18 I Gayatri Spivak, 341.

authenticity through ethnicity are expressed in eclectic combinations of
the sheer embroidered baro typical of the Christianized lowlands with awoven Maranao or Maguindanao skirt from the Islamic south. This
strategy is nor infrequently used by couturier Jose Moreno, such as his
1980s design for Philippine Airlines stewardesses meant ro entice
tourists with feminized re-invented forms [ ,10-3] .
Despite the continuing hybridization of the baro't saya and the barong

tagalog, there is the inevitable return to "tradition "-a return to the"classic" lines of the 19th-century baro't saya, or the vintage 20th-century

terno. This repertoire of re-formulated "traditional" garments is usedduring special occasions specifying the "Filipiniana" dress code. The
colonial rules of proper dress according to rank or official position,
however, no longer apply. Fashion has been "democratized" as reinterpreted, hybridized "traditional" styles are appropriated by groups
nor normally entitled to them, breaking barriers of class, gender andethnicity in a less circumscribed society that looks upon an idealized
19th century with admiration and nostalgia.

In the postmodern era, hybridity becomes a strategy of self-representationin the re-invention and re-negotiation of tradition. How, then, does one
locate authenticity in Philippine culture, and specifically, in Philippine
dress? Are the phantasmagoric hybridities of the 20th and 21st
centuries-suchas the T'boli inspired, eclectic gown designed by Jose

Moreno for Miss Philippines that won Best National Costume in the 1994
Miss Universe Pageant-lessauthentic than the similarly hybridized

colonial and precolonial forms ? Or is acceptance of such bizarre hybrids
consistent with the democratized, postmodern spirit? Does one rerurn tothe "ethnic purity " of the primitive, clad only in tattoos' Does "ethnic
purity" exist today? This conundrum brings to mind Spivak 's reassuringassertion that, as the substance of cultural inscriptions, "programs ofcultural self-representation are never correct or incorrect. " [•18] One could
also seek comfort in Bhabha 's tirade against the notion of "purity ":The very concepts of homogenous national cultures [···l process ofredefinition. The hideous extremity of Serbian nationalism proves
FIG.J

Desig n for Philippine Airlines
stewardesses by J. Moreno, 1980s ,from Philippine Costume by J. Moreno(Manila, 199 5)

324

I 325

that the very idea of a pure, "ethnically cleansed" national identity
can only be achieved through the death, literal and figurative, of thecomplex interweavings of history, and the culturally contingent

Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafter PostmodernismI

borde rlines of m odern nati onh ood [···] th ere is overwhelmin g

19 I Homi K. Bhabha ( 1994 ), 7.

evidence of a more transna ti ona l and tra nslati onal sense of th e
hybridi ty of imag ined commun it ies. [ •19]

For, if we at tempt co rid our selves of the "dem on " of hybrid icy, pee lingaway th e many layers superpose d upon the ocher like so m any
translu cent ski ns of onion in search of the p urity of its core, are we notleft wi th noth ing?

Selected References

Homi K.Bhabha, Locationof Culture (Londo n and New York: Roucledge, 1994).
Homi K.Bhabha, "Cultural Diversity and Culture D ifferences," The Post-colonialStudie1 Reader,
8. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths, and H. Tiffin, eds. (London and New York: Routledge, 1995).
Salvador Bernal, G.R. Encanto, and Francis L Escalier, Pauernsfor the Filipina Drm from the Traje de
MtJtiza to the Terno ( J890s - 1960s) (Manila: Cultura l Center of che Philippines, 1992).

Florina H. Capistrano-Baker and Sandra Castro, "Clothing in the Cemra l Philippine Lowlands,"
Encyclopedia en cry in BergEncyclopediaof WorldDrm and Fa1hion,Jasleen Dhamija, South and Southeast
Asia volume editor, Joanne Eicher, editor-in-chief, forthcoming.
Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, Piecer Keurs, and Sandra Castro, Embroidered Multiple1: 18th-19th Century
Philippine Co1tume1from the National Muuum of Ethnology, Leiden, The Netherlands (Makaci City: Royal

Netherlands Embassy and Ayala Foundation, Inc. 2007).
Sandra Castro, Nipi; (Manila: Incrarnuros Admin istration, 1990).

G. Coedes, The lndianized StaleJ of Southeast A;ia, W.F. Vella, ed., S.B. Cowing, tra ns. (Hono lu lu: The
University Press of Hawaii, 1968).

J. Moreno, Philippine Co11ume (Manila: J. Moreno Foundation, 1995).
Sandra Niessen, An n Marie Leshkowich, and Carla Jones, eds., Re-Orienting Fashion: The Globalization of
A1ian Drm (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2003).

Elizabeth Mary Holt, Colonizing Filipina1: Nineteenth-century Representation; of the Philippines in Western
Hi1toriography (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2002).

Carlos Quirino and Mauro Garcia, The Manner;, Cu1tom1, and Belief; of the Philippine Inhabitant ; of Long
Ago: Being Chapter; of 'A Late 16th Century Manila Manuscript ,' Tramcribed , Tramlated , and Annotated(Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1961).
Anthony Reid, Southea.JtA1ia in the Age of Commerce1450 - 1680 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1988).
Mina Roces and Louise Edwards , The PolitiCJof Drm in A;ia and the Americas (Eastbourne, UK: Sussex
Academic Press, 2007).
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, A Critique of Po1tcolonial Rea;on: Toward the History of the Vanishing Prmnt(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999).
Nicanor Tiongson, "Costumes," CCP Encyclopediaof Philippine Art (Manila: Cultural Center of thePhilippines, 1998), 88 - 93.
James F.Warren, lranun and Balangingi: Globalization , Maritime Raiding and the Birth of Ethnicity(Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2002).

I Session3 I Uquk:lationof •Asian-ness · ? : The Specter of locality

Presentation 1 I FlorinaH. Capistrano-Baker I

I Session 3 I Presentation 2

An Inquiryinto the "Modern" Through Drawing
NaraYoshitomo, Empathy,and Localization
Hosaka Kenjiro
Assistant Curator, The National Museu m of Modern Art, Tokyo

I would like to stare with a little arc world gossip.
First story. In 2003, Murakami Takashi's sculpture Miss Ko2 (1997) soldfor 567,500 US dollars at Christie's in New York. This was the highest
price ever paid for a work by a living Japanese artist. In 2008, again at
Sorheby's , his My LonesomeCowboy(1998) brought approximately
15,160,000 US dollars, breaking his own record.
Second story. In 2007, 3 drawings by Nara Yoshitomo shown by
Christie's were found to be forgeries. The estimated auction price wassomewhere between 7,000 to 20,000 pounds.
Hosaka Kenjiro

Third story. In 2008, Murakami Takashi brought the case before Tokyo
District Court, in which one of the owners of his work had breached acontract by attempting to put his work up for auction at Christie 's. The

or I "A Perspe ct ive on Contemporary

contract forbade resale within 10 years in order to prevent speculation.

