【OPEN CALL】Announcement of successful candidates for OPEN SITE 10
OPEN SITE is a Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) open call program which began in 2016 and aims to build a platform that brings together projects focused on artistic expression across all genres. This year marked the 10th annual call for proposals, and a total of 570 applications were received. Following a strict selection process, successful candidates included four projects in the Exhibition category, two projects in the Performance category, and one project in the dot category. These projects will be implemented including the TOKAS Recommendation Program from October to December 2025.
Execution Projects
Exhibition
Open hours 11:00-19:00 / Admission free
Opening talk with jury members will be held on the first day of each part.
Part 1｜Oct 11 (Sat) - Nov 9 (Sun), 2025
Name Carlos VIELMA
Title “A mechanical wilderness”
A video installation filmed in a Mexican ghost town that explores themes of migration, capitalism, and human existence on earth.
Name MARUYAMA Shoya
Title “Virtual Field Recording –Listening to the Voices of All Things–”
Viewers make field recordings of objects and environmental sounds within a game space. The project transforms a game from something to watch into something to hear, directing attention toward countless sounds that usually escape our awareness.
Part 2｜Nov 22 (Sat) - Dec 21 (Sun), 2025
Name TAKEMASA Tomoko
Title “Is This Vessel Me?”
Through photography and video, this work explores the uncertainty of bodies and minds that perceive the blending and blurring of images of the self and others, as well as the body’s interdependence with society.
Name Syaura QOTRUNADHA
Title “Tryptich”
Trilogy of video art projects about Indonesia’s education system and societal beliefs shaped by colonial history, along with land and water as the forming elements. Each video presents different time perspectives.
Performance
The schedule will be announced on the TOKAS website and flyers.
Booking required / Admission paid
Part 1｜Oct 13 (Mon) - Oct 19 (Sun), 2025
Name FUJITA Kazuki
Title “Solo Dance Performance ‘Zanteiteki ni Bunshin (Tentative)’”
Drawing on long term experience with school refusal, this solo dance performance centers on a body isolated from mainstream society, expressing contradictory desires for both severance from and connection with that society.
Part 1｜Nov 3 (Mon) - Nov 9 (Sun), 2025
Name Mei LIU
Title “Homesick for Another World: a film unfolding in space”
An interdisciplinary multi-media performance that moves between various societies, times, and political struggles to map the underground rhizomes of connected structures, overlapping past, present and future through lucid dreams.
dot
The schedule will be announced on the TOKAS website and flyers.
Admission free
Part 1｜Oct 25 (Sat) - Oct 26 (Sun), 2025
Name KATO Koji
Title “Instant Demo (Demo Practice)”
This workshop explores protest demonstrations in contemporary society and art through the body. Participants with colorful placards, banners, and helmets reflect on and discuss the idea of protest, and take part in a “practice” for demonstration.
Part 2｜Dec 16 (Tue) - Dec 21 (Sun), 2025
Name KOBAYASHI Yuki
Title “The Wing Chun Project”
Through hands-on learning, this project reinterprets the Chinese martial art Wing Chun and presents the results in an exhibition, solo performance, and workshop. These explore its history, traditional forms, and the relevance of combat and self-defense in the present day.
TOKAS Recommendation Program
In addition to the open call programs, TOKAS will present a recommendation program.
Admission free
Part 2｜Nov 22(Sat) - Dec 7 (Sun), 2025
Name Adam LEWIS JACOB
Title “Serious Heat (tentative)”
A film installation by a Scotland-based artist in residence during TOKAS exchange residency program with Edinburgh in 2022, consisting of films, in which percussion performances are overlaid with the tense rhythms of the urban landscape and architectural elements, exploring their effect on bodies.
Application Overview
| Application period | Jan 30 (Thu) – Feb 27 (Thu), 2025 |
|---|---|
| Total number of applications | 570 |
| Jury members | HATANAKA Minoru (Curator, Critic of Music and Art) KANEKO Tomotaro (Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Aichi University of the Arts/Organizer of Japanese Art Sound Archive) KOBAYASHI Haruo (Director, blanClass) KONDO Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space) |
Jury Member’s Reviews
HATANAKA Minoru (Curator, Critic of Music and Art)
OPEN SITE 10, now in its tenth edition under the current framework, saw a dramatic rise in applications. Following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, the number of submissions more than doubled compared to the previous year, and this year also saw a significant increase in submissions from abroad. As a competition, OPEN SITE has clearly gained a higher profile, and the greater number of applicants has various implications. For one, the number of selected projects remains unchanged, which means the selection committee must uphold very rigorous standards. At the same time, the exhibited works are expected to deliver results that meet expectations for an open-call program. This is especially notable with regard to new works, where the outcome depends on the success of elements that are still unknown at the time of selection. In any case, the selections were made with consideration for diversity of themes, approaches, and genres, and (at the risk of stating the obvious) all of the selected artists work in completely different styles. This year’s selection process also prompted me to consider possible directions for the future, such as determining a specific theme each year (just a thought).
KANEKO Tomotaro (Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Aichi University of the Arts/Organizer of Japanese Art Sound Archive)
I greatly look forward to seeing the selected projects take shape. One of the defining features of OPEN SITE is its generous support for experimental endeavors. Five years after the pandemic first swept the world, there appears to be an ever-growing number of projects that seek to express a sense of connection through collaboration and mixed media. That said, even among the selected proposals, I had reservations about some that seemed simply to combine different elements without meaningful integration. What I hope to see are disparate elements interacting and transforming one another, generating unforeseen overall outcomes, and it would have been good to see more perspectives on the interaction of disparate elements within seemingly unified structures. Some of the projects that passed the first and second screenings stood out in this regard, attempting to form such connections through multilayered narratives or systemic approaches. I believe that research project presentations and workshops, of which there were relatively few submissions this time, also have strong potential for exploration of reciprocal exchange.
KOBAYASHI Haruo (Director, blanClass)
This year marked the sixth round of OPEN SITE selections. There was a surge in applications, especially from overseas, perhaps reflecting current exchange rates and the significant increase in visitors to Japan. Over the past six years, an astonishing amount has changed, both in Japan and internationally. Taking these broader social changes into account, I aimed once again this year to place less emphasis on the form of the works and more on their content, focusing on the issues each artist is engaging with and how they pursue self-expression. At the same time, I asked myself in each case whether the approach is uniquely suited to TOKAS Hongo, and whether the proposal makes full use of the specific character of this venue. In some cases, the context might just as easily be framed as “Tokyo” or “Japan” more broadly, and with this in mind I weighed the significance of presenting a project specifically at OPEN SITE. In the end, while the seven selected projects varied widely in type, the proposals that made it through the final stage were marked by performative expression, and the works come close to functioning as thought experiments.
KONDO Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space)
To me, three main points stood out during the selection process. The first was whether the proposed experimental approaches and endeavors could take on concrete form in practice and have the potential to lead to future developments. Rather than valuing cut-and-paste, trial-and-error, or novelty for its own sake, I looked at whether individual ideas could be well integrated into the project as a whole and could develop into cohesive works. Criteria that proved persuasive in this regard and influenced the evaluation were: a track record of consistent practice, the deepening and honing of thought during the creative process, and the strength of the artist’s motivation for the proposed project. Second, I weighed the timing and setting. Was the time ripe for the project’s realization right now, and was there genuine value in carrying it out at this site? Third, I considered what kinds of encounters might occur between the artist and viewers through the project’s realization. I focused not only on the artist’s perspective, but also on the reciprocal relationship between the work and its viewers, and the reactions that might be sparked by the viewer’s experience.
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