Naoshima New Museum of Art Public Program
"Naoshima Meeting 2025"
From Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot to Naoshima New Museum of Art:
Asian Contemporary Art and 1995-2025
To be held Sunday, September 7, 2025
From left:Apinan Poshyananda（Photo: THE MOMENTUM）
Suhanya Raffel（Photo: Winnie Yeung @ Visual Voices Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong）, Miki Akiko, Hoashi Aki
The Naoshima New Museum of Art will recommence the "Naoshima Meeting," a symposium that had been hosted on Naoshima from 1992 to discuss topics such as the connections between art, architecture, and society. This special first comeback installment will be presented as a public program of the Naoshima New Museum of Art on Sunday, September 7, 2025, entitled "Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot to Naoshima New Museum of Art: Asian Contemporary Art and 1995-2025."
We warmly invite you to participate in this opportunity.
Program Outline
When Benesse changed its company name 30 years ago in 1995, it held an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which is the world's foremost contemporary art festival, to globally promote its new name and its art activities on the remote islands (note: the "TransCulture" exhibition was co-organized by the Japan Foundation and the Fukutake Science and Culture Foundation). Artist Cai Guo-Qiang created Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot for this exhibition as a project to deliver to Venice what Marco Polo, who had introduced many cultural assets to the West, did not take back with him, such as the Eastern cosmology and life philosophies that represents the order of the heavens and humanity. This work won the first Benesse Prize that was established together with the exhibition. The artist has also been presenting a large-scale installation at the newly opened Naoshima New Museum of Art since May of this year.
In the celebration of the exhibition at the Naoshima New Museum of Art, as the 1st Meeting, we will welcome experts who have been deeply involved in developing the contemporary art scene in Asia since then. The "TransCulture" exhibition and Guo-Qiang's work, which will be the starting point for the meeting, marked the origin of Benesse Art Site Naoshima's vision of "sending messages to the world from the remote islands." They also symbolized the rise of Asian and non-Western art in the contemporary art scene, which had been dominated by a Western-centric canon. The speakers will reflect on the transformations of the art scenes through their respective experiences, and also apply their international viewpoints to explore the background to the establishment of the Naoshima New Museum of Art as well as its future potential.
| Date/Time: | Sunday, September 7, 2025 / starts 1:30 p.m. (doors open 1 p.m.), expected to end at 3:30 p.m. |
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| Venue: | Benesse House Park Hall (please come to Benesse House Park) |
| Speakers: | Apinan Poshyananda (Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Bangkok Art Biennale) Suhanya Raffel (Museum Director,M+) Miki Akiko (Director, Naoshima New Museum of Art / International Artistic Director, Benesse Art Site Naoshima) Moderator: Hoashi Aki (Manager, International Div. & Curatorial Dept., Yokohama Museum of Art/Deputy Executive Director, Yokohama Triennale Organizing Committee) |
| Program (subject to change) | Introduction: Miki Akiko Video message from Cai Guo-Qiang ― Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot Presentation 1: Apinan Poshyananda Presentation 2: Suhanya Raffel Discussion moderated by Hoashi Aki * Simultaneous Japanese-English interpretation will be provided |
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Participation fee: |
Free of charge *A same-day or prior-day admission ticket to the Naoshima New Museum of Art or Benesse House Museum is required.Click here to purchase online ticket. |
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Program application: |
Click here to apply. The deadline is August 31 (or earlier if seats are filled). |
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Co-organizers: |
Naoshima New Museum of Art (Fukutake Foundation), Benesse Holdings, Inc. |
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Access |
【If coming by car】 Please use the Tsutsuji-so parking lot (5-minute walk to Benesse House Park) 【If coming by foot】 Use the town bus and exit at the Tsutsuji-so bus stop for a 5-minute walk |
- 【Date/Time】
- Sunday, September 7, 2025 / starts 1:30 p.m. (doors open 1 p.m.), expected to end at 3:30 p.m.
- 【Venue】
- Benesse House Park Hall (please come to Benesse House Park)
- 【Speakers】
- Apinan Poshyananda (Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Bangkok Art Biennale)
Suhanya Raffel (Museum Director,M+)
Miki Akiko (Director, Naoshima New Museum of Art / International Artistic Director, Benesse Art Site Naoshima)
Moderator:
Hoashi Aki (Manager, International Div. & Curatorial Dept., Yokohama Museum of Art/Deputy Executive Director, Yokohama Triennale Organizing Committee)
- 【Program (subject to change)】
- Introduction: Miki Akiko
Video message from Cai Guo-Qiang ― Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot
Presentation 1: Apinan Poshyananda
Presentation 2: Suhanya Raffel
Discussion moderated by Hoashi Aki
* Simultaneous Japanese-English interpretation will be provided
- 【Participation fee】
- Free of charge
*A same-day or prior-day admission ticket to the Naoshima New Museum of Art or Benesse House Museum is required.Click here to purchase online ticket.
- 【Program application】
- Click here to apply. The deadline is August 31 (or earlier if seats are filled).
- 【Co-organizers】
- Naoshima New Museum of Art (Fukutake Foundation), Benesse Holdings, Inc.
- 【Access】
- 【If coming by car】
Please use the Tsutsuji-so parking lot (5-minute walk to Benesse House Park)
【If coming by foot】
Use the town bus and exit at the Tsutsuji-so bus stop for a 5-minute walk
Speaker Profiles
Apinan Poshyananda
(Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Bangkok Art Biennale)
Poshyananda was Director-General, the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Director-General, the Cultural Promotion Department and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Thailand. He initiated the Silpathorn Art Award and Art fund for Thai artists. He commissioned the Thai Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2003, 2005, 2007) and curated international exhibitions, including Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (Thai section, 1993, and Australian section, 1996); guest curator, "Heri Dono" (Japan Foundation, Tokyo, 2000); "Show Me Thai" (MOT, 2009); Bangkok Art Biennale (2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2026); "The Spirits of Maritime Crossing" at Venice Biennale (2024).
Suhanya Raffel
(Museum Director, M+)
Suhanya Raffel is the Museum Director of M+ in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District. Since her appointment in 2016, she has overseen all museum activities at M+, including acquisitions, programming, collections care, development, research, institutional collaborations, and museum operations. She was instrumental in building the contemporary Asia Pacific collection and led its Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Raffel is the President of CIMAM, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (2023-2025), and she has served on the CIMAM Board since 2016.
Miki Akiko
(Director, Naoshima New Museum of Art / International Artistic Director, Benesse Art Site Naoshima)
Chief and Senior Curator, Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2000-2014); Artistic Director (2011) and Co-Director (2017) of the Yokohama Triennale; and more. Engaged in planning international exhibitions for the Taipei Biennial (1998) and Bangkok Art Biennale (2024) as well as for key museums around the world including the Barbican Art Gallery (London), Taipei Fine Art Museum, National Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Yokohama Museum of Art, and Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art (Kyoto).
Moderator
Hoashi Aki
(Manager, International Div. & Curatorial Dept., Yokohama Museum of Art / Deputy Executive Director, Yokohama Triennale Organizing Committee)
After obtaining a master's degree from City University (London) in Museum and Gallery Administration, she worked as a freelance coordinator from 1996 for the Japan Foundation's art exchange program in Asia (-2010) and administered the Artist in Residence program in Ibaraki Prefecture (2003-2007). Joined the Yokohama Triennale Organizing Committee in 2010 and has been engaged in the Yokohama Triennale since its 4th exhibition in 2011. Has been affiliated with the Yokohama Museum of Art since 2016.
Contact for inquiries:
info-newmuseum@fukutake-artmuseum.jp