Art 6: Emotional Drawing " was co-

Fourth story. In 2008, at an exhibition opening, Nara Yoshitomo wasorganized by the Museum of Modern

seen making drawings while signing autographs, mostly in response toArc, Tokyo, the Museum of Modern
Arc, Kyoto , and the JapanFoundation in two cities, Tokyo(August 26, 2008 - October 13,

the request of the visitors. People around him wondered if this was theright thing to do.

2008) and Kyoto (Novembe r 18,

2008 - Decembe, 12, 2008). This
exhibition was organized as an
outcome of the "Asian Museum

Curacors'Conference"char has been

held since 2005 . I would like co cakechis opportunity co thank che
initiator of chis conference, Furuichi

Yasuko of cheJapan Foundation.
02

I The following artists were

exhibited: Leiko Ikemura, Amal

I was one of those who was there and shared the anxiety, because I was
the curator of the exhibition, which was called "Emotional Drawing. "During the course of preparing for the exhibition, I was surprised morethan ever when I learned about the economic value of his work. [,01 )"Emotional Drawing ," co-organized with the Japan Foundation,
presented contemporary drawings by 16 artists from Asia and the Middle
East. Watercolors, installations, and animation were shown along with

Kenawy , Avish Khebrehzadeh, Kim

Jungwook, Jose Legaspi, Nalini
Malani, Nara Yoshicomo, Julia.a&
Manuel Ocampo, S. Teddy D .,SakagamiChiyuki, Pinaree
Sanpitak, Mithu Sen, Aditi Singh,
Shooshie Sulaiman, Tsuji Naoyuki,
and Ugo Uncoro.

a2s

I 32 1drawings in the narrow sense. [, oi l
The works presented in this exhibition created an emotional relationshipbetween the arc and viewers. Murakami Takashi was nor included, as his
works obviously did not match the concept. Therefore, there may be aquestion as to why I decided to compare him with Nara and in thisCount10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafterPostmodemismI

presentation.
I felt char a comparison berween the two would shed light on a special
characteristi c of Nara 's arr that is relevant to the present age . This
characteristi c, as I see it , is a fun ction that can , or should, be performedby drawing.
By the way, chis symposium is held to di scuss a theme related to Asianarr, but the functionalities of drawing char I am going to examine here
should nor limited to chose in the geographic region of Asia. Bur during
the survey char I made co prepare for the exhibirion I found that theOJ I Th e concept of Einfiihlung,or
empath y, is taken from the classic

writin g of Th eodor Lipps, who
attempt ed co understand aesthetic
experience based on psychology. In

desire to bring our chis aspect of arr is still strongly rooted in a numberof Asian countries . Wh at is it ? Ir is th e function of eliciting Einf iihlung(feeling inco) or, as it has been translated

into English, "empathy. " [, 03]relation co this sympos ium , it isint erestin g to po int out chat
Wilh elm Wortin ge r point s co che
fact chat Eastern art (or its

I have chosen the example of Nara Yoshitomo 's drawings in order rocharacteri stically dec orative arc) isshow how new attention is being g iven to the arousal of empathy , acannot "empathi ze" wi th it as heunique effect of arr. In this discussion I would like to show how drawing
as a model, in other words, a structure chat enables the medium rocontinuously seek a renewing relationship between the "individual ," rheulrimarum of the localized entity, and rhe ego of the Other, could
indicate the role of the locality in the globalized age.

interesting , because althou gh hewould with Western art, he could

appreciate it as a form co which heresponds w ith abst ract impul se .

(sourced and summarized from theJapanese translations ofT heOOor
lip p's .AJthetik:PJychologie
deJ

Schiinen und ckr Kum/ [SatoTsunehisa, trans ., Bigaku (To kyo:
Shunju sha, 1936 )] and W ilhelm
Worringe r's A bJtraktion und

Let me go back now to the reports with which I began. In spire of theEinfiihlung:Ein Beitrag zur

face char Nara is a famous artist for whom drawing is a major form ofStilpJycho
logie [Kusanagi Masao,

expression , he still makes drawings for people while signin g autographs.

Geij11tJ11
to SeiyoGeijutJu, Iwanamitrans., ChuJhoto Kanjo Inyu: T(JJO

This show s that his attitude coward creatin g arr make s it difficult tomanage his work effectively. Thi s arrirude plainly contrast s with that of

Bunko ( Tokyo: lw anami Shoten,1953)]
04 I Na ra Yoshitomo + Murakami

Murakami , who has established a large workshop and manages th e

Takashi "On sen Taidan (Ze npen)

business of selling his work very efficiently , even purring anti-

Itsu mademo Ow aranai Na tsuyasumi

speculation clauses into purchasing contra cts .

Spring (Part I) A Summ er Holid ay

In one of his projects during his solo exhibition at the YokohamaMuseum of Art in 2001, "I DON'T MIND , IF YOU FORGET ME.", [ FIG.I ]people sent Nara handmade sruffed dolls and he sent message s with his

no camen [Ta lkin g in the H otthat Neve r Comes to an End] ,"BijutJu Techo,Nove m ber 2001 , 18(che issue with a spec ial feature on
Murakam i Takashi) . It is
worthwh ile to note that Nara reveals

drawing ro th em in reply. [, 04 ] Nara 's attitude is such char it allows spaceas follows: "I send a hand-w ritten

for works with an un specifi ed prov enance. His practice obviously leads todrawing on each one, to Jtay equal

the possibility of forgerie s. On the oth er hand , we should not e char

thank you pos tcard wich mywith rhe person who sent me thestu ffed doll. I wanted to achievethrough these actions, he keep s hi s words, "I draw any things char I likein any way char I lik e."even co mmun icat ion, w ichout one
being on the top or under che ocher
one, chroug h my accio n." (italicized

As has been shown in this symposium , the price of an artwork is a facror

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian•ness• ? : The Specter of Locality

by the auth or)

Presentation 2

I Hosaka Kenjiro I

osI Gary Garrels,"Preface,"
Drawing Now: Eight Propo1itiom

chat certainly helps co affirm the status of an artist. That is one reason(New York : The Museum ofchat I mentioned several examples of prices at the beginning of chis

Modern Art , 2002) , 6.

presentation.
The works chat bring high prices , however, are mainly paintings,
sculpture, and installations. In ocher words, they are usually fairly large
in size. Some small works, like Damien Hirsc 's For the Loveof God ( 2007) ,bring a high hammer price, but chis is usually because they are
constructed of precious materials. Mose drawings are small and quite
simple in structure, made with nothing but paper and pencil. Even if
they are put up for auction, they do not break any records.
So what happens co drawings? Unfortunately, they do not create asensation in the world. They exist quietly. Considering, however, chatdrawings are made not only as studies for paintings, sculptures, andinstallations, but also in the conceptual stages of musical composition,novels, and films, one wonders why drawing is regarded so lightly 1
Lee us listen co the voice of Gary Garrels , formerly chief curator ofdrawings at the Museum of Modern Arc, New York, in a quote from his
introduction co the catalogue of "Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, "held at MoMA Queens from 2002 co 2003.

