The three curators from Japan were chosen through an open call for applications. All the curators and mentors joined an online meeting to match up based on their respective expertise and interests. Mitome Sayaka (Curator, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)) was assigned to collaborate with Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM), located in Lisbon.

Mitome visited Lisbon with program mentor Kataoka Mami and inspected the venue (CAM). They exchanged ideas with Benjamin Weil, the director of CAM and a collaborator on this project, on topics such as audience tastes and the direction of the exhibition.

After returning to Japan, Mitome thought about candidate artists for the CAM exhibition. She created materials in English for a proposal to Weil, and prepared a presentation based on Kataoka’s advice.

An online meeting with Weil was arranged, and Mitome proposed several emerging artists from Japan. As a result of discussions during the course of several meetings, they decided on Aoyagi Natsumi.

Aoyagi and Mitome met in Tokyo, where they learned about the history and culture of Portugal, and discussed which places they should visit for their research.

Aoyagi and Mitome visited Portugal for a 14-day period of research. They visited cities including Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Fatima and Cascais. In Lisbon they toured CAM with Weil as their guide. They visited CAM several times to study the exhibition location, taking time to inspect the building and the surrounding area.