ASIA NOW 2018: Programming

Japanese Platform 2018

This year, ASIA NOW will turn its attention to the rising artists and emerging galleries of the Japanese art scene. A cutting-edge special projects program, curated by Emmanuelle de Montgazon, associate curator of “A Japanese Season” at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in 2017-2018, will feature in situ installations, performances, and exhibitions by young talents, complemented by a series of round-table discussions on Japanese art.

The scenography of our new exhibition space dedicated to the Japanese Platform will be conceived by Sou Fujimoto Architects. The Platform will welcome ten Japanese galleries, representing young, up-and-coming Japanese artists.

It will include COHJU Contemporary Art (Kyoto), who will show the works of Mio Yamato and Yoshitaka Yazu, The Container (Tokyo), who will represent Joji Nakamura and Risa Tsunegi, MORI YU GALLERY (Kyoto, Tokyo), with Aki Kuroda, Manavu Muragishi, and Masayuki Kawai, as well as S.O.C. Satoko Oe Contemporary (Tokyo) with Shinichiro Kano and Takuya Ikezaki, Talion Gallery (Tokyo) with Momoko Jennifer Iida and Eri Takayanagi and Galerie Tokyoïte (Paris, Tokyo) with Takeru Amano and Fantasista Utamaro.

The program will also include several foreign galleries presenting Japanese artists such as A2Z Art Gallery (Paris, Hong Kong) with Shiori Eda, Galerie DA-END (Paris) with Mitsuru Tateishi, Satoshi Saikusa, and Toshio Saeki, La Patinoire Royale-Galerie Valérie Bach (Brussels) with Yuken Teruya, Pierre-Yves Caër Gallery (Paris) with Aya Kawato and Makiko Kumano, and Vanguard Gallery (Shanghai) with Yuki Onodera.

CONVERSATION PLATFORM AND VIDEO PROGRAMME 2018

ASIA NOW will also feature a Conversation Platform - a stage for cultural exchange and dialogue - the programme of which will feature key artists and leading voices within the art world. They include, Catherine David (Chief Curator, Centre Pompidou), Yuko Hasegawa (Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo), Akiko Miki (International Artistic Director at the Benesse Art Site, Naoshima), and Clélia Zernik (Professor in Aesthetics, Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris)

To complement the Conversation Platform, ASIA NOW will also be offering an expanded video programme this year that will include video art as well as films and documentaries by and about artists. The videos to be presented include the documentary “Wind and Water” about contemporary artist Zheng Guogu, directed by Felicitas Yang and produced by Martina Koeppel-Yang, as well as “A New Energy in Chinese Art: Zhao Zhao (Stockholm & Beijing)” about the artist Zhao Zhao, directed by Fabien Pacory with the support of the John Dodelande Collection. This year, Odile Burluraux, Curator at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, has been given carte blanche to develop a selection of videos by Asian artists. The selection offers visitors the chance to see works created over the past twenty years, that reflect the changing perspectives of an entire generation of artists who grew up at time of major economic transformation in Japan.

Another highlight of the ASIA NOW 2018 video section is CoBo Social’s curatorial programme, which will present a selection of the best video works by Asian artists for the first time in France. Produced over the course of the last twenty years, these works reflect the change in perspective and sensitivity of an entire generation of artists who grew up in the context of major economic transformation.

SPECIAL PROJECTS 2018

ASIA NOW renews and enriches its Special Projects section this year with a cutting-edge selection specifically coordinated within the framework of the Japanese Platform.

Transitional, in partnership with the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo - ASIA NOW joins forces with the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo to present a sneak preview of the exhibition “Roppongi Crossing 2019,” curated by Reiko Tsubaki and Hirokazu Tokuyama, which will take place from 9 February to 26 May 2019 at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. Held triennially since 2004, “Roppongi Crossing” is an exhibition series that offers a comprehensive survey of the Japanese art scene, through a selection of 20 to 40 artists at a crossing of generations and creative practices, varying from street art to theatre and design.

2nd Floorism (Reconstruction), by Makoto Aida, represented by Mizuma Art Gallery - An iconic Tokyo-based artist, Makoto Aida pursues his provocative social commentary of Japan’s modern culture through his in-situ installation “Ground No Plan,” presented for the first time outside of Japan. Using various media, ranging from drawing to film and scale models, Aida took over an abandoned building to shed light on the problems facing Japan’s urban areas.