The strong presence of drawing in contemporary arc remains
relatively unrecognized, because drawing often stay in the gallery 's
drawers and backrooms, or may not even leave the artists ' studios. (,0 5]

The appearance of the word "gallery " here is very interesting because it
plainly recognizes the role played by galleries in the arc scene since the1990s. One might even say chat it suggests a clear awareness chat theexistence of arc is nor fully realized unless it is marketed as a produce
rather than simply presented as a work of arc produced by an artist. It
should be noted, however, chat intentionally or not, drawings arecomparatively free from playing on its value in economic exchange likesome ocher arc forms.

I have alluded here co the unfairly low status given co drawings, but of
FIG.I

Exhibition view of "Yoshitomo

Nara: I DON'T MIND , IF YOU

course there have been times when they were given more academic andarc historical attention than ochers. During the 20th century, for

FORGET ME .", YokohamaMuseum of Arc, 200 l

32s I 329

example, there were three periods , the 1920s, the 1960s , and the 1990s,

Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia

I AsianArtafterPostmodernismI

when drawings were seen as important. More specifically, drawings were
noticed in connection with French Surrealism in the 1920s, with German
Socialist Pop in the 1960s and 1970s, and with subcultural trends inJapan and the West Coast of the United States in the 1990s.
Arr critic Matsui Midori has accurately observed and described the arcs ofthese three periods as radical manifesrarions of the "unconscious," "massimagination," and "the concerns of youth." She points our char thedrawings of each period were intermittent attempts to restore categories
that had been marginalized by a discourse developed to justify avant-gardeart. [•06] They restored the margins; or, more precisely, they revived chose
FIG.2

that were forced to be marginalized. But why was it necessary to do so'
Ir may be char there was a need to criticize aesthetic judgments based on"analysis of pure form," a rationale by which the avant-garde was

Nara Yoshiromo, untitled, 2008
©Yoshicomo Nara, Courtesy:
Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo

striving to justify themselves with some vehemence. Such criticism wasnecessary because art has another function; that is, arriving at spiritualideas through the sense of vision. This function might be described asanti-aesthetic, as I will discuss later, and it is the function that Naraattempted to carry our in his drawings. Ir is the function of eliciting
empathy through the projection of emotion, in the process creating a
new relationship between the work and the viewer, or between the artist
and the viewer as individuals.
However, the academic reception of Nara in the West has focused on
finding the non-aesthetic aspects of this work rather than recognizing its
anti-aesthetic function.

FIG.J

Nara Yoshitomo, untitled, 2004

© Yoshicomo Nara, Courtesy:
Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo

Let us look at the way Nara was treated in "Drawing Now: Eight
Propositions " at MoMA Queens in New York. The eight propositions
were sections structuring the exhibition: "Science and Art, Nature andArtifice ," "Ornament and Crime: Toward Decoration, " "Drafting andArchitecture, " "Drawing Happiness, " "Mental Maps and Metaphysics,""Popular Culture and National Culture ," "Comics and Other
Subcultures, " "Fashion, Likeness, and Allegory. "Where was Nara placed' Ir was nor in "Drawing Happiness" or "Popular
Culture" but "Comics and Other Subcultures " along with Murakami
Takashi and Barry McGee.
The idea to combine "Nara with comic" or "Nara with subculture" isprobably derived from the images of little boys and girls with large eyesthat he frequently draws. However, the images in his work are not based

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian-ness• ? : The Specter of Locality

06 I Matsui Midori "Hirakareta
Seishin no Ucsuwa [An Open
Mental Vessel]," BijutJu Techo,April

2000 , 63 - 71 (the issue with a
special feature on drawings).

Presentation 2

I Hosaka Kenjiro I

07 I One of rhe portraits that Nara
had produced over and over is t hat of"Hinag iku," which was featu red as
illuscracion in Yoshimoto Banana's
novel H inagiku nojimei [The Life ofon any particular characters [Fic.,J. With the exception of a very few
examples, he does nor repeat the same fig ures. Therefore , it is necessary
to criticize this view to a certain extent. [, 07] I would also like to point

Hin agiku ] . Daily, the epoch-

our is char the figures in his work are rendered in a typological manner

making portrait, was conceived asrather than being made into cartoon characters. In this respect theyfruition of "Hina gik u ." On Daisy,
Nara states: "She shows no anger,

resemble the figures in religious paintings.

but shows somethin g sublime. Have

Just as there are various ways of depi cting angels, Nara 's prolific number

confidence! This is a good piece!"
For discussion on the lineage leadingco "H inag iku" with in the broad
context of arc, including film andpunk rock, see Azumaya Takashi's"Playing with Death," Bijutsu Techo,
July 2000, 65- 69 (the issue withspecial feature on Nara Yoshicomo).
For discussion on "sublim e" inNara's work, see Goda Masaco's"Furueru Te to Chisana Suko: Na ra
Sakuh in ni Miru Kyokai noof boys and girls are rendered in a variety of ways [Fic.3] . Their bodi es,
hands, and feet are freely enlarged or reduced to fir the size of thepicture . Individualized as well as typologically categorized , they areawkwardly self-sufficient in the pictorial space. Viewers put their
feelin gs into th ese boys and g irls, projecting their own childhood oryouth on them. As a result, feelings of empathy arise. They recall a rime
when hatred and love were unified, words and music were

Tetsugaku [Shaking Hands andundifferentiated , and there was no di stinction between sense andSmall Sub lime: The Philosophy of

nonsense. These phenomena come back to them in their originallyBorder in Nara's Artwork ] ," Bijutsu

Techo,December 2001, 74 - 78 (theissue is a supplementary reader on

undifferentiated condi rion ... and this is exactly what makes experiencesof Nara 's drawings so unique. [, 08]

Nara Yoshicomo).
08 I To acqu ire a sense of nondistinction as a result of empathy , inJust the same, Nara does nor make his arr with the aim of creating
empathy with ochers. In fact, the reverse is true . To quote the artist:

effect, could encourage reflection on
the way of thinking chat supposes
the subject -objec t opposition. This is

I try hard to entirely eliminate any awareness of "you." The reason is

discussed by Omori Shozo in Shin-that I do nor want to add a main dish to the meal. If I am thinking

Shikaku Shin-ron [A New Theory on

Vision] (Tokyo: University of Tokyo
Press, 1982) and Tokiwa Nagarezu[The Time Stays Still ] (Tokyo,
Seidosha, 1996 ). Tsurumi Shunsuke
points out chat since Nara renders
children faces wich some fluid

about you, I will provide variou s services in the picture. I try nor to
do thi s. Unless I rake this approach, my true self will nor come our.
When I think about "you " or "all of you," I cannot work with myown hands. [, 09]

muscle showing on the surface, theportra its have expressions chatcannot be easily identified as "being
happy" or "being d issatisfied," andthe "expression of the subconsc ious is

Because Nara uses such casual words as "main dish" or "service," we may
nor fully appreciate what he is trying to say, that it is necessary tomore apparent th an chose of therecognize that there is an absolute distinction between self and other, aadults." Thi s d iscussion is recorded

distinction that causes the other to disappear. By strictly recognizing

in Tsurumi Shunsu ke + Nara
Yoshicomo "Taidan : H icoride
Arukeru Hi co ni Narukoto[Dialogue: To Become an Adult
Who Could Walk on his Own]"
Bijutsu Techo,December 200 1, 104-112 (the issue is a supplementary
reader on Na ra Yoshicomo).

