• ◯ Intro
• Installation Views
• Materials

Infos

Intro

This comprehensive exhibition by Kunsthaus Graz and Camera Austria together with The Japan Foundation,
entitled “Chikaku. Time and Memory in Japan”, reflects the dynamic development of Japanese art and culture
during recent decades.
Japan has not undergone the same phases of modernism as the West. Indeed, it was only in the 1870s that the idea of
“art” in the western sense was introduced to Japan together with European-American culture. Especially in relation to the art of the past 50 years to which this exhibition is dedicated, it is interesting to find out the extent to which Japanese artists use issues rooted in Japanese or Asian culture – and, if so, how these are influenced by Western receptive associations. With regard to the “Japan Boom” that was observable in Europe over recent years however, we also have to find out what manner of interpretations the exhibition project might offer western visitors, given that it is characterised by a concrete collaboration between Japanese and European curators.
Europe’s approach to the “Far East” has a long-standing tradition: fascinating Japan with all its contradictions and ambiguities sometimes reached almost mythical dimensions over the past century. Whilst on the one hand there is and was a lot of talk about economic success and general cultural differences, on the other hand our knowledge about cultural matters remained rather fragmentary and frequently influenced by clichés. Even though Japanese films repeatedly enjoy a lot of attention, contemporary literature is well received to a certain degree and pop culture between Manga and Tamagochi is present in the minds of mainly younger people, there is still no concise overview of current Japanese art.

Installation Views

Materials

• Chikaku_pressinformation
• Chikaku_shorttexts
• Chikaku_biografies