Tokyo Contemporary Art Award

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THE INTERNATIONAL SELECTION COMMITTEE

2024-2026 2022-2024 2021-2023 2020-2022 2019-2021

Sofía Hernández Chong CUY
(Director, Kunstinstituut Melly)

Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy has been director of Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam (formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art)since 2018. She was previously the curator of contemporary art at Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, which has headquarters in Caracas and New York (2011-2017).
Cuy was director of Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and held curatorial positions in New York at Art in General and Americas Society. She has guest-curated exhibitions for The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York, KADIST Art Foundation in Paris, MALBA in Buenos Aires, and the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania and among other places. In 2013, she was artistic director and chief curator of the “9th Bienal do Mercosul,” and she was an agent of “Documenta(13),” 2012 in Kassel.

Photo: Wing Shya

Lesley MA
(Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Associate Curator of Asian Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Lesley Ma joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Spring 2022 as the inaugural Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Associate Curator of Asian Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. From 2013 to 2022, she was founding Curator, Ink Art at M+, Hong Kong, which opened in 2021. Prior to M+, she curated projects at Para Site, Hong Kong, including “Great Crescent: Art and Agitation in the 1960s—Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan” that toured to Tokyo and Mexico City (2013–2016). Formerly, she was Project Director at Cai Guo-Qiang’s studio in New York. Her Ph.D. in Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the University of California, San Diego, focused on abstract painting in postwar Taiwan.

photo: ITAMI Go

NOMURA Shino
(Senior Curator, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)

Nomura Shino has been curator of Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery since 2004.
Major projects at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, “Conversation with Art, on Art,” 2006, “Toyo Ito | The New ‘Real’ in Architecture,” 2006, “Element | Cecil Balmond,” 2010, “Hiraki Sawa | Under the Box, Beyond the Bounds,” 2014, “Zaha Hadid,” 2014, “Simon Fujiwara | White Day,” 2016, “Rhythm in Monochrome | Korean Abstract Painting,” 2017, “Camille Henrot | Stepping on a Serpent,” 2019, “All our stories are incomplete... / Colours of the imagination: Collection Exhibitions curated by Ryan Gander” 2019, “Ryan Gander: The Markers of Our Time” (2022). Nomura also curates collection exhibitions and a solo exhibition series “project N” focusing on emerging artists. She is a committee member of Obayashi Foundation “Vision of the City - Obayashi Foundation Program,” and a jury member of Contemporary Art Foundation CAFFA Award.

Photo courtesy: Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT), Hong Kong

TAKAHASHI Mizuki
(Executive Director and Chief Curator, Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT))

Takahashi Mizuki was a member of the Mori Art Museum founding staff and curator at the Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito. Takahashi moved to Hong Kong in 2016 to establish the CHAT, an art center connecting Hong Kong's industrial heritage with contemporary art, design, and craft. In her current position, she directs CHAT's special projects, collections, educational programs, as well as collaborative programs with museums in Hong Kong and abroad.

Major projects, in Japan and abroad, include at the Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, “8 Days : Beuys in Japan,” 2009, “Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today,” 2010 (Exhibition design by Hideki Toyoshima), “Quiet Attentions: Departure from Women,” 2011, “Tadasu Takamine’s COOL JAPAN,” 2012, “You reach out – right now – for something : Questioning the Concept of Fashion,” 2014, at CHAT, “(In)tangible Reminiscence,” 2018, “Unfolding: Fabric of Our Life,” 2019, “Sudō Reiko: Making NUNO Textiles,” 2019, “Yee I-Lann: Until We Hug Again,” 2021.

Photo: OYAMADA Kuniya

WASHIDA Meruro
(Director, Towada Art Center / Associate Professor, Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts)

Washida Meruro was a curator at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (1999-2018) before taking his current position. He was the curator of the Japan Pavilion at the “57th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia,” held in 2017, and was a curator of the “Aichi Triennale 2019.”
Major projects at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, include “KAZUYO SEJIMA + RYUE NISHIZAWA / SANAA,“ 2005, “Kanazawa Art Platform 2008,” “Jeppe Hein 360,” 2011, “SHIMABUKU:NOTO,” 2013, “Architecture since 3.11,” (Guest Curators: IGARASHI Taro/YAMAZAKI Ryo) 2014, “In Our Time: Art in Post-industrial Japan,” 2015, “Starting Points: Japanese Art of the ‘80s,” 2018, at the Towada Art Center, “Inter+Play,” 2020-22.

KONDO Yuki
(Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space)

Kondo Yuki served as the chief curator of the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (2001-2017) before taking her current position at Tokyo Arts and Space. As its Program Director, she is responsible for overall planning and operations, including exhibitions, residencies, and other projects. She has planned and implemented solo exhibitions of domestic artists and group exhibitions of domestic and international artists through the artist-in-residence program, as well as exhibitions and community programs utilizing cultural resources by artists.