NCAR Talk 008: “Report on the 5th NCAR Study Tour (UK) — The Current Art Landscape in the UK”

The National Center for Art Research (NCAR) organizes the NCAR Study Tour to support curators and researchers based in Japan by sending them overseas to deepen their understanding of international museum practices and artistic research, with the aim of fostering ongoing networks among national museums and art professionals worldwide.

Now in its fifth edition since its launch in 2023, the 2025 Study Tour focused on the United Kingdom. From 8–17 July 2025, participants visited major museums and galleries of modern and contemporary art in London, as well as cultural institutions and art festivals including the Liverpool Biennial and the Manchester International Festival (MIF). Eleven curators and researchers from across Japan joined the tour to explore the latest dynamics in the UK art scene and learn about cultural policy and initiatives in the arts sector.

For this talk event, we welcome three members of the tour — curators Inagaki Chisato and Jin Qiuyu, and researcher Imura Yasuko (profiles below). While looking back on the tour, they will share key insights and reflections from their respective fields of expertise. The event will be hosted at the British Council, which provided special support for the tour. A small reception will follow, offering an opportunity for direct conversations with the speakers and other attendees. We look forward to your participation.

Event Details
Date & Time: Monday, 1 December 2025, 18:30–20:30 (Doors open at 18:00)
Venue: British Council 2F (1-2 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo)
Access | British Council
Capacity: 50 (Advance registration required; closes when full)
Admission: Free of charge
Language: Japanese (No online streaming)
Organizers: National Center for Art Research (NCAR), British Council

Registration
Please register in advance via the form below:
Registration Form
Deadline: Friday, November 28, 2025, 5:00 PM JST

Program
18:00	Doors open
18:30	Opening remarks & Introduction
18:40	Talks by speakers (20 min each): Inagaki Chisato, Jin Qiuyu, Imura Yasuko
19:45	Roundtable discussion
20:00	Networking reception
20:30	Close

Speakers

Inagaki Chisato

Art Coordinator / Curator (film, moving image)
Born in Aichi. Completed a Master’s degree in Film Studies from the University of East Anglia (UK). Inagaki has worked for international contemporary art festivals, such as the Aichi Triennale 2022 and the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival 2021, before she joined Keisuke Kinoshita Memorial Museum and Kamoe Art Center in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, in 2023. Currently, Inagaki curates screening programmes, exhibitions, and public events at the Keisuke Kinoshita Memorial Museum, as well as programming artist workshops and coordinating artist-in-residence at Kamoe Art Center.

photo credit: Joan Zhang

Jin Qiuyu

Curator / Researcher
Founder of the experimental image platform non-syntax. Jin Qiuyu completed her Master’s degree at the Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. Her practice centers on film and photography history as well as audience studies. Her curatorial projects include Not in this Image (Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei), EXiS 2023 Asia Forum (Seoul), Sense Island 2022/2024 (Kanagawa), Competitive Meditation (PARCEL, Tokyo), and Godzilla the Art (Mori Arts Center Gallery, Tokyo). From 2021 to 2024, she served as Assistant Professor at Nihon University College of Art.

Imura Yasuko

Chief, Library and Archives, The National Art Center, Tokyo
Imura Yasuko is an art historian specializing in post-1945 Japanese art and served as an Associate professor at Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences before joining her current museum in 2022. She received her Ph.D. from the Kyoto City University of Arts in 2013; the title of her doctoral thesis is Art criticism in the 1960s: From the Perspective of Yoshiaki Tōno. She is a co-editor of The Era of the Virtual Image: An Anthology of Art Criticism of Yoshiaki Tōno (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2013) and the author of “From the Exhibition Shikisai to Kūkan (“Color and Space”) to the Osaka Expo – the Intersection of ‘60s Art and Architecture,” in Gendai Shiso, vol. 48 no. 3, 2020. In 2022, she curated the exhibitions “Do It! Everyday Life Becomes Art: Art of the 1970s as Seen in Documents from the National Art Center, Tokyo Archives” and the lecture series “Thinking About the Museum” (The National Art Center, Tokyo).

Contact
International Relations Group, National Center for Art Research (NCAR)
Email: ir@artmuseums.go.jp
Hours: Weekdays 9:30–18:00

Special cooperator: British Council