ACC Japan held a fellowship report meeting featuring Haruko Kumakura and Tomomi Adachi, our 2025 grantees who completed their fellowships in Southeast Asia. A shared thread running through both presentations was the central role of dialogue — with local artists, curators, and art practitioners. Rather than approaching their fellowships as one-way observation or information-gathering including interviews, both fellows placed great emphasis on spending time alongside people, exchanging ideas, and cultivating relationships built on mutual trust.
 

Haruko KUMAKURA (Indonesia | August – November 2025)
Kumakura spent three months based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where she closely observed and participated in the activities of Hyphen-, a research collective. She also visited numerous studios and collective spaces run by artists, curators, and researchers across the country. Through sustained dialogue and shared time, she developed deep mutual understanding and trust with those she encountered — a fellowship firmly rooted in the realities of local practice.


Tomomi Adachi (Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore | December 2025 – January 2026)
Adachi traveled across four countries, meeting and connecting with a wide range of musicians, artists and art practitioners, with a particular focus on those working in the field of experimental music. Through conversation and collaborative performance, he immersed himself in the experimental music and art scenes of each location, developing reflections and insights grounded in direct, embodied experience.
Both fellows intend to carry forward the relationships and connections formed during their fellowships — not as fleeting encounters, but as the foundation for ongoing engagement and future collaboration.