European-Japanese Art History
Investigations into artistic exchange, visual circulation, and the historical formation of cross-cultural art narratives between Europe and Japan.
Art Historian
Exploring art, institutions, and cultural exchange across Europe and East Asia
I am a doctoral candidate affiliated with the Institute for European Art History (IEK) at Heidelberg University and the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. My research examines European-Japanese art history, avant-garde theory, museum history, and the circulation of art across institutional and diplomatic contexts.
About
Researching art within transnational histories of display, exchange, and memory
I am affiliated with the Institute for European Art History (IEK), Heidelberg University. My work approaches art history through the lenses of institutional history, avant-garde theory, museology, and transcultural exchange.
My research examines the historical circulation of images, exhibitions, and archives between Europe and Japan, with attention to how artistic practices, institutions, and cultural diplomacy shape public understanding of art and its afterlives.
Research
Current areas of inquiry
Exhibitions and Museums
Studies of exhibition history, museum institutions, and the politics of display in shaping knowledge, authority, and public memory.
Avant-Garde and Diplomacy
Research on avant-garde theories, Japanese avant-gardes, and the role of art in cultural diplomacy and transnational archives.
Publications
Selected writing
Tarō Okamoto: La Métamorphose Comme Avant-Garde
Wei Sun. Paris/Lyon: Fondation Giacometti, Éditions FAGE.
“Transcultural Dimensions of Timeless Beauty: On Okamoto Tarō’s Personal Vision of ‘World Art History’”
Included in Rethinking Transcultural Interactions in Visual Art.
“An Inappropriate Gift? Rethinking Yokoyama Taikan's painting Mount Fuji for the Cologne Museum of East Asian Art”
Art and Diplomacy. Read article
“Showcasing Japan. A Journey of Japanese Identity Through Archaeology and Ancient Art Exhibitions in Italy”
Co-authored with Claudia Zancan.
Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale, 60, 333–366. Read article
Die Kunstismen / 艺术的主义：1914—1924
Edited by Hans Arp and El Lissitzky (original German edition, 1925). Translated by Wei Sun. Beijing: China Academy of Art Press.
Projects
Recent and ongoing initiatives
After Nanjing: Japanese Art, Memory, and Responsibility in Transnational Perspective
A transnational art-historical project examining how Japanese artists and cultural producers have represented Nanjing from the interwar period to the present. Through corpus building, archival research, and a pilot digital exhibition, this fellowship research investigates artistic engagements with wartime violence in Asia and questions of historical memory and responsibility. IFNet programme
Archives of Postwar Japanese Art in Europe
Connections, conversations, and collaborations across archives of postwar Japanese art in Europe. Led by Prof. Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer and supported by the Ishibashi Foundation, this project explores the artistic contributions of Japanese artists active in Europe between 1945 and 1975. Project website
Art and Diplomacy
A two-part research workshop on cultural diplomacy and archival sources in Berlin and Paris. I participated with the presentation “Placing Tokyo between Paris and Berlin: Japanese Exhibition History in France and Germany in the 20th Century.” Project website
Events
Conferences and scholarly gatherings
The Making of Japanese Art History in the 20th Century
September 3–4, 2026, at CATS, Heidelberg University, Germany.
International Symposium co-organized with Fengyu Wang and Ruri Kawanami. A collaborative venue to reflect on how the discipline's epistemic frameworks, exclusions, and transnational entanglements were shaped in the twentieth century.
Teaching
Courses and academic engagement
Art History Made by Exhibitions: Display Practices since the 1960s
Seminar at IEK (Institute for European Art History), Heidelberg University. Examination of how exhibitions function as historiographical sites and how display practices have shaped art historical knowledge and discourse.
