Tokyo’s International Conference on Open Access to Culture Returns With “Moving Together: A Culture of Mutuality”
Oct 28, 2026 at 10:00am ~ Nov 01, 2026 at 7:00pm
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council Tokyo bring back their Creative Well-being Tokyo series this fall with the International Conference 2026: Connecting Everyone Through Culture, running from Wednesday, October 28th through Sunday, November 1st at Tokyo International Forum in Marunouchi. Admission is free, though advance registration is required, and the event is built for genuine accessibility: expect support in Japanese, English, Japanese sign language, and international sign language, along with simultaneous interpretation and captioning throughout.
The conference sits at the center of the program, running October 30th through November 1st in Hall B5. Five sessions bring together artists, practitioners, and researchers from Japan and abroad to dig into what well-being actually means, working under the theme “Moving Together: A Culture of Mutuality” and drawing on case studies and hands-on practice rather than abstract theory.
Running in parallel in Hall D5, the networking program pulls participants out of the audience and into the conversation itself, through talks, performances, and workshops built around voice, body, and direct interaction rather than passive viewing.
Downstairs, the exhibition opens earlier — the afternoon of October 28th — and runs through November 1st in the Lobby Gallery on B1F. It gathers work from artists whose practices speak to the “Moving Together” theme, alongside examples of related initiatives from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.
Ahead of the main event, a three-part kickoff program called Multispecies gives artists and researchers who engage with the natural world through their work a chance to share how that shows up in daily practice. The first session welcomes photographer Naoki Ishikawa on Monday, August 3rd, at Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan — a Frank Lloyd Wright-associated building in Ikebukuro. Registration opened July 13th and is first-come, first-served, so anyone interested should move on it early.
Information
Start: Oct 28th 2026 at 10:00am
End: Nov 1st 2026 at 7:00pm
Tokyo International Forum
3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
Free
