Nissan Art Award 2015

Comment from the Jury on the first selection


Left: Nanjo Fumio, Chairman (Director, Mori Art Museum)
Right: Eugene Tan (Director, National Gallery Singapore)

From among the thirty three candidates of the Nissan Art Award 2015, seven finalists were chosen in the first selection round at the beginning of May in Venice, Italy by five globally renowned jury members.

Fumio Nanjo, Jury Chairman of Nissan Art Award 2015, said: “It was quite a difficult challenge for us to select a small number of finalists from such an interesting and innovative group of artists. In the end we chose seven artists whose approach or language is poetic, delicate and new.”


  • Left: Rhana Devenport (Director, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)
    Right: Jenni Lomax (Director, Camden Arts Centre)


  • Jean de LoisyEEirector, Palais de Tokyo)


  • Five international jury members and executives from Nissan

International Jury Members

  • Photo by Makiko Nawa. Courtesy of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.

Fumio Nanjo

Director, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan) *Chairman

Fumio Nanjo is the director of Mori Art Museum since November in 2006. His main achievements include commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1997), commissioner at the Taipei Biennale (1998), member of the selection committee of the Sydney Biennale (2000), member of jury committee of the Turner Prize (1998), artistic director of the Yokohama Triennale 2001, Tokyo-section co-curator of the Sao Paulo Biennale (2002), jury member of the Golden Lion Prize of the Venice Biennale (2005) and artistic director of the Singapore Biennale (2006/2008). Publications include “Asian Contemporary Art Report: China, India, Middle East and Japan” (2010) and “A Life with Art” (2012). He is also appointed as the curatorial director for the first Honolulu Biennial which slated to open fall 2016.

  • © Bertrand Guay / AFP

Jean de Loisy

President, Palais de Tokyo (Paris, France)

As a curator, Jean de Loisy has held a variety of positions in a wide range of cultural institutions. His positions include a curator at the Pays de la Loire Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain (1983-1986), the Pays de la Loire Ateliers Internationaux [International Studios]; (1983-1987), Nimes museum (1989-1991), the Fondation Cartier (1990-1994), a curator at the Centre Georges Pompidou (1994-1997). He has been a member of numerous councils and committees including the national committee responsible for public commissions (2005-2007), the artistic council of the Estuaire project (2007-2011), the technical committee of FRAC Aquitaine (2008- ), the board of directors of the Grand Palais (2010-2011), and the scientific committee of the Palais de Tokyo (2008-2011). He was appointed as a President of the Palais de Tokyo in June 2011.

Rhana Devenport

Director, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (Auckland, New Zealand)

Rhana Devenport is cultural producer, curator and writer whose career spans art museums, biennales, art festivals, private collections and inter-disciplinary cultural organisations. She was Director of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, New Zealand (2006-2013) where she led the Len Lye Centre museum redevelopment project. She has held senior positions with the Biennale of Sydney (2005-2006), Artspace NZ (2005), the Sydney Festival (2004) and was Senior Project Officer for the Asia Pacific Triennial with the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (1994-2004), playing a formative role in the APT’s development. Her curatorial interests include contemporary Asian and Pacific practice and time-based work, having curated solo exhibitions with artists including Lee Mingwei, Nalini Malani, Jin Jiangbo, Zhang Peili, Guo Fengyi, Song Dong, Yin Xiuzhen, Judith Wright, Peter Robinson, Alex Monteith and Lisa Reihana. She writes and edits frequently for publications and journals and contributes to symposia. She has served on advisory committees at national and international levels and is the current chair of the Jury of the 2015 International Award for Public Art [IAPA] (Shanghai), and a jury member for the Taishin Arts Award 2015 (Taipei). Her background in education informs a fascination with audiences and the possibilities that erupt from the synergies amongst artists, art works, audiences and ideas. She is a graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute’s Museum Leadership program at Claremont Graduate University (2012) and an alumnus of the Metropolitan Museum’s Global Museum Leaders Colloquium (2015).

Jenni Lomax

Director, Camden Arts Centre (London, UK)

Jenni Lomax has been the director of Camden Arts Centre, London, since 1990, where she has established a forward thinking programme of international exhibitions, artists, residencies and education projects, all of which have artists and their ideas at the core. She led the organisation through a major building refurbishment scheme which was completed in early 2004. She was awarded the Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2007), and received an OBE for her services to the Visual Arts (2009). Before Camden Arts Centre, she developed and headed up the Community Education and Public Programmes at the Whitechapel Art Gallery throughout the 1980’s. Throughout her career she has been involved in an advisory capacity with many arts, education and charitable organisations and has been a member of selection and judging panels for numerous awards and exhibitions including The Turner Prize, Arts Foundation Award and the Jerwood Drawing Prize.

Eugene Tan

Director, National Gallery Singapore (Singapore)

Eugene Tan was co-curator of the inaugural Singapore Biennale in 2006 and curator for the Singapore Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Art Biennale. He has also curated exhibitions including Of Human Scale and Beyond: Experience and Transcendence (2012), The Burden of Representation: Abstraction in Asia Today (2010), Coffee, Cigarettes and Pad Thai: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia (2008), as well as exhibitions of Lee Mingwei (2010), Jompet (2010), Charwei Tsai (2009) and Nipan Oranniwesna (2009). His previous appointments include Programme Director (Special Projects) of Singapore Economic Development Board, Director of Exhibitions at the Osage Gallery (Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai), Director for Contemporary Art at Sotheby's Institute of Art  ESingapore and Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore.

Candidates Nomination Committee Members

Each of the ten members of the nomination committee, consisted of curators and members of non profit art organizations, nominated four Japanese artists living both in and out of Japan.
There were thirty three artists at the first selection round, since seven artists were nominated by more than one committee member.

Kyongfa Che

Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Hisako Hara

Professor, Faculty of Information Science and Arts, Osaka Electro-Communication University

Hiroyuki Hattori

Curator, Aomori Contemporary Arts Centre [ACAC]

Kenjiro Hosaka

Curator, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Shihoko Iida

Curator / Associate Professor, Department of Inter-Media Art, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts

Reuben Keehan

Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Australia

Kenichi Kondo

Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Roger McDonald

Deputy Director, Arts Initiative Tokyo [AIT]

Nozomu Ogawa

Director, Art Center Ongoing, Tokyo

Mizuki Takahashi

Senior Curator, Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki

*In alphabetical order of surnames.

Inquiry

NISSAN ART AWARD Project Office
Arts Initiative Tokyo [AIT]

TEL:+81 (0)3-6277-5561 / FAX:+81 (0)3-3780-0266
E-mailEEa href="mailto:naa@a-i-t.net">naa@a-i-t.net

Press Inquiries

NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
Global Communications Division

TEL:045-523-5521(Business Operations) / 5553(Products) / 5520(IR)
www.nissan-global.com/EN/IR/  (IR Information)

NISSAN ART AWARD Project Office
Arts Initiative Tokyo [AIT]

Ms. Naoi Kawakami (Relay Relay)
TEL:+81 (0)3-6277-5561 / +81 (0)80-3523-8349
FAX:+81 (0)3-3780-0266
E-mailEEa href="mailto:pr-naa@a-i-t.net">pr-naa@a-i-t.net

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