Public Program

ACK Curates is a series of programs organized by ACK. Under a theme presented by the fair director each year, it includes a “Public Program” exhibition, Kids’ Programs, ACK Talks, and others.

A curated exhibition that extends beyond the fair booths into a variety of surrounding spaces. This year’s guest curators are Martin Germann and Kimura Kokoro, whose curated artworks will grace the exhibition space.
　
　

Curatorial theme “Symbiosis: Art and Common Grounds”

Building on ACK’s collaborative spirit, the ACK Public Program 2025 cultivates symbiosis through dialogues among diverse forms of knowledge, perspectives, and identities in Kyoto—a city shaped by accumulated layers of lives, memories, and the evolving ideas and values of its people over time.

Driven by economic and identity-based supremacism and neocolonialism, new forms of violence continue to expose the limitations of systems built on separation. In contrast, the ecologically grounded concept of “symbiosis”—an interdependent relationship between distinct organisms—offers a worldview rooted in coexistence and collaboration.

By asking how this discourse can relate to the languages and logics of contemporary art, we bring practices to the forefront that extend beyond the confines of the white cube to engage with the cultural and urban fabrics of Kyoto.

Rooted in coequal exchange, the program aims to pave future pathways toward coexistence, in alignment with the fair’s thematic horizon “2050.”

Artists: Endo Toshikatsu, Yein Lee, Suga Kishio, Stella Zhong, and others
Guest Curator: Martin Germann (Independent Curator) and Kimura Kokoro (Curator)

Dates and opening hours follow ACK.
Venue: ICC Kyoto Event Hall and the surrounding area
　

Martin Germann: Martin Germann lives and works in Cologne. Until 2025, he served as adjunct curator for Mori Art Museum. He organized the 9th Biennial of Painting at Belgium’s Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens and served as a curatorial advisor for Aichi Triennale 2022. From 2012 to 2019, he led the artistic department of S.M.A.K. Ghent. Previously, he was a curator at the Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover (2008–2012) and worked for the 3rd and 4th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. He published numerous exhibition catalogues and monographs, and his writing appeared in magazines such as 032c, Frieze, and Mousse. For Lili Dujourie: Folds in Time, he received an AICA award for Belgium’s best exhibition in 2016.

Kimura Kokoro: Kimura Kokoro is interested in the intersection of feminist and queer perspectives with decolonial discourses and explores the transformative potential of identity and relationality through exhibitions and workshops. She has also collaborated with institutions and artists across Asia, including SURVIVE! Garage (Yogyakarta) and HAPS (Kyoto). Kokoro completed an MA in Arts and Society at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and undertook a research internship at Cemeti: Institute for Art and Society in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.