Japan Foundation Asia Center | interviews with influential Asian arts professionals

The Japan Foundation Asia Center website presents interviews and exchanges with influential artists and arts professionals from Asia. From TPAM – Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama 2016, a series of conversations with performing arts managers and artists are available. Also check out the growing Asia Hundred interview series exploring contemporary arts scenes in Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia.

TPAM – Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama is Asia’s most influential platform for the performing arts. This year marked the event’s 20th anniversary, with artists, theatre producers, company production personnel and performing arts professionals from around the world gathering in Yokohama to exchange information and engage in discussion forums.

TPAM 2016 took place in Yokohama 6-14 February 2016.

The Japan Foundation Asia Center invited about 50 professionals engaging in creation of contemporary performing arts to TPAM 2016, where over 200 professionals from abroad were scheduled to participate. List of invitees.

Conversations at TPAM available on the JFAC website:

Wasurat Unaprom, manager of Bangkok’s Thong Lor Art Space and founder of Low Fat Art Festival, was invited to participate with the support of the Japan Foundation Asia Center last year. As part of the Group Meeting section of the program, Unaprom spoke passionately about building a bridge between Bangkok and the world

Ening Nurjanah, Program Manager at Komunitas Salihara in Jakarta, who was invited to participate with the support of the Japan Foundation Asia Center. As part of the Group Meeting section of the program, Nurjanah discussed the Indonesian art scene and Komunitas Salihara’s work with local and international artists.

Vietnamese composer Tran Kim Ngoc was invited to participate with the support of the Japan Foundation Asia Center. As part of the Group Meeting section of the program, Ngoc Tran introduced some of her works and discussed her role in founding Hanoi New Music Festival, an experimental music and mixed media art festival.

Also available from JFAC is a growing series of interviews - Asia Hundred . The Japan Foundation Asia Center conducts interviews as “Asia Hundred” with artists and other art professionals invited from Asia. These interviews uploaded onto this website we hope, will contribute to the sharing of pioneering information on the diversity of Asia with the global audience and further promotion of mutual exchange and collaboration:

Asia Hundred #001
Dance the World from Java, Connecting with People
Eko Supriyanto (Dancer / Choreographer) [Indonesia]
Interviewer: Yuki Hata (Performing Arts Producer / Coordinator)

Asia Hundred #002
A Maverick Artist Who Revives Traditional Culture
Pichet Klunchun (Dancer / Choreographer) [Thailand]
Interviewer: Daisuke Muto (Associate Professor, Faculty of Literature, Gunma Prefectural Women’s University / Dance Critic)

Asia Hundred #003
Curatorial Practice and Study of Dance Program
Helly Minarti (Head of Program, Jakarta Arts Council / Co-Curator, Indonesian Dance Festival 2014) [Indonesia]
Interviewer: Atsuko Hisano (Program Director, The Saison Foundation)

Asia Hundred #004
Reflection from/in Asia on Dance, Technology and History
Choy Ka Fai (New Media Artist / Performance Maker) [Singapore]
Interviewer: Tadashi Uchino (Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

Asia Hundred #005
An Artist Collective that Acutely Intervenes in the Contemporary Sociopolitical Reality of Malaysia
Mark Teh (Performance Maker / Researcher / Educator / Collective Member, Five Arts Centre)
June Tan (Producer / Collective Member, Five Arts Centre) [Malaysia]
Interviewer: Sadayuki Higuchi (Independent Art Administrator / Secretary General, Arts NPO Link)

Asia Hundred #006
Involving Audience in Creation in Local Communities in Manila — the Sipat Lawin Ensemble and the Karnabal Festival
JK Anicoche (Artistic Director, Sipat Lawin Ensemble) Sarah Salazar (Artist Manager, Sipat Lawin Ensemble) Eisa Jocson (Artist) [Philippines]

Asia Hundred #007
Extending the Frontiers of Cambodian Performing Arts through Contemporary Dance — the Challenge of Amrita Performing Arts
Rithisal Kang (Executive Director, Amrita Performing Arts)　[Cambodia]

Asia Hundred #008
Laos Today – Once a Secret, Now Open to the World
Lattanakone Insisiengmay (Khao Niew Lao) Kiritin Southiphonorath (set/costume designer) Vannaphone Sitthirath (Lao New Wave Cinema Productions) [Laos]
Interview, text and translation：Asako Fujioka (Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival / DD Center)

The Japan Foundation Asia Center carries out mutual exchange programs and cooperative work between the people of Asian countries and regions