330

I 331

this distinction, Nara shows a desire to restore the primary relationshipbetween self and other .
Nara's drawings appeared in the 1990s, the same decade as the newaesthetics of Gernnor Borne and Wolfgang Welsch , which were based on
sensory perception and opposed to German Idealism. The riming was nor

Count10 Before You Say Asia

I Asian Art after Postmodernism I

a coincidence. In that period, I believe theorises and artists shared theview that art is a peculiar, artificial thing chat can make people feelsomething undifferentiated, keeping it in an undifferentiated state,
before it conveys or demonstrates anything in particular. [•IO]
Because Nara's drawings are always open to this sort of new and fresh
relationship, they are sometimes felt as necessary even by people who do
not ordinarily need art. In chis sense, they can be described as "objects"
rather than "artworks." The word "object" is made up of ob, meaning "infront of," and jacere, meaning "thrown," so it means something thrownout in front of a person. Nara made another bold pronouncement chatshould be understood in relation ro chis condition of his work:

I believe chat the concept of what society calls "art" is something
chat I can completely ignore. [ 11]0Nara Yoshiromo makes drawings from a point of view that is suspiciousof the concept of arc as such. His drawings, which always continue to be"objects," cast doubt on the project of modernity, which is giving
meaning to everything and stripping the objectivity from the object
through rational intelligence. This issue is not limited ro the example of
Nara 's art but has a wider application .
Drawings since 1990, as represented by the work of Nara, have aimed atcarrying out a simple function in the society into which they are thrown.
They have oft en attempted an "anti-oedipal " escape from economic
activity. Also, by retaining an extremely personal quality , they haveaimed at staying on the level of objects of empathy rather than objects of

09 I Na ra Yos hicomo + Murakam i

Takashi, Bijutsu Techo,N ove mberinterpr etation.

200 1, 21. See note 04.

Their works , which in a sense reject interpcetations , are criticized as"weak, " exactly for that reason that they "try to retain themselves to be
objects of empathy. " Also, as is demonstrated in the case study by
Theodor Lipps , the understanding

chat a self exists in ochers is madepossible by the projection of emotion rather than a mental operation likeanalogical inference. Furthermore , it was no ocher than art chat brought

IO

I Om o ri Shozo reached anunderstand ing ofTenchi Ujo (natureis also emotional) in 1996 . "To put
it simpl y, the world is emotional, as
in TenchiUjo. Hum ans ex ist only asa sm all foreg round chat co nnects cothe heaven and the earth, sharing
their em otion s. Such em otio ns are,in fact, what we understand as chose

Lipps to this understanding(th e self-other issue turn ed mor e radical after then).

feelings that we 'keep to ou rselves',"Asahi Shimbun, Evening Edition,

November l2, l996.

Finally, I would like to consider the role chat might be played in Asia by
11

the art of drawing , which seeks empathy in this way.

I Session3 I Liquktationof "Asian-ness"? : The Specter of Locality

I Nara Yoshicom o + Murakami

Takashi , 20 .

Presentation 2

I Hosaka Kenjiro I

I organized an exhibition entitled "Emotional Drawing, " which
presented drawings from Asia and the Middle Ease [Fic.4] . The title did
not specifically refer co these geographic regions because I wanted coavoid the use of the word "Asia" co be used as an adjective chat describes
a certain formal or conceptual characteristics, something chat happens
coo frequently.
Since the 1990s, there has been an increase in the number of artists who
specialize in drawing, and many of chem are from areas like Asia, SouthAmerica, and Africa which lie outside of the West, narrowly defined.
Laura Hopcman, curator of the "Drawing Now" exhibition at MoMA
Queens in 2002, published an article titled "Drawing is a Noun" in
2000. While paying tribute co the words of Richard Serra, "Drawing is averb," Hoptman declared the independence of drawings as works of art.
The artists she referred co were all non-Western, with the exception of
Raymond Pettibon from the West Coast of the United States. They
included William Kentridge of South Africa, Barry McGee, a ChineseAmerican, Gabriel Orozco of Mexico, and Toba Khedoori, born in
Sydney of Iranian parents, among ochers. From chis lineup, it is possible
co imagine a story of a peripheral force becoming the primary motivation
for making drawing into a noun or a story of marginal artists moving
coward drawing rather than painting with the same result.
But chis is the story of the creator. What about the audience? This

FIG.4

Exhibition view of"A Perspective on Contemporary Art 6: Emotional Drawing,"

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2008 Photo by Kioku Keizo

332

I 333

Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafterPostmodernismI

question leads us to a different understanding. In the Asian arr scene,
where the institution of the arr museum is nor fully mature, thealternative spaces are showing rapid growth, I feel that making directaccess in and experience of arr is still highly relevant. In this region,
artists and viewers are nor concerned about whether arr is a noun or a

12

I Doreen Massey, "Power-

geomerry and a progress ive sense ofplace," J. Bird, B. Cunis, T.
Putnam, G. Robertson and L

Tic kner, eds ., Mapping the Futnrt.J:

LocalCultures,Global Change(London: Routledge), 59 - 69.

verb, bur both have a strong interest in how a drawing functions for them
personally. In ocher words, "Drawing is a funcrion."This is one of theadvantages of drawing (or arcin general) in Asia.
Of course, we might be concerned that this localizing attitude,
privileging a certain region such as Asia, might lead to exclusionism. In
chis context, one is reminded of the English sociologist and geographer
Doreen Massey's suggestion that chis can be prevented by changing thecommunity's basic way of chinking from essentialism to nominalism . [,,z ]With be bold and succinct, Massey says that we should look at thecharacteristics of communities as acquired rather than inborn. In anominalisr community, identity is nor maintained in the same way as inan essentialist community. Ir is nor guaranteed. Ir is nor overtly
acknowledged. A nominalisr community is entirely reformulated as arelational space with all purposes eliminated. And chis space is a relative
product of the will of each individual to make chis relationship continue.
Ir is often pointed our char Massey 's theories have a utopian character,bur I do nor believe char the story they cell is especially fantastic forpeople who know Nara 's work . Because, as Nara 's works indicate,drawing, leads to empathy, enabling continuous update of therelationship between the ultimately localized entity of the self, and theego of the Other. In this way, drawing is a critical model in today 's
globalizing world.
Translated by Stanley N. Anderson

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian-ness•?: The Specter of Locality

Presentation 2

I Hosaka Kenjiro I

I Session 3 I Presentation 3

The Politicsof the "Decorative"
TanakaMasayuki
Assoc iate Professor , College of Art and Des ign, Musash ino Art University

The title of my presentation today is "The Politics of the 'Decorative',"bur what I plan to discuss are two tendencies one notices regarding
particula rly decorative expression in recent "Asian arc" (a concept which isitself obviously open to debat e in the context of this symposiwn).

