Aims

Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan is a project initiated by Bunka-cho, the Agency for Cultural Affairs to support the sustainable development of Japan’s contemporary art, gather a wide range of counsel from professionals in the field, and further the international reputation of Japanese artists and artists working in Japan. Since founding in 2018, Art Platform Japan has invited international curators and researchers from overseas and Japan to “Bunka-cho Contemporary Art Workshop,” with aims to build a mutual network of experts and to organize an international exhibition by the end of fiscal year 2022. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, museums across the globe closed, exhibition programming saw significant changes, and admission revenue dropped drastically; under such circumstances, many institutions face uncertainty in organizing exhibitions that entail international transport.
In this situation, for the FY2021 Art Platform Japan programming, the 3rd Bunka-cho Contemporary Art Workshop will be held as an opportunity to share current circumstances faced by art museums in Japan and to solicit and discuss exhibition proposals for overseas and domestic traveling exhibitions. Participants will have three days of deep discussions on achievable ideas on the topic through international networking, while reviewing specific case studies from overseas institutions.
During the workshop, we will set up a session to introduce the practices of Japanese artists and artists active in Japan. We will also hold a forum for academic discussions on the theme of “Modern Art in Asia and Japan” with a goal of raising the international profile of contemporary Japanese art and disseminating contemporary Japanese art. We will connect with participants from overseas online and continue to discuss the possibilities of international joint research, to our best ability.

Friday, January 28 5:30pm-8pm
(BST 8:30am-11am / EST 3:30am-6am / PST 0:30am-3am)

Session 2
Artist Presentations

In a state of emergency where human contact is to be avoided to prevent the spread of infection, many artists were quick to respond through their works. Artists will be invited to this session to speak about how their works came about and their practices. Furthermore, with the vulnerabilities of society revealed from the stress tessting of this pandemic, artists have been speaking out to improve with their working environment and seeking new ways of networking. In introducing some of these cases, there will also be a discussion on activities that strive to fundamentally care for society at large.

◎Moderators: Nariai Hajime (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), Odate Natsuko (Arts Commons Tokyo, Yoshiko Isshiki Office)
◎Speakers: Iiyama Yuki, Oiwa Euske, Fuse Rintaro, Watanabe Shiori
Speakers' details

Saturday, January 29, 9:30am-noon
(BST 0:30am-3am / EST 7:30pm-10pm (-1d) / PST 4:30pm-7pm (-1d))

Session 3
The Possibilities in Exhibition Making/Methods in the Pandemic Era

In this session, case study presentations and discussions surrounding the possibilities in practical exhibition-making in the post-pandemic era will take place. In this time of travel and shipping restrictions, sustainable methods of exhibition production will be considered, in addition to exhibitions that utilize 1) the preservation of video works and their digitalization to recreate and exhibit, and 2) the incorporation of archival material and ephemera will be presented and discussed through the case studies of the exhibitions and activities of the presenters from Japan and the United States. This session will also address the social issue surrounding racial equality and how the introduction and inclusion of Asian artists can be sustained.

◎Moderator: Kamiya Yukie (Art Critic, Curator)
◎Speakers:
Ann Adachi-Tasch (Collaborative Cataloging Japan), Tasaka Hiroko (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum),
Erica Papernik-Shimizu (The Museum of Modern Art), Hashimoto Azusa (The National Museum of Art, Osaka)
Speakers' details

Saturday, January 29, 5pm-7:30pm
(BST 8am-10:30am / EST 3am-5:30am / PST 0am-2:30am)

Session 5
East Asian Art Competitions and Japan

In this session, we will discuss art in East Asia and Japan, focusing mainly on the government-sponsored exhibitions that took place in Seoul, Taipei, and Changchun between the late 1930s to 1945. With a focus on research after the exhibition Toward the Modernity: Images of Self & Other in East Asian Art Competitions held at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fuchu Art Museum, and Hyogo Prefectural Art Museum in 2014, government-organized exhibitions and the activities of relevant Japanese artists will be discussed from academic and multifaceted perspectives.

◎Moderator: Inaga Shigemi (Kyoto Seika University)
◎Speakers:
Kida Emiko (Otani University) , Wang Yupeng (College of Fine Arts, Guangxi Normal University), Egawa Yoshihide (Tokushima Prefectural Museum of Modern Art）
Commentator: Rawanchaikul Toshiko (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum)
Observer: Kajiy Kenji (The University of Tokyo)
Speakers' details