The event features Mayumi Hirano, who is now based in the Philippines, and Nozomu Ogawa, the director of Tokyo’s art space Art Center Ongoing. From 2008, Hirano was involved in the planning and establishment of the Koganecho Area Management Center, which began operation in 2009. She left the Center in 2012  and moved to the Philippines to research art festivals and exhibitions organized by local artists. The lives of people and the activities of artists have varied during the coronavirus pandemic according to the situation in each country. Ogawa asked Hirano about the recent trends in Southeast Asia’s art scene and her ongoing activities.

Mayumi Hirano

Born in 1978, Osaka. Co-initiator of Load na Dito Projects, and senior lecturer at the Department of Art Studies, University of the Philippines, Diliman. Her ongoing research focuses on curatorial methodologies of artist-led art festivals and exhibitions in the Philippines.

Nozomu Ogawa

Born in 1976, Tokyo. Director of Art Center Ongoing. Graduated from Musashino Art University in 2001, then achieved a master’s degree of Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo. He has held a large exhibition every year from 2002 to 2006, building a unique network of artists who have publicly applied for the exhibition. Base on this network, he launched Art Center Ongoing, an art complex, at Kichijoji in 2008.