ACAM 2025 | Session 4 – Bridging Distances: Coordination Across Regions and Borders
02 pm – 05 pm, Sat 27 Sep 2025
COMPLEX 01
29/31/167 Tây Sơn, Hà Nội
Registration link
Deadline for registration: 12 pm, 25 Sep 2025
From Hanoi Grapevine:
As art and culture increasingly operate across geographies, coordinators find themselves at the heart of exchange — from organizing regional artist tours to hosting international residencies. But what are the infrastructural, linguistic, political, and ethical complexities of facilitating these exchanges? This session explores coordination as both a logistical and relational practice in contexts where travel can be limited, networks uneven, and cultural misunderstandings frequent.
Speakers from regional cultural centers, international mobility platforms, and cross-border artist residencies will share experiences of navigating these challenges. The session will also reflect on power dynamics in exchange programs and how coordinators can advocate for more equitable mobility across class, geography, and identity.
Topics:
Regional disparities: cultural exchange within one country (e.g., Hanoi–Hue–HCMC–highlands)
Designing international exchanges that are reciprocal, not extractive
Visa, funding, and language barriers in global mobility
Building translocal solidarity through coordination
Case studies: artist-in-residence models, festival exchanges, curator swaps
Note:
– The program has a limited number of attendees. You will receive a registration confirmation email within 72 hours.
– Participation is FREE OF CHARGE. Each email can only be used to register one person.
– To ensure the program starts on time, the organizers will begin check-in 30 minutes before each session’s official start time.
– By attending, the audience agrees to allow Hanoi Grapevine to use their images and feedback as materials for the program.
– Kindly note that food is not permitted at the event.
About speakers
Norihiko Yoshioka is a cultural exchange leader and arts manager with nearly three decades of experience in advancing Japan’s international cultural exchange. He currently serves as Director of the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, overseeing programs that foster dialogue and cooperation through the arts, education, and intellectual exchange.
Since joining the Japan Foundation in 1996, he has held posts in Tokyo, Bangkok, and Hanoi, producing numerous projects that introduced Japanese culture in refined and distinguished forms to audiences across Southeast Asia. He also led multi-year initiatives that expanded exchange into contemporary and youth-oriented fields such as street dance, ensemble music, and cultural symposiums. As Director-General in Bangkok (2016–2021), he oversaw more than a hundred projects annually, strengthening cultural ties between Japan and Thailand.
Yoshioka earned an M.A. in International Economics and Finance from Chulalongkorn University and a B.A. in Literature from Waseda University. His contributions include co-authoring publications on cross-cultural exchange and Southeast Asian culture, as well as translating works of Thai literature, reflecting his deep engagement with the region’s cultural discourse.
Teiko Hinuma is a prominent figure in the Japanese contemporary art scene, serving as the Secretary General of AIR Network Japan and a Professor at Joshibi University of Art and Design. Her career began in gallery management before she joined the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (ACAC) as a curator in 1999. At ACAC, she planned and managed numerous projects, exhibitions, and artist-in-residence (AIR) programs until 2011. Following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, she founded the Rikuzentakata Artist in Residence Program in one of the most heavily damaged areas, where she has served as Program Director since 2013. Her extensive experience also includes distinguished positions such as Project Director for the Saitama Triennale 2016 and an advisor for the UBE Biennale, one of Japan’s oldest open-air sculpture competitions.
Xuân Hạ is an art worker whose practice spans roles as an artist, producer, and organizer, with a strong commitment to community-oriented engagement. Her recent research explores post-war ecological transformation and the social implications of plant migration. Working across moving-images, installation, and conceptual forms, she reconfigures personal imaginations into visual narratives that reflect on identity, sense of belonging, and cultural fragility.
Besides working as an artist, Xuân-Hạ also plays an active role in building and expanding the local art community in Vietnam. She is the co-founder of Chaosdowntown Cháo (HCMC, 2015-2019) and more recently, the founder and artistic director of A Sông (Da Nang, 2019- present). She has been awarded for the International Future Leaders Program 2022-23 by The Australia Council for the Arts, and recently received the Fellows Award: Cultural & Artistic Responses to the Environmental Crisis 2024 (CAREC) by the Prince Claus Fund. Her work has been shown at the M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Schwules Museum (Berlin), National Gallery Singapore, Museum of National Awakening (Indonesia), and across various institutions and art spaces in Germany, Japan, and Vietnam.