The first is thetendency to chink of decorativeness as being peculiar to a culture, inother words, the tendency to see it as linked closely to the traditions,heritage and assets of one culture ( what I will refer to as being "closed"). The
ocher tendency, which is its opposite, uses decorativeness as somethingthat severs associations with a particular culture, breaks down restrictive
Tanaka Masayuki

borders and, thus, creates a situation of openness . As an example of theclosed tendency I will look at Murakami Takashi's concept of "superflat," while as an example of the open tendency I will look at the work ofPakistani painter Shahzia Sikander .

One of the defining characteristics of Japanese arc is "decorariveness"chus argued the famous arc historian Yashiro Yukio . In the lecture
entitled "Sekai ni okeru nihon bijursu no ichi [The place of Japanese arr
in the world]" he conducted in May, 1935, he scared:

I think the key underlying trait of paintings in Japan was its
remarkable decorativeness [--·] The flat and decorative depictions ,which were charming and full of feeling, were one of thewonderfu l and unique characteristics of Japanese arc. [, 01]

Why is Japanese arc "flat and decorative "? Yashiro seeks the reason in01

I YashiroYukio,Sekai ni Okeru"the nature of the Japanese land." Japanese nature, he says, is "colorful,"Nihon BijutJu no !chi [The Positionand "J apanese arc again and again demonstrates this decorative qua lityof Japanese Art in the World] ,due to its deve lopment within this decorative nature ." [ , 02 ]Kodansha Gakujucsu Bunko (Tokyo:

Kodansha, 1988), 137.
02

I Yashirn, 138- 139.

334

I 335

As the most archetypal example of this kind of decorativeness, Yashiro
discusses Ogata Korin's Irises, from a sceneof the Tales of lse. He praises theCount10 BeforeYouSayA.sia I AsianArtafterPostmodernismI

work as follows:

Who besides the Japanese could have produced such a boldcomposition, could have taken so daring and luxuriously decorative
an approach as to fill a pair of gold screens with just blue flowers andgreen leaves' [ , 03)

In ocher words, he says decorativeness is connected so closely withJapan's nature chat it is also linked inextricably with the Japanesepeople. Extending Yashiro 's argument, decorativeness is something chattranscends Japanese arc and becomes, in face, an element of the national
identity.
In order to bring Japan and Japanese art 's decorativeness into relief,

Yashiro secs up several dualisms. For example, in a comparison with
Western arr, Yashiro contrasts Japanese decorativeness with a Western"realness" or "realism. " To borrow Yashiro 's words , Western art
constitutes a "depiction of nature made with profundity and seriousness;
it confronts nature head-on and penetrates to its very core. " [ •04 ) He also
compares Japanese ink painting with Chinese ink painting, saying
Chinese works have a "depth and solemnity ," "a sense of inscrutability
like it is closed and inaccessible" chat makes viewers feel "like they haveg limpsed a dark , dark world devoid of color. " The Japanese works , hecontinues, are "vibrant and dignified" in their color, "vivid andstylish. " [ , 05) Many of you would have already noticed chat in contrast to
Japanese arc's two-dimensionality"flatness," the "depth" and"profundity " of Western and Chinese arc is emphasized. With thisdualistic way of thinking, as in the cases of Japan versus the West or
decorativeness versus realism, clear line is established between two
opposing ideas and thus Japanese arc-not
people themselves-is

to mention

Japan and its

brought into relief.

Japanese art might well be "flat and decorative. " Bur it also goes wirhour
saying that decorativeness is nor unique to Japan. Another example ofparticularly decorative art is that of Islam. It seems Yashiro himself
realized this, writing that "the decorativeness and symbolism of Japanese
arc is not simply abstract decorativeness and symbolism like that of, forexample, Arabian arc. It is in fact connected extremely closely withI Session 3 I Liquidationof •Asian-ness•?: The Specter of Locality

03 I Yashiro , 140 .

04 I Yashiro, 139.
05 I Yashiro , 150 .

Presentation 3

I Tanaka Masayuki I

06 I Yashiro, 156.

nature and arises out of a love for nature ." [ •0 6] He distinguishes the07 I Remi Labrusse, "L'Epreuve dedecorativeness of Islamic art from that of Japanese art by assessing

canger," Le Maroc de MatiJSe(Pacis: Gallimacd, 1999), 32.

whether they stem from nature. Personally, I think this assertion is

08 I l.abrusse, 32.

deeply mistaken.

09 I Fo r example, we can consider
the following dichotomies:

Now, in the West, from the end of the 19th century on, an anti-

arr/ decoration ; high art / low art;
arr/ kit sch ; artist / craftsman;creative /repetitive;

Naturalist form of expression developed reacting against realism. One
example of an artist who rejected realistic depictions in favor of a flatspi ritual / m aterial ;autonomous /sub mi ssive;cent ral /peripheral;
Western / non-We ste rn;
civili zed /primitive; cultura l/ natural ;male / female, etc.

decorative expression is the oft-cited Henri Matisse. Among his works
are the particularly "flat and decorative, " Arab Cafe(l 913, State Hermitag e
Museum) and The Painter's Family (1911, State Hermitage Museum), and, as weare told often, it was Islamic art that most influenced these works.
Exhibitions of Persian art were held in Paris in early 20th century, and it
is with the Persian miniatures that Matisse's work is often connected.
For example, it is argued that Matisse was inspired to fill The Painter's
Family with plants and decorative motifs as a result of seeing theminiature The First Meeting of Prince Houmay and Princess Houmayoun,which is owned by the Musee des Arts Decorarifs. [•07]Not only is it possible to sense the proximity of Islamic art in Matisse's
The Painter 's Family, but at the same time the work also refers toCezanne 's Card Players. [ •08 ] In other words, the image is constructed asa fusion of elements from Cezanne and Islamic art. Personally, I get the
feeling that the flow of modernism running from Cezanne throughMatisse is pierced deeply by what you could call the wedge of Islamicartistic decorativeness. I believe in this work you can get a sense of thenegotiation, or give-and-rake or struggle that was raking place between
Western modernism and the decorativeness of Islamic art.
Of course, if anything it was the suppression of decorativeness withwhich modernism developed over history. Decorativeness is associatedwith craftspeople more than artists, with traditional and imitative
reproduction rather than creativity, with physicality rather thanspirituality and with subordination to commerce rather than autonomy
and freedom. Decorativeness is seen as an inessential evil, a crime. [•09]The issue of the decorativeness lurking in Matisse 's work has been
suppressed as a kind of inconvenient other, a impediment ro the theoryof purity. I would like to quote from Clement Greenberg, who (rath er
brusquely)

discusses Matisse's later works using paper cur-ours , as follows:

Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafterPostmodern
ism I

IO

[These cut-outs] are more truly pictorial than decorative, in spite of
the fact that Matisse intended several of them to serve mainly