Conferences & Presentations
Conferences and talks, 2024–2026
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"The eternal return of the in-between: Isozaki Arata's 1978 exhibition 間 MA: Espace, Temps au Japon and the making of a modern concept." Paper presented at the European Association for Japanese Studies Conference (EAJS 2026). Paper details -
"L'exposition «Le Japon des avant-gardes 1910–1970», quarante ans après." Round table discussion at Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris, June 27, 2026, 3:00 PM. Panelists: Alfred Pacquement, Alain Sayag, Aomi Okabe, Mariko Oka-Fukuroi, and Wei Sun. The discussion reflects on the reception and historical impact of the landmark 1986 Centre Pompidou exhibition. Held in the Petite salle (ground floor); free entry with registration. Event details -
"Who Gets to Be Global? Exhibiting Isamu Noguchi and the Production of Art History." Guest lecture for the Migratory Lectures series, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, May 12, 2026 (hybrid: room 2201.HS 2A or online via WebEx). Part of "Art Production and Art Theory in the Age of Global Migration" research group. Series details -
"Shakuhachi Upside Down: Gesture, Masculinity, and Performance in Edo-Period Ukiyo-e." Paper presented at "Transnational Japanisms: Art, Craft, Design Conference," SOAS University of London and University of the Arts London, May 15–16, 2026. -
"After the Avant-Garde's Death: The Post-Transitional Japanese Art World of the 1970s." Online lecture via Zoom, University Museum and Art Gallery (HKU), February 25, 2026. Discussant: Franziska Koch (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf). -
"La métamorphose comme avant-garde: nouveaux regards sur Tarō Okamoto" Round table discussion (in French) with Benoît Buquet and Hugo Daniel on the occasion of the publication of Tarō Okamoto. La métamorphose comme avant-garde, Librairie Tschann, February 11, 2026. -
"'Picasso Must Be Murdered!' Okamoto Tarō and Metamorphosis as Avant-Garde." Paper presented at the EAAA Conference, Lisbon, September 8–13, 2025. -
"Le Japon des Avant-Gardes: 1910–1979 and the Discursive Formation of Japanese Avant-Gardes in European Museums." Paper presented at the 13th Forum for East Asian Art History in German-speaking Countries, June 20–21, 2025. -
Workshop closing paper: "Prehistoric Japan on Display: European Exhibitions and the Formation of National Identity Through Archaeological Artifacts." Concluding discussant remarks at Art and Diplomacy: Actors of Cultural Affairs and their Archival Sources in Berlin and Paris, October 9–11, 2024. Co-organized by Iñigo Salto Santamaría, Anna-Jo Weier, and Dr. Victor Claass (Technische Universität Berlin / Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris). -
"Avant-Garde in the Showcase: Reading Japan through Exhibitions of Avant-Garde Art in European Museums (1980–2000)." Paper presented at the Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ 2024), Sophia University Tokyo, July 6–7, 2024. Panel moderated by Prof. Noriko Murai (Sophia University). -
Participation in the 20th EAJS Workshop for Doctoral Students, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 25–28, 2024. -
"Le Japon des Avant-Gardes: 1910–1970 and the Discursive Formation of Japanese Avant-Gardes in European Museums." Paper presented in the panel "Art, History, Exhibitions: Re-Thinking Relationships" at the Annual Conference of the Association for Art History (AAH), University of Bristol, April 3–5, 2024. -
"Le Japon des Avant-Gardes: 1910–1970 and the Discursive Formation of Japanese Avant-Gardes in European Museums." Paper presented at the 4th International Doctoral Symposium on Asian and African Studies, Ca' Foscari University Venice, April 3–4, 2024. -
"Metaphorizing the In-Between: A Retrospective Contemplation of the 1978 Exhibition MA: Espace-Temps du Japon." Paper presented at the PhD Symposium Metaphors: Conceptualising Horizons of Meaning, Ca' Foscari University Venice, February 26–28, 2024.
Concert
Recent performance
第42回サウンドポットコンサート（発表会）
Held at 古賀政男記念館（けやきホール）, Yoyogi-Uehara, Tokyo.
I performed Sagariha as a shakuhachi player in this latest concert presentation by Sound Pot.
Contact