“SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty – the right to participate in a cultural life” will be held 10am-4pm at The Briggait in Glasgow.

Naoko will be facilitating the “Highland place-making” table in the Roundtable session on behalf of SCAN’s Highland Member Development Lead Emma Gibson, as one of the practitioners working in the region as well as a SCAN board member.

“SCAN’s flagship conference Summit comes to Glasgow this year, with a focus on human rights and the arts. SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty is held ahead of a new Human Rights Bill, due to be advanced in Scottish Parliament in May 2026. If the bill is enshrined into Scots Law, the rights of all people in Scotland to participate in a cultural life will become enforceable. At SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty, invited artists, academics, lawmakers and cultural workers from across disciplines will look at this new legislation and our intersecting human rights. A series of talks, activities and provocations will consider the implications of embedding the proposed new legal framework, and what it will mean for both contemporary art practice and civic life.”

Online Event
Collective Cares: Conversation #001
Wednesday 10th December
This is an online event on Zoom

Book free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/collective-cares-conversation-001-tickets-1967651768407

3-5pm (Central African Time)
2-4pm (Central Europe Time)
1-3pm (GMT)
9-11pm (China Standard Time)

Join us for a virtual gathering to mark the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for our new curatorial initiative for contemporary arts in Zambia: Collective Cares. We will share and discuss why we believe creating such a space is needed, and what we are planning in this peer-led initiative. This is a safe space for open dialogue and community support. Whether you’re looking to listen, learn, or share, everyone is welcome to participate. Let’s come together and start shaping a change!

Do come to say hello to the co-leads, Luyando and Naoko. Our peers may be joining us too. 

To read full story about Collective Cares and to make a donation, please visit our WhyDonate page below:
https://whydonate.com/fundraising/collective-cares

Collective Cares is a not-for-profit initiative centring on the long-term benefit for the contemporary arts community in Zambia. No big money or institutional backing. Just people — forming and nurturing community, criticality and opportunity from the ground up. Join us in shaping an even more mutually caring, connected, critical and sustainable ecosystem for contemporary arts in Zambia.

Stitching Workshop and Exhibition
As part of EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll

Sunday 21 September 2025
Stitching workshop: 10:30am-1pm.
Exhibition: 10:30am – 4pm.
At Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds, Oban PA34 5TT

*Booking essential for stitching workshop from this Eventbrite page, only 15 spaces. Free to attend (with funding support from Oban Common Good Fund).

Based on artistic research focusing on the natural dye and textile collections of Hope MacDougall at Dunollie Castle, Oban-based textile artist Deborah Gray and curator Naoko Mabon will lead this stitching session. Drawing inspiration from an embroidered indigo-coloured working smock from the historic Collection, participants are invited to make stitchings on upcycled fabric.

Join us to watch The Nettle Dress (directed by Dylan Howitt, 2023). The Nettle Dress is a remarkable documentary following textile artist, Allan Brown’s 7 year process of making a dress out of locally foraged nettle fibres. Once the film is finished, there will be an in-person Q&A with Allan himself. Not to be missed!

This project has been described as “Hedgerow Couture”, the greenest of slow fashion and also his medicine. It’s how he survives the death of his wife and finds a beautiful way to honour her. A modern day fairytale and hymn to the healing power of nature and slow craft.

Part of the EcoCreative Cluster project and The Rockfield Centre’s Community Film Club.

Saturday 13th September, 6pm
At Oak Studio of The Rockfield Centre, Oban
£5 Film Club Member | £7.50 Standard
Tickets are available to book at https://www.therockfieldcentre.org.uk/screening-the-nettle-dress

Naoko will facilitate the Climate Fresk workshop as part of the Community Climate Event on Tiree, organised by the Tiree Community Development Trust. This day-event creates an occasion for a community to consider how climate change might affect Tiree, and what we can do about it. Tiree is the most westerly low-lying island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, the coastline of which has been eroded by storms more frequently in recent years. There will be workshops and a film screening with tea and cake! Saturday 27th April 2024 at Old Steadings, Hynish, Isle of Tiree.

