Thursday 9 July, 2026 - Saturday 11 July, 2026
In-person attendance for the main workshop programme is available for invited guests only. However, online participation is open to everyone. To register, please click the link at the bottom of the page. The two keynote lectures are open to everyone and may be attended either in-person or online. Registration is available via the respective links provided for each lecture.
This workshop brings together five IFNet fellows and mentors who have been working independently in their respective locations worldwide to locations in Norwich and London to showcase the achievements and collaborations developed throughout the Fellowship. The programme also features guest lectures and keynote addresses from leading experts, providing opportunities for learning, discussion, and networking. All project presentations, guest lectures, and keynote sessions will be streamed online, enabling a wider audience to engage with Japanese visual art studies – online attendance is free and open to all.
- Workshop: Alternative Paths in Japanese Arts | Thursday 09 – Saturday 11 July
- Keynote (Norwich): “Militia of Freedom”: The Art Pedagogy of Kitagawa Tamiji with Bert Winther-Tamaki |Thursday 09 July at 18:00 BST
- Keynote (London): In the Shadow of Empire: Art in Occupied Japan with Alicia Volk | Thursday 16 July at 18:00 BST
Programme
Thursday 9 July (Sainsbury Institute, 64 The Close)
13:00-14:30 Mentor-Fellow Session 1: Olga Isaeva and Alicia Volk
“Unraveling the Václav Fiala Archive: The Japanese Prewar Avant-Gardes through a Transcultural Lens” Olga Isaeva, PhD candidate, University of Bonn
“Which Japanese Art, and for Whom? The Challenges and Rewards of Studying Art Historical Misfits” Alicia Volk, Professor of Art History, University of Maryland
Discussant: Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer, Professor of Japanese Arts, Sainsbury Institute
15:00-16:30 Mentor-Fellow Session 2: Joanes Rocha and Radu Leca
“The Japanese Tea Room as a Space for Transcultural Understanding”
Joint presentation by Joanes Rocha, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Seikei University, and Radu Leca, Hong Kong Baptist University
Discussant: Simon Kaner, Executive Director, Sainsbury Institute
18:00-19:30 Keynote Lecture at the Norwich Castle Museum
“Militia of Freedom”: The Art Pedagogy of Kitagawa Tamiji”
Bert Winther-Tamaki, Professor of Art History, University of California, Irvine
Friday 10 July (Sainsbury Centre, UEA campus)
09:30-11:00 Mentor-Fellow Session 3: Emily Clarkson and Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer
“Takako Saitō: A View of the Artist’s Archive”
Emily Clarkson, PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh
“The Many Lives of Shinkichi Tajiri”
Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer
Discussant: Bert Winther-Tamaki
11:30-13:00 Mentor-Fellow Session 4: Edisabel Tejeda and Simon Wright, “Japan, says who? On Japanese Institutions and Curatorial Practices”
“Japan from within Asia: regional imaginaries in post-1990 Japanese exhibitions and debates”
Edisabel Tejeda, PhD candidate, National Autonomous University of Mexico
“Japan from the outside: curating Japan as institutional and personal practice”
Simon Wright, Director of Programming, Japan House London
Followed by a curatorial workshop
Discussant: Alicia Volk
14:30-15:30: Guest Lecture 1
“Art unbound? The recurring conundrum of lived practices, life works, and life as art”
Justin Jesty, Associate Professor, University of Washington
Discussant: Simon Wright
Saturday 11 July (Sainsbury Institute, 64 The Close)
10:00-11:30 Mentor-Fellow session 5: Luis Matus and Bert Winther-Tamaki
“Encounters with Japan’s postwar avant-garde movement in Mexico”
Luis Matus, PhD candidate, National Autonomous University of Mexico
“Okazaki Kenjiro: Plasticity and Art Education”
Bert Winther-Tamaki
Discussant: Justin Jesty
12:00-13:00: Guest Lecture 2
“Women and Abstraction in Postwar Japanese Art: Reflections from the Anti-Action Project”
Izumi Nakajima, Associate Professor, Osaka University
Discussant: Radu Leca
14:00 – 15:30: Lectures by Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellows
“Craft Jewellery and the Redefinition of Artistic Tradition in Contemporary Japan”
Clara Momoko Geber-Mérida, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow 2025-26, Sainsbury Institute
“Seeing Plants Otherwise: Botanical Thinking in Japanese Painting”
Eve Loh-Kazuhara, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow 2025-26, Sainsbury Institute
Discussant: Izumi Nakajima
15:30-17:00: Final Discussion and Introduction of 2026-27 IFNet Fellows
Thursday 16 July (SOAS, London)
18:00-19:30 Third Thursday Keynote Lecture
“In the Shadow of Empire: Art in Occupied Japan”
Alicia Volk
Image: Armando Gómez, “Cincuenta y uno (Fifty one)” at Cero México, Japón, Estampa Artes Gráficas, Ciudad de México, 2000, 29.