1 Clement Greenberg, "Partisan

Review 'Art Chronicle: 1952 '," Art
and Culture (Boston: Beacon Press,

1961), 148, note I. Greenberg's
passage is quoted in Norma Broude,

decorative ends. [•ml"Miriam Schapiro and 'Femmage':

Reflections on the Conflict Between
Decoration and Abstraction in

The Pakistan-born Shahzia Sikander is perhaps an artist who isattempting to address this problem of the relationship between Westernmodernism and Islamic decorativeness today. [•n J After entering the
National College of Arts in Lahore in 1988, she studied the miniaturetechnique. However, that is not to say that miniatures were respected inPakistan as a traditional artistic technique or that their value as cultural
heritage was even actively taught. According to Sikander, "mi niatur e
painting supposedly represented our heritage , yet we reacted to it withsuspicion and ridicule. I had grown up thinking of it as kitsch." (•12) So,
in a Pakistani art school where the teaching had probably been greatly
influenced by Western modernism, miniatures were considered kitschand old. They were nothing more than the kind of cheap paintings soldTwentieth-Century

Art," Norma

Broude and Mary D. Garrard,eds.,
Feminitmand Art History: Que.uioning
the Litany (New York: Harper &Row, 1982), 320. This article
skillfully argues the relationshipbetween modernism anddecorativeness.
11

I See the following for Shahzia

Sikander. Vishakha N. Desai,
Convt1'sations with Tradition;: Ni/ma

Sheikhand Shahzia Sikander (NewYork: Asia Society, 2001); Lynn M.
Herbert, "Regarding Spirituality:
Shahzia Sikander,"Art 21: Art in theTwmty-FirII Century (New York:

Harry N. Abrams, 2001), 93 - 99;
Robert McCarthy, ed.,at souvenir shops to tourists. I think the fact that these miniature"Miniaturizing Modernity: Shahzia

paintings were considered kitsch is very important. Sikander did not

Sikander in Conversation withstart studying miniatures as a culturally important technique related toher own heritage, and likewise she did not believe they would help

Homi K. Bhabha,"Dilip
ParameshwarGaonkar, ed.,Alternativt Modernities(Duke
University Press, 2001), 165- 171;
Fereshteh Daftari, "Beyond Islamic
Modernism,"RES:

FIG.I

Roots-Beyond

ShahziaSikander,PerilousOrdn-,

Anthropologyand AmheticJ, 43,1997, Whitney Museum of

Spring 2003, 175- 186; Ian Berry

American Art, New Yorkand Jessica Hough, Shahzia
Sikander:NemesiI(Saratoga Springs,
NY: The FrancesYoung Tang
Teaching Museum and Art Gallery,
Skidmore College, 2004); Fereshteh
Daftari, Homi K. Bhabha, andOrphan Pamuk, eds., Without
Boundary:SeventeenWaysof Looking(New York: The Museum ofModern Art, 2006); ~n

Kissaneand Homi K. Bhabha, eds., Shahzia
Sikander(Milan: Chatra/Dublin:
Irish Museum of Modern Art,
2007); ContemporaryMiniature

Paintingi from PakiJtan (Fukuoka:
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum,2004).
12

I FereshtehDaftari, Without

Boundary:SevenWay1of Looking,14.

I Session3 I Llquldatlonol "Asian-Mu"?: The5-teto!Loc:alily

Presentation 3

I Tanaka Masayuld Iestablish her identity. She was neither trying to preserve the techniquefor posterity, nor position herself within the history of Islamic art. She
chose to incorporate the miniature technique into her own art for noother reason than that it was kitsch. In so far as she was trying to invert
the value system, her choice was sufficiently defiant.
In order to receive postgraduate level education Sikander moved toAmerica. As a result, her unlikely mixture of traditional Islamic art
techniques with Western modernism became an even more importantpart of her art. Furthermore, miniature-like rendering becomes morethan something that could simply "turn over the existing values. "FlG.2

Shah2iaSikander, #l from the series

51 Way.rof Looking,2004, Private

A good example is her work Peri/ouJOrder(1997, Whitney Museum of American
Art) [ FIG.r] . The central part of the painting

Collection

is drawn with a decorative

border in the way of a miniature. Also, around the miniature-esque anddecorative border is a plane of color reminiscent of abstract painting
within the Western modernism tradition. Over the entire surface of thepainting is a grid of round dots. According to Sikander, these dots

i___

I

represent Minimalism because of their repetition of an identical form .
The works in which the connection between Western modernism anddecorativeness is most clearly (almost too clearly) addressed are the first three
sheets in Sikander's 51 ~YJ of Lookingseries. The first is an extremely
simple work, with just a black rectangle painted in its center [ FIG.,] .
Anyone vaguely familiar with modern art will immediately recall the

FIG.J

ShahziaSikander, #2 from the series

modern tradition running from Kasimir Malevich's Black Square(1914-15,

51 Waysof Looking,2004, Private

ScaceTtetyakov Gallery) throughCollection

Ad Reinhardt and ochers' so-called black

painting .
In the center of the second sheet there is a similar black rectangle [ FIG.J].
However, in chis work the rectangle is surrounded by a decorative borderof organic motifs similar co chose found in miniature paintings. The
composition sees modernism in the center and decoration on the border .
In the third work the same motif is repeated, but here the central black
rectangle bleeds into the surrounding organic border, thus losing in partits geometric form [FIG.4] .
The work can obviously be read as saying chat decorativeness is
encroaching on modernism . You might even say chat by introducing
decorativeness, which in theory would have been criminal or kitsch,

FlG.4

Shah2iaSikander, # 3 from the series

51 Waysof Looking,2004, Private
Collection

338

I 339

Sikander is launching an attack on modernism. However, I chink in so
categorizing the work, one loses sight of an important point . The work (#3)

Count10BeforeYouSayAslaI AsianArtafterPostmodemismIgives one the impression chat the black plane of color and the decorarive

13 I Rosalind Krauss, "Reading

motif are blending with each ocher. I do not chink it is the case chat theof theAvant-Garde and Other

decorative is simply being shown as triumphant over the modern .
What Sikander is doing is blurring the boundary between the two . She

Poll ock, Abstractly, " The Originality

ModernistMythJ (Cambridge, Mass.,and Londo n, U K : MIT Press,

1986), 238.

often repeats herself how important chis is co her work process. Lee's turnco the work Fleshy Weapons(1997, collection of the art ist) [Fic.5] . le looks
unmistakably South Asian, religious maybe, lik e it 's go t something co dowith a Hindu goddess of destruction. Bue, chis goddess is wearing a veilof the type chat an Islamic woman would wear. In ocher words, chis is animage chat renders a strange integration of the Muslim and the Hindu
religions. Sikander's origins are in Pakistan, so she is a Mu slim, while
Hinduism-it

goes without saying-is

the relig ion of Pakistan 's

enemy , India . A goddess is depicted in the picture; in Hindui sm
goddesses are common, but in Islam they are inconc eivable. Th e artist
herself explains that th e aim of the work is co question the very
simplicity with which things are conceived of in dualities: Hinduism
and Islam , Pakist an and India. As thou g h co resist chis division , chisseparation and drawing of boundari es, the strings attached co thegodd ess' feet are int ertwined.
"The square is the expression of a dualist way of thought. Dualist ways ofthought di stin g uish between stimulus and no stimulus, one andnothing."[•13]