All free but let us know if you are coming as there are limited spaces. Find out more or sign up on the website of Tiree Community Development Trust.

The lovely poster based on her paper illustration is by Oban-based artist Kirsty Currie.

Naoko Mabon is one of the speakers in the first of the Growing Global Networks Info Webinars series by CHARTS: CONNECT. This online event will present examples of CHARTS members’ working internationally and aims to connect members with opportunities which expand the contexts, communities and markets in which their work resonates.

6-7pm, Wednesday 4 October 2023
To book a ticket, please click here.

Speakers include:
– Norah Campbell, Head of Arts at British Council Scotland
– Naoko Mabon, curator/producer/artist working from Argyll and Bute.
– Rutger Emmelkamp, curator/producer/artist working from Argyll and Bute.

TOA Film Club Oban, 6x monthly environmental justice film screenings + discussions (from October 2023 to March 2024) to nurture momentum and empower more actions from Oban towards a fairer and more sustainable world.

At Oban Phoenix Cinema, £3 each, all welcome. Ticket will be available at Oban Phoenix Cinema.

An exciting addition to this season is – there will be a few free pre-film sessions at Oban Youth Cafe for youths (10-24 yo) to chat about film topics over snacks from Go Naked Veg. **No session in October. More details to be announced soon – stay tuned!

Each screening is followed by an approx. 30min informal reflection around the film with Dr Leslie Mabon (Lecturer in Environmental Systems, The Open University).

TOA Film Club Oban is led by WAGON with support from Oban Youth Cafe, Oban Phoenix Cinema, Dr Leslie Mabon and Go Naked Veg. Funded by Oban Common Good Fund. Part of Take One Action Film Festivals’s Film Club program.

Naoko Mabon will be speaking at the closing event of the exhibition “Relationship Between Mohri Bushiro and Kurobe”, jointly organised by the Kurobe City Art Museum and the Coelacanth – Bushiro Mohri Memorial Museum, together with Sachiko Yanagihara (Artist, Coelacanth – Bushiro Mohri Memorial Museum) and Chikako Shakudo (Curator at the Kurobe City Art Museum).

黒部市美術館と「シーラカンス 毛利武士郎記念館」の共催で開催中の「毛利武士郎と黒部」展クロージングイベントに、柳原幸子氏（造形作家、シーラカンス 毛利武士郎記念館）、尺戸智佳子氏（黒部市美術館担当学芸員）とともにメイボン尚子が登壇します。

Naoko Mabon is facilitating a Climate Fresk workshop in Oban. On Saturday 22 April from 10am to 1pm. This is as part of The Rockfield Centre’s Earth Month programme.

TOA Film Club Oban, 6x monthly environmental justice film screenings + discussions (from September 2022 to March 2023, apart from December) to nurture momentum and empower more actions from Oban towards a fairer and more sustainable world, begins Friday 30 September 2022.

6.30pm at Oban Phoenix Cinema (Screen2). £3 each, all welcome. (January screening starts 10.15am)
You can book your ticket at Oban Phoenix Cinema’s website: www.obanphoenix.com

Each screening is followed by an approx. 30min relaxed group discussion/reflection around the film. This is supported by Dr Leslie Mabon (Lecturer in Environmental Systems, Open University) who is an expert in the topic of climate change in the coastal community and environmental justice context.

TOA Film Club Oban is led by WAGON with support from Oban Youth Cafe and Oban Phoenix Cinema. Part of the Film Club programme of Take One Action Film Festivals.

As part of this year’s Orkney International Science Festival, there will be an afternoon of activities focusing on the exhibition The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi) at The Pier Arts Centre on Saturday 3 September, 2.00-4.30pm.

Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi) is a cross-disciplinary project connecting Yamaguchi, in Japan, and Orkney, curated by Naoko Mabon. The exhibition features new works from Halperin, developed both in Japan and Scotland, alongside thematically resonant works by Yamaguchi-based artists Yoshihisa Nakano and Keijiro Suzuki.

The event involves talks from Halperin and geologist Dr John Flett Brown, as well as exhibition tour with artists and “wind” themed field workshop by Suzuki. The admission for the event is £10 and spaces are limited, so booking is essential through the Orkney International Science Festival website: https://oisf.org/fest-event/the-rock-cycle-yamaguchi/

Naoko Mabon will be acting as an interpreter in the upcoming Stitching Wonder workshop on Saturday 30th July 2022, 6-8pm (AEST, GMT +10), which is part of the Storytelling Cushions project of artist Tomoko Kōnoike. Storytelling Cushions has been evolved from Storytelling Table Runner, a long-running project that Kōnoike has been conducting since 2014. This hybrid in-person/online workshop is jointly organised and hosted by the Festival Of The Fantastic In Australian And Japanese Arts, and The Japan Foundation, Sydney‘s exhibition Storymakers in Contemporary Japanese Art (curated by Emily Wakeling and Mayako Murai).

For more information about the workshop and book a free ticket, please click here.

Naoko Mabon is facilitating a Climate Fresk workshop on Iona. At the Iona Village Hall on Thursday 16 June 2022, 2pm. It is a free, 2-hour workshop, best suited for people over 14 years of age. Place is limited (up to 8 people) – please book here.

Organisational support generously given by Heinz Toller and Iona Village Hall Community Trust. Supported and delivered by SCAN and Engage Scotland.

Climate Fresk is a participatory and creative workshop of collective intelligence that aims to engage people on climate change. Based on a 42-card game developed from the IPCC reports, this workshop explains the complex links between causes and consequences of climate change, and empowers actions. For more on the Climate Fresk, please click here.

Naoko Mabon is running a Climate Fresk workshop with the youth club programme at Timespan in Helmsdale. On Thursday 21 April, a day before Earth Day 2022. This activity is supported by the Mandate Climate Action Fund of SCAN and Engage Scotland.

Climate Fresk is a participatory and creative workshop of collective intelligence that aims to engage people on climate change. Based on a 42-card game developed from the IPCC reports, this workshop explains the complex links between causes and consequences of climate change, and empowers actions. For more on the Climate Fresk, please click here.

Naoko Mabon among other creative practitioners has been awarded the Mandate Climate Action Fund, delivered in partnership between SCAN & Engage Scotland and supported by Creative Scotland. The fund is designed to help SCAN and Engage members undertake training with a climate or sustainability focus, develop creative activity with a sustainability focus or acquire materials that support climate adaptation in their creative practice.

Naoko Mabon has been invited to be one of the panels in the reflection event “TOTEM LATAMAT and COP26”, exploring the meaning of the totem’s journey to COP26, and its presence at The Hidden Gardens in Glasgow.

TOTEM LATAMAT by Totonac artist Jun Tiburcio, has travelled over 9000km from Mexico to the UK to finally get to Glasgow, for the duration of COP26 and will be in The Hidden Gardens between 28 October – 14 November.

A panel from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds, who have different but complementary perspectives on Climate Change, will explore the meaning of the totem’s journey to COP26, and its presence at The Hidden Gardens. This will be an engaging and lively conversation, that will enable reflections post COP26.

To book your free ticket, please visit the Eventbrite page.

Join Torry Ecomuseum Project‘s celebratory open day involving an exhibition and a coastal walk to mark the completion of the 2021 edition of the project.

• Exhibition 12-4pm (opening remarks 12pm)
• Coastal Walk at 12.30pm (approx.2.5h walk)

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event, but the place is limited so booking is essential through Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/torry-ecomuseum-project-celebratory-open-day-exhibition-and-coastal-walk-tickets-191445848687

As part of “What the COP?” initiative, Oban Youth Cafe hosts 4 free film screenings & discussions with support from Oban Phoenix Cinema and Oban-based curator Naoko Mabon.

