The gallerist behind Art Week Tokyo – now in its fifth edition – says accessibility is the reason for its success. As art fairs become increasingly expensive, the city-wide festival (a collaboration with Art Basel), involving commercial galleries, institutions, artist-run spaces and a specially curated programme (AWT Focus, overseen this year by former Documenta curator Adam Szymczyk), charges no exhibitor fees. ‘This creates more of a level playing field between established and emerging galleries,’ Ninagawa says, the idea being that galleries can put on shows that ‘they want to represent their programs without having to be overly concerned about sales’. Fifty thousand visitors showed appreciation for this approach last year, taking free buses between the 53 venues, among them Ninagawa’s own Take Ninagawa gallery in Minato ward. During this year’s AWT, the gallery hosted a solo show of Shinro Ohtake, topping off a year in which Ninagawa also presented Thea Djordjadze and Yoko Daihara, and got Georgian artist Andro Wekua onboard to curate a group show, while Aki Sasamoto had widely acclaimed exhibitions at MOT Tokyo and Para Site, Hong Kong.