Curator Series: Sophie Mayuko Arni
Naso Art Journal is delighted to welcome Sophie Mayuko Arni as the next guest in our Curator Series. A Swiss-Japanese independent curator based between the UAE and Japan, Arni’s cross-cultural practice bridges the Gulf and East Asia through shared visions of heritage, architecture and culture. As the Founding Editor of Global Art Daily (GAD), she has played a key role in documenting and connecting Arab and Asian contemporary art within a global context. Since launching her acclaimed exhibition series “East-East: UAE meets Japan” in 2016, she has continued to foster meaningful artistic dialogue across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Tokyo.
Most recently, Arni served as Guest Curator of ‘Art Here 2025: Shadows’, the fifth edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Through this exhibition, she explores light, perception, and contemporary identity within the context of the Gulf’s evolving art landscape. This month’s interview with Arni offers rare insight into the curatorial process behind Shadows, revealing how she navigates themes of transnational exchange, site specificity, and the role of public art in shaping cultural narratives across the MENA and Asia regions.
Background
Born in Geneva to a Swiss-Japanese family, Sophie Mayuko Arni grew up across continents, from Pakistan to Kenya, Ukraine, and Serbia, following her father’s humanitarian work. “Art and architecture gave me the tools to understand the common threads linking various geographies,” she reflects. Arriving in the UAE at 18, she felt “instantly at home” amid its cultural convergence and creative energy.
Her parents, passionate travelers, instilled in her what she calls “a high threshold for artistic confluence.” Mentors like Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Salwa Mikdadi, and Mia M. Mochizuki shaped her curatorial voice, emphasizing cross-cultural context and historical diligence. Later, experiences under Yuko Hasegawa in Tokyo and Diana Campbell at the Bukhara Biennial solidified her belief that “curating is a civic duty a service to greater society.”
Curatorial Philosophy
“The eye has to travel. The heart has to travel,” Arni says - a motto that guides her curatorial practice. Her philosophy centers on artists first: creating conditions where their vision can thrive. “Curators are space-makers,” she notes, stressing the importance of collaborating with architects and understanding both the physical and digital presence of exhibitions.
She views exhibitions as “sacred pauses in a frantic world,” moments that allow audiences to slow down and reflect. Collaboration, trust, and writing are her key tools - “to craft a well-written curatorial statement is primordial.” Above all, she sees curating as an act of service: to artists, audiences, and to beauty itself.
Evolving Practice
Over time, Arni’s approach has matured into one of patience, adaptability, and diplomacy. “Slow and steady wins the race,” she says. Curating is as much about logistics as it is about ideas - “half problem-solving, half conversation.” Preparation, she insists, “invites luck and coincidences.”
She’s also attuned to the changing face of contemporary curation, embracing visibility with intellectual rigor. “The curators who can do both - understand fashion, communication, and scholarship - are some of the most exciting today.” Through Global Art Daily, her digital platform, she’s cultivated a network that mirrors her global perspective and agility in the art world’s fast-paced ecosystem.
Curating in the Gulf
Since 2013, Arni has lived and worked across the UAE and wider Gulf, drawn to what she calls “a fertile ground for hybridity.” She believes the region’s creative power lies in its inclusivity: “The Gulf is not a monolith - its force is in its diversity and peaceful cohabitation of differences.”
Her debut exhibition, East-East: UAE meets Japan (2016), redefined “East-meets-West” dialogues through parallels between Emirati and Japanese craft, material culture, and oral traditions, themes that continue to echo throughout her work.
Signature Projects
The East-East series has since evolved into a multi-chapter project across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Tokyo, and Atami, bringing together over twenty artists from the Gulf and Japan. The 2021 Tokyo edition, The Curio Shop, reclaimed exotic narratives through humor and cultural agency - “a curio shop of Arab and Asian imaginaries,” she describes. Despite being self-funded, it captured the energy and self-definition of Gulf futurism.
Art Here 2025: Shadows
Arni’s recent exhibition, Art Here 2025: Shadows at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, curated for the Richard Mille Art Prize, represents the pinnacle of her cross-cultural curatorial vision. Working alongside the Louvre’s team and the Richard Mille brand, she oversaw an open call that received over 400 submissions from the GCC, MENA, and Japan.
The resulting six-site-specific installations were presented under the museum’s iconic dome, each exploring the theme of shadow from architectural forms to psychological metaphors. “Every work speaks of shadows in their own unique ways,” Arni explains. “They reflect on our shared humanity — the light and darkness we each carry.”
She interprets shadows as both physical and philosophical. In the Gulf, they offer protection and comfort; in Japan, they embody intimacy and restraint. The exhibition draws from Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows and vernacular architecture from both regions.
For her, Art Here exemplifies the power of cross-cultural dialogue: “This exhibition proves that collaboration between Gulf and Japanese artists can reveal universal truths - about light, memory, and the spaces we inhabit.”
