Prof. Masahiro Ushiroshoji introduced to us the long-running commitment in the research and cultural exchange projects in Asian art by the Fukuoka Art Museum (since 1979) and, later, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (since 1999) which succeeded the former museum’s engagements. Ms. Yasuko Furuichi presented on the Japan Foundation’s involvement in Asian art since 1990s when its ASEAN Cultural Center was established, and Mr. Seiji Shimoda, who had sparked the fire for performance art in Southeast Asia, shared with us the NIPAF’s projects since its establishment. As the research progressed for the SEA Project, the names of the three organizations appeared frequently in many of the conversations with artists, demonstrating their undeniable presence in Southeast Asia.

For the second half, a Q&A panel continued where members of the curatorial team joined in the discussion.