Koko wa mirai no ātisutotachi ga nemuru heya to nariete kita ka?: Kokuritsu Seiyō Bijutsukan 65-nenme no jimon, gendai bijutsukatachi e no toikake = Does the future sleep here? : Revisiting the museum's response to contemporary art after 65 years

Abstract

"The NMWA has primarily collected, preserved, and displayed Western art dating up through the mid-20th century, and thus does not house contemporary art. Bluntly, it can be said to be a collection solely of works by dead people who lived in the past in distant lands. However, looking back at the overall history of the Matsukata Collection prior to its role as the NMWA’s core collection upon its opening in 1959, we can see, in fact, that the museum was built with the hope that it would be a place that stimulates the creation of future art. Yet, somehow up until now the NMWA has not become a place that gives rise to and fosters the art of the future. The actual 'art museum' system arose in Western Europe during the late 18th century. At that time, the German author Novalis wrote: 'Galleries are the sleeping chambers of the future world. The historian, philosopher and artist of the future world are at home here--they develop themselves here and live for this world.' Has the NMWA become such 'chambers where the future world sleeps'? We have posed this question to these diverse artists, and their works displayed in this exhibition will provide their answers to that question. Participating artists: ENDO Mai, FUSE Rintaro, IIYAMA Yuki, MATSUURA Hisao, MIYAGI Futoshi, NAGASHIMA Yurie, NAITO Rei, NAKABAYASHI Tadayoshi, ODAWARA Nodoka, OZAWA Tsuyoshi, Parplume (UMETSU Yoichi ＋ ANDO Yumi ＋ HOSHIKAWA Asako ＋ TSUZUKIBASHI Hitoko ＋WAKIMOTO Saki), SAKAMOTO Natsuko, SUGITO Hiroshi, TAKANO Ryudai, TAKEMURA Kei, TANAKA Koki, TATSUNO Toeko, Elena TUTATCHIKOVA, UMETSU Yoichi, YUASA Ebosi, YUMISASHI Kanji"-- Website NMWA.