Th ese are the words of Mal evich , but they describ e well

the very Western modernise way of chinkin g against which Sikand er was
resisting-inocher words, che way of chinkin g whereby each genre is
FIG.5 (Jd"1)

Shahzia Sikander, Fle1hyWeapom,
1997, Collection of the Arrist
FIG.6 (right)

Shahzia Sikander, PleasurePillars,
2001, Private Collect ion

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian-ness·?: The Specter of Locality

Presentation 3

I Tanaka Masayuki I

14 I Homi Bhabha uses the term··kinesis" co discu ss mobility inShikander's work. See Homi K.
Bhabha, "Beg innin g Aga in," inKissane and Bhabha, Shahzia

Sikander, 35 - 4 1. See noce 11.

made discrete so that there can be no mixing. Sikander 's deliberate
obscuring of distinctions, divisions and boundaries occurs in a kind of
hybrid or unifying way (different rhings are mixed together), as in FleJhy
Weapom, but it also occurs in a more chaotic, mixed form of expression.
Pleamre Pillars (2001 , private collection) [FJG.6] is an example of this kind ofwork. Here dancing girls have been taken from miniatures and placed at
the work's four corners. Dots have also been spread about on top of them.
In the top center of the work, as though to symbolize the West , there is afighter plane and to its immediate right is a mythical flying monster.
Fighter planes are located in the lower portion of the painting, too, butthere they are arranged to form a flower pattern immediately behind
which is a plant made to look like the leaves of the flower. Here, as withthe painting overall, many elements have been brought together. Easternelements and Western elements, traditional elements and contemporary
elements: all are in fact mixed together and none has precedence-there
is no conception of a choice between one or the other.
In the center of this work is a female head wearing what appear to be
sheep 's horns. Under that are two headless torsos in a line. One of themis a Western body taken from The VenuJ of Milo, while the other is aSouth Asian body taken from miniatures or sculptures. I don't think theattist is postulating a choice between one or other of the torsos. On thecontrary, the head floating in the middle can choose either of them
freely, and can always switch back and forth between the two. Instead ofchoosing once and for all to belong to one, you can go with one and thengo back to the other, completely freely. I think it is this kind of mobility(or maneuverability or changeability)that is being expressed in the work. [, ,4]In Ridin g the Written (20 00 , collection of th e arcisc) [FIG-7] , this same mobility isshown in the decorative border, in which text melds with horses andhorses meld with text. As a result the text is given meaning completely
different to that it possesses literally. The mobility found in Sikander 'swork is the ability to shift freely from one meaning system to anotherand from one value system to another. Islam or Hinduism, India or
Pakistan, West or East, or perhaps center or border , modernism ordecorativeness, art or kitsch: the idea is that these distinctions (b orders)are blurred. No one value system or meaning system based on one
FIG.7

Shahzia Sikander, Riding the Wrillen,
2000 , Collect ion of che Arcisc

340

I 341

particular culture is given precedence. I believe that the miniature-esqu e
decorativeness found in Sikander's works resist reductionist theorization

Count10 BeforeYouSayA.SWII AsianArtafterPostmodernismIof identity. Instead, it allows them to function as a heterogeneous picture

15 I Leo Steinberg, "Other Criteria,"
Other Criteria: Con/ronlatiom withplane on which diverse things are mixed.

Twentitth-Cmtury Art (London,

I am sure many of you have already realized that the expression "theheterogeneous picture plane " comes from the argument at the center of
Leo Steinberg 's essay "Other Criteria." ( •15) I am also thinking of

Oxford,New York:Oxford
University Press, 1972), 55-91.
16 I Murakami Takashi, SuperFlat(Tokyo: MADRA Publishing Co.,

Led., 2000), 8 -25.

Sikander's paintings in a similar way to what Steinberg described as the"flatbed picture plane. "Zeroing in on the use of the word "flat," some commentators have drawn
parallels between Steinberg's "flatbed picture plane" and Murakami
Takashi's "super flat." However, an examination of the work of Sikander
makes plainly clear that these two ('"flatbed picture plane" and "super flat ") are infact in opposition.
As is lucidly explained in Murakami Takashi's "Theory of the Super Flat
Japanese Art," "super flat," is something rooted in his conscience that
reminds him that he "cannot meet my real 'self"' under the present
circumstances, as he would have to "ponder 'Japan'," where he grew up, orelse, he would be unable to "give Japan a fixed shape." (•16) Accordingly,"super flat" is a "term that integrates artists and works possessing thatunique Japanese sensibility ." By his telling, Japan is reappraised as "thecountry that gave rise to these original forms of expression."
In Murakami's formulation, "super flat" expression must be clearly
distinguishable as something unique to Japan and there must be a clear
line delineating it from other forms of expression. This is the very
antithesis of the mixture seen in Sikander's artwork. Murakami 's is apure and exclusionary "unique Japanese sensibility" that does not permit
impurities. On that basis it might sound like it has something incommon with modernism, but in fact it contradicts it. That is to say, it
presents something limited and localized-something
universal-inthat is notorder to resist a modernism that pursues the kind ofuniversalism seen in geometric abstraction, and for those in the
peripheral to challenge the center .

Sikander's mobility and Murakami 's localism : I have today discussed twotendencies discernible in art where particularly decorative means ofexpression are adopted . You could say I have presented them as a duality.
However, to conclude I would like to point out that this division itself

I Sess"'1 3 I Uquidatlonol •As1an-ness•? : The Spectar of Locality

Presentation3 I TanMa Muoyuld

I17 I Sawaragi Noi, "Doubutsu ka,

Otaku ka, Cho-heimenteki ka,

might be blurred. A question exists as to whether Murakami Takashi's

Heimen no Chokatsu ka [Animal?

conception of Japanese artistic uniqueness can really be borne out or not.

Otaku? Super flat-like? orFor example, take the otaku culture on which his works are based: there

Overcoming Flatness?]," Bijutsu

Techo, November 2001, 98-101.

has obviously been a giant influence exerted on anime pioneer Tezuka
Osamu by American popular culture (such as Disney animations). One can also
recall Sawaragi Noi's assertion chat despite Murakami setting up "superflat" as the "Japanese reality," it is in fact less a Japanese reality than theembodiment of an ideal form of American painting.

