The artistic programming of the Forum has been overseen for several years now by Reiko Setsuda. As with her previous curatorial projects at the Foundation’s other exhibition spaces, every year she has invited a number of contemporary artists to present their work at the Forum. Most frequently, these are original projects conceived especially for the space, in accordance with an approach that seeks to give precedence to the production of new work over the presentation of pre-existing projects. All works produced for the Forum remain the property of the artist. This is a form of support for the arts that encourages contemporary creation, and one which is further enriched by a desire to ensure that artists’ projects can be appreciated by the broadest possible public. Entry to the exhibitions at the Forum is free, and each is accompanied by a booklet featuring a presentation text by an invited author, who in the past have included art critics, poets, writers, physicists and sociologists. This mediation is extended through regular conferences and guided visits, in an approach which has earned the appreciation of numerous visitors: some 45,000 come to discover the works presented within the glass walls of the Forum each year.

From 2008 to 2016, twenty-seven solo and group exhibitions were presented at the Forum. In a response to the unique architecture of the space and in order to address their relative absence in Japanese institutions, installations have been privileged – even as the curator, together with the Foundation, has been careful to avoid imposing any particular discursive frame on her choices. She instead looks to select three or four artists each year whose work suggests a diverse and transversal curiosity. For Reiko Setsuda, “the Forum is a laboratory, a chamber of wonders, a highly subjective space overflowing with poetry in which the work is not some decorative cut flower but rather a living shoot that grows and blooms through interaction with the visitor.”