The CULCON Arts Dialogue Committee convened a Public Forum:  Curating Japan in the Olympic Era 1964/2020 with a keynote address by photographer and designer Hiroshi Sugimoto.  Co-sponsored by the Freer/Sackler Galleries, the Forum took place Friday, November 20, 2015, in the Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art.
Since the Games of the XVIII Olympiad in Tokyo in 1964, Japanese art and architecture have attracted wide international audiences.  This forum examined the rise in popularity of these art forms and explored the directions that Japanese art is taking as the country prepares for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

In addition to Mr. Sugimoto’s address, the agenda included a welcome by Dr. Louise Cort, representing the Freer/Sackler, remarks by Dr. Anne Morse and Mr. Masanori Aoyagi, co-chairs of the Arts Dialogue Committee; Dr. Yukie Kamiya, Director, Japan Society Gallery, “Action and Reaction: Contemporary Art in Japan and the International reception since 1964.”; and Dr. Ken Tadashi Oshima,University of Washington, and President-elect, Society of Architectural Historians, “Architectural Dialogues between Japan and the United States.”
The CULCON Arts Dialogue Committee was established at the 2010 CULCON plenary session to examine obstacles to artistic exchange between Japan and the United States and explore new areas of cooperation among artists.