27-30 October, 6.30pm, Oban Phoenix Cinema Screen2
https://www.obanphoenix.com/what-the-cop

Join us for a talk and discussion to celebrate the launch of the new publication “Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi)”. 10.30am (BST) Saturday 1st May 2021 via Zoom (English language). Hosted by The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness on Orkney. Free, book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ilana-halperin-the-rock-cycle-yamaguchi-book-launch-event-tickets-149852423633

Satoshi Hashimoto ‘Watching Movies with Ropes’ 2018, ropes, video monitor, audience. Hans & Fritz Contemporary, Barcelona.

Curator Naoko Mabon will be hosting Free Association’s November session. Naoko has invited Tokyo based artist, activist, curator and researcher Satoshi Hashimoto to hold an audience-participatory performative workshop within the cinema at CCA.

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An afternoon event of stories and Japanese tea. Two Japan-born creative practitioners – Aberdeen-based curator Naoko Mabon and Tokyo-based writer Sayuri Kida, who is currently residing in Edinburgh – will host and share stories that draw on their experience and reflect the essence and focus of the exhibition ‘Treasure’ by Stacey Hunter at The Suttie Arts Space of Grampian Hospitals Art Trust. Specifically, they will speak about the hospitable, generous, sharing, and caring gesture and form in Japanese culture. The stories will be followed by sharing Japanese tea and sweets with the audience.

All the elements within this event will be a reflection of the idea of ‘Ichi-go Ichi-e’. This is a concept developed through Japanese tea ceremony practice, describing the idea that ”the moment we share with particular people at a particular place is unique, and never comes back again”.

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SONIC // ART // BOTANICAL GARDEN
Artist talk by I Chen Lai & audio performance by Silent Chaos

Coordinated by WAGON

Date: Saturday 1st June 2019
Time: 3.30-5.00pm
Venue: Education Room (next to the Japanese Garden), David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park (AB11 7TH)

Inviting different artistic practices and approaches, this event aims to revisit the concept and space of botanical garden. We also hope to develop the experimental capacity of the creative scene in Aberdeen.

Free, anyone welcome. Refreshments provided (**this is a free event but since all involved are independent practitioners, donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. You can make a donation here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sonic-art-botanical-garden-by-i-chen-lai-silent-chaos-tickets-61430142209)

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Naoko Mabon has been selected, alongside other seven Scottish-based curators, for the Curators’ Visit to Japan. Led by British Council Scotland and Creative Scotland, this scoping trip has an aim to develop long-term and even more vibrant partnerships between Scotland and Japan into the future.

◆ Follow Mabon’s daily photo report here: scottish-curators-to-japan.tumblr.com

この度、未来に向け末長く、より活発なパートナシップを構築するため ブリティッシュ・カウンシル・スコットランド と、スコットランド政府の文化芸術機関である クリエイティブ・スコットランド が主催する、日本へのキュレーターズビジットにメイボン尚子が選抜されました。メイボンを含むスコットランドで活動する８名のキュレーターが、2017年10月、横浜・東京を中心に日本のアートシーンを訪ねます。

◆ こちらでメイボンによる毎日更新予定の フォトレポート（バイリンガル） をご覧いただけます。

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Naoko Mabon is invited to SSW Public Talk, a series of open talks to accompany SSW’s Summer AiR programme. In this Naoko will share her curatorial practice with the wider community.

EVENT DETAILS
SSW Public Talk: Naoko Mabon
Independent Curatorial Practice from North East Scotland: The Case of Naoko Mabon
Friday 24th June 2016, 7-8pm
Scottish Sculpture Workshop (1 Main Street, Lumsden, Huntly, Aberdeenshire AB54 4JN)
Free, all welcome
For more details on the exhibition please click here.