The art fair ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO 2025 will be held in Kyoto from February 28 (Friday) to March 2 (Sunday), 2025.
Since its inception in 2018, ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO has featured emerging and promising young artists who plan, organize, and exhibit their work. This year’s theme is “Art Singularity,” with director Noboru Tsubaki at the helm. The 2025 edition will showcase 40 groups selected through a combination of an advisory board recommending young artists and an open call, including two groups participating from the United States.
The “Advisory Board,” composed of artists who are already active both domestically and internationally, includes 16 members such as Izumi Kato, Kohei Nawa, and Kenji Yanobe. Notable first-time participants include Osamu James Nakagawa, based in the U.S.; Michiko Tsuda, who has experience in international art festivals like the Aichi Triennale 2019; and Shinji Ohmaki, whose large solo exhibition Interface of Being: The Fluctuation of Vacuum at the National Art Center, Tokyo, made headlines in 2023.
The main venues will be the Meiji Kotokan at the Kyoto National Museum, which was introduced as a venue last year, and the basement level of the Kyoto Newspaper Building, which has been a traditional site for the fair. Works will be displayed and sold, showcasing a wide range of expressive techniques from painting to technology-driven installations. Additionally, satellite venues will be set up throughout Kyoto, and a project aimed at nurturing young critics is also planned. Along with this announcement, a message from director Noboru Tsubaki has been made public.
During a discussion with Professor Takashi Ikegami, who previously served on the advisory board, he mentioned that the essence of life is “robustness,” and those words have been etched in my mind ever since. The simple material of DNA generates an incredible diversity while remarkably minimizing errors and possesses an extraordinary capacity for error correction.
Now, how can we interpret this story of robustness and diversity in the context of art education? For the past 14 years, we have held workshops for middle school students at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. The themes are often absurd, and no methods or techniques are provided. The result is that with 100 participants, there are 100 different cognitive patterns and forms of expression, showcasing an astonishing diversity and a surge of power that transcends any notions of superiority or inferiority.
The force exhibited by middle school students sketching with charcoal on canvas in front of Mark Manders’ works profoundly demonstrated the fundamental power of humanity. Now, I wonder if this shockwave can be created among the artists as they grow into adulthood… Art can indeed be terrifying.
Noboru Tsubaki, Director of ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO
ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO 2025
Main Venue
Location:
- Kyoto National Museum, Meiji Koto-kan (527 Chayamachi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto)
- Kyoto Shimbun Building, B1F (239 Shōshōi-chō, Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto)
Dates: February 28 (Friday) – March 2 (Sunday), 2025
Hours:
- Kyoto National Museum, Meiji Koto-kan: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM (Last entry at 4:30 PM)
- Kyoto Shimbun Building, B1F: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Last entry at 4:30 PM)
Organizers: Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto Shimbun, ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO Executive Committee
Supporters: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kyoto Economic Association
Featured Young Artists: 40 Groups (As of October 24, 2024)
Artists in brackets are recommended or selected through open call.
- Andrés Mario de Varona [Osamu James Nakagawa]
- Motoki Isayama [Kōhei Nawa]
- Kōri no Waki [Open Call]
- Kazuta Ōsawa [Mitsuhiro Ikeda]
- Yūta Ōsumi [Mai Miyake]
- Morihisa Ogasawara [Yūichirō Tamura]
- Yoruko Okamura [Open Call]
- Rie Okamoto [Yasuko Iba]
- Atsuki Oyama [Open Call]
- Mana Kawamura [Open Call]
- Eiyū Yoshikawa [Michiko Tsuda]
- Kaname Kuboki [Open Call]
- Tomohiro Kubota [Kaori Usukubo]
- Takuya Kumagai [Kenji Yanobe]
- Hina Kuwahara [Yotta]
- Mariko Sanao [Michiko Tsuda]
- Mao Shibata [Nobushi Ōmaki]
- Mika Shimauchi [Robert Pratt]
- Nobuyuki Shimizu [Izumi Kato]
- Jaclyn Wright [Osamu James Nakagawa]
- Sakuko Shirai [Daisuke Ōba]
- Hazuki Tachibana [Kenji Tsuruta]
- Jingwen Chuo [Open Call]
- Saki Tsuchiya [Noboru Tsubaki]
- Kie Terasawa [Kaori Usukubo]
- Yuri Nakazaki [Yūichirō Tamura]
- Kaede Nagasawa [Daisuke Ōba]
- Naoto Nakamura [Open Call]
- Yūta Niwa [Noboru Tsubaki]
- Kanaha Hayashi [Kengo Kitō]
- Mio Fukuda [Robert Pratt]
- Shōta Matsui [Kengo Kitō]
- Masaki Matsuo [Open Call]
- Keita Motoaka [Nobushi Ōmaki]
- Mika Yamakochi [Open Call]
- Chihiro Yamada [Open Call]
- Kōjirō Yamamoto [Yotta]
- Sayuri Yamamoto [Yasuko Iba]
- Mamie Yamamoto [Kenji Tsuruta]
- Nobukatsu Wadeshi [Mitsuhiro Ikeda]