Tomo Setou was born in Kyoto and raised in Sapporo. Completed the Arts and Media Studies program at the Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University. She has conducted research on performance art practices in India, with a particular interest in the performances held in public spaces. She undertook field research in Delhi and Kolkata, interviewing artists and covering performance art festivals. After working as a Project Assistant at precog Inc. and as an Art Coordinator at Kyoto Art Center, she started to work for ACAC in 2024. Her work involves producing and directing performing arts works, as well as organization and coordination of Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programs. Her major past projects include: The 156th Meirin Tea Ceremony “E~Nodate” (Kyoto Art Center, 2024), KAC Performing Arts Program Daichi Yamamoto “watch your step” (Kyoto Art Center, 2024), the AIR exchange program with Taipei Performing Arts Center (Kyoto Art Center, 2022–2023), and Creative Commons vol.10 SHIKICHI Osamu× Irina Grigore “until the body becomes transparent” (Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, 2025). At ACAC, she is responsible for managing open-call AIR programs, relating with AIR organizations overseas, and overseeing educational and outreach activities.
Kao Yi-Kai Taiwanese, based in Taipei, the Director of the independent organization “Thinkers’ Studio”, Chairperson of the “Performing Arts Network Development Association,” and one of director of “Taiwan Arts Space Alliance”,meanwhile he is also an independent performing arts producer, maker.
“Thinkers’ Studio” is an organization composed of arts administrators and managers, connecting creators from various fields through performing arts productions and management. Its production types include theater, dance, circus, and interdisciplinary fields. Previously, he served as a core coordinator and curator for the Dadaocheng International Arts Festival (2015–2019). He has collaborated with various projects, organizations, institutions, and venues to develop the international relationship in the arts scene, especially focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Notable projects include the National Culture and Arts Foundation’s platform, ARTWAVE – Taiwan International Arts Network (2017–2020); and some international collaboration productions in Taipei Arts Festival (2017–2020).
In recent years, he focuses on the relationship between art activities and local communities, cultural policy development, and international network connections, also continuing to support the emerging artists, arts makers through various projects.
About moderator
Trần Duy Hưng is a Hanoi-based arts producer/programmer, musician and writer. He is a co-founder and co-curator of The Onion Cellar (most active between 2011–2020 / an initiative that conceives and realises left-field music and cinema projects across scales and thematics) and Như Trăng Trong Đêm [Like the Moon in a Night Sky] (a multiple-edition film festival exploring the heritage of Vietnamese cinema). Hưng has also undertaken extensive work (planning, programming, writing, managing, moral-supporting, etc.) for Galerie Quynh, TPD Film Centre, Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective, British Council Vietnam’s Film-Archive-Music Lab programme, Out Of Frame Festival of Moving Image, Đàn Đó Group, Dogma Prize, the archive-film ‘Dust & Metal’, amongst others, and most recently the European Film Festival in Vietnam. As a drummer, Hưng is currently a member of the rock-bands CAR PUNK and Chú Cá Lơ. Some of the people he digs and feels inspired by include Georges Perec, Roberto Bolaño, and Jim Jarmusch.
About ACAM
ACAM (Arts Coordination Annual Meeting) is the first annual gathering in Vietnam aimed at honoring and strengthening the crucial – yet often unacknowledged – role of art coordinators. These individuals bridge the gap between artists, curators, institutions, and communities — managing timelines, handling permissions, translating cultural sensitivities, and ensuring creative visions are realized.
ACAM 2025 is co-organized by Hanoi Grapevine, Artist-in-Residence Vietnam Network (AiRViNe), COMPLEX 01, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA), Hanoi Coordination Center for Creative Activities – Hanoi Creative City, Division of Cultural Heritage Management, Hanoi Culture and Sport Facilities, with support from the AIR Network Japan, Koganecho Area Management Center, Aomori Contemporary Art Center. The program is funded by the Small Grant Program from the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, Chau & Co Gallery, Mekong Cultural Hub and School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts (VNU-SIS).
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