(•17]

In fact, within

Murakami's "Theory of Super Flat Japanese Art," he discusses thedifficulty of making distinctions between the Japanese words geijutJu,
bijutJu and the English term "arc." He raises, as an opposing concept to

the geijutJu-ka (arcisc), the geino-jin (encertainer) and discusses the nature ofcreators who straddle both professions. Despite the limitedness
proclaimed in Murakami's "super flat" theory, it seems that it coo
possesses a latent mobility.
Translated by Edan Corkill

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Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafterPostmodernism
II Session3

Discussion
HayashiMichioI Moderator (MC)Florina H. Capistrano-Baker+Hosaka Kenjiro+Tanaka Masayuki
Maeda KyojiICommenta tor

MC

I I would like to open our discussion now. The three presentations

each referred to different fields, bur happen to draw on common issues,
such as the issues related to tradition, genre /medium-specific practices,and decorativeness. We can approach them from various angles, and thatis why I find this session to be more challenging than the others. Ir isdifficult to find a focus.
I would like to first invite Mr. Maeda to comment, and then invite
others to join for a discussion.

Maeda

I This is Maeda again. I have talked far too much today, and since

we started out in the morning today, I feel that I am starting to slowly
recoil. So, let me be short and touch on three points.
First, is about the word "media" rhat Professor Hayashi mentioned earlier.

In Session 2, we discussed Suh Do Ho and the clothing that heincorporates in his work. As Dr. Baker described in her presentation,
clothing or dresses are symbols that represent class, position, or power,
and their role is to appeal ro the external world. They are also close to
the skin and have qualities that are physical. According to Dr. Baker,
during the course of hybridization, subtle shifts were made in theconfiguration of Filipino dresses . For instance, although they visuallyfollowed the forms of European mode, their tactile qualities consisted ofthin nipis. So, in this context, clothing or dresses are like agents thatmediate between the self and the Other; it is, in fact, a media.
Mr. Hosaka's point was that although drawings would not be able toarticulate the differences between the self and the Other, it would be
able ro mediate between the two. Drawing, then, is a media thatinterfaces the self and the Other.
Professor Tanaka's presentation was to posit decorativeness against thedichotomy that divides the self and the Other . Decorativeness is often

I Session3 l Liquidationof •Asian-ness·?: TheSpecter of Locality

Discussion Iconsidered to be rhe fringe of whar is essential. Although it is in the
periphery, it laces the border, decorates the edge and affects the main
body. And, it eventually obliterates the margin that divides the two.
I could call decorativeness a parergon,or media. Determining which term
to apply could be a delicate issue. But I think Professor Tanaka meant todiscuss decorativeness as a metaphor that could agitate the existing
dichotomy. So I suggest that we first discuss the idea of media.
My second suggestion is to discuss the term "borderline" in relation todichotomy. The word "borderline" includes the word, "line." I have once
heard Professor Hayashi talk about lines and their qualities, but I would
like to add my own views to suggest yet another topic for discussion.
In the West, a line is considered a form that is clear and rational. The
same view is shared in Asia, where lines in calligraphy are respected withgreat care. In the culture of kanji (Chinese characters), the number of strokes(lines) is counted

by kaku units. kaku means to separate, so the lines

separate entities. To connect this with Mr. Hosaka's presentation, lines
in drawings are drawn just once and non-repetitive.
Lines could be one off but could potentially be repetitive. For example,
William Kentridge produces video works out of his drawings. His
approach is not to simply impose a repetitive method into an exhibition
space. Also in the Eastern sense, calligraphy is an embodiment of thespirit, so tracing over the lines is likened to inheriting the spirit of theoriginal writer. That is why rinmo, or the act of copying, is revered.
Through the process of copying, the spirits unite. Lines are what mediate
this process.
Recently a book entitled Enpitsu de Okuno Hosomichi(Followin g the Narrow
Road to the Deep North of Matsuo Basho with a Pencil) was publishedand muchtalked about. Probably if you don not live in Japan, you would not befamiliar with this. The book has the text of OkunoHosomichiis printed inlight gray, and you trace over the characters printed on the page. It is
like a textbook that we use in schools for penmanship classes. As wetrain our penmanship by tracing over the lines, it also becomes a processof regulating our spirituality. The tradition of calligraphy becomes live,
and turns into a modern medium. Lines could be repeated, and therefore ,it has the pot en rials to become communal.
My third suggestion is for us to think about the planes , in relation to the

344

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Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafterPostmodernismI

lines, because there was a comment on Murakami Takashi and theconcept of "super flat " in rhe presentation. If the surface is flat, it would
be too slippery, and any arrempt to draw lines on it would fail. This is
the notion that is embedded in Murakami 's theory and his "super flat "paintings. That is why it is ominous and invites a kind of panic thatturns his work into a contemporary one, with an attractiveness that also
rides on the artist 's personal markerability.
So when we talk about lines, we need to also look at the plane thatenables the lines to exist. For example , we could say that Raushenberg 's"flatbed" is something that traces the media. But I have a feeling that
under the current circumstances, ir is rhe marker and other unsparingly
brural events that emerge on to the plane.

MC

I Thank you for a succinct and pertinent comment. Mr. Maeda

suggested three topics for discussion.
Let us first start with the discussion on the nature of lines. Mr. Maeda
said that in the West, lines are media that symbolizes rationality.
Similarly, in the East, they are media that embody spirituality. And it isalso suggested that the repetition plays a double role of making the artist
to incorporate /embody rhe tradition and of degenerating into a mere
formula betraying the expectation of its uniqueness as an event. I
thought you meant to alarm us in this context. Bur, if I may add, it also
seems possible to argue that the automated practice of line provides thebasis for potential diversion by its very automation.
Mr. Hosaka, do you have any comment on this issue?

HosakaI First of all, when we say that lines are "repetitive," we have to

identify the person who will repeat the action. Mr. Maeda, you talked
about an artist drawing a line, and then repeating the action. But does
the repetition or the tracing refer to the aesthetic experience of theviewer who traces over the lines in his view' Or, were you talking about
a different context 'Maeda

I I was nor referring specifically to artists. I was talking about it

in a more general way. But , in the case of forgery of Nara Yoshitomo 's
artwork, the replication or the tracing was certainly not carried out at a

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian·ness•?: The Specter of Localrty

DiscussionI

spiritual level. Of course, in some cases, act of replication could produce
forgery.

HosakaI I'm nor sure if I can give you a convincing answer, bur let metalk about Nara first. During the "Emotional Drawing " exhibition that I
curated, Nara always carr ied papers with him and told me that he would
like to draw whenever he has free rime. We must be careful about whatdrawings mean to him, because he is often misunderstood. When hedraws, he never repeats what he draws. He is, in fact, keen on drawing
new things every rime. Of course, young boys and girls are histypological subjects. Bur each new drawing is a slightly deviated versionof the former. So, it may be an act of "repetition," bur "deviation " ismore central in his activity.
Furthermore, I would like to draw Nara's example again to discuss therepetition's propensity for developing a communal context. Nara isactually trying to evade building a community around him. He does
produce works in large sizes, bur basically, his preference is to draw on
small pieces of papers lik e envelopes. By drawing on something as casual
as an envelope, he enables his viewer to easily access his work.
So, to him, establishing a communication with an individual person isimportant. So getting back to yesterday's discussion, the "peer -to- peer"
communication introduced by Professor Kajiya, somehow gives animpression of a very transparent communication.

Ir may be my personal

impression , bur this is because the word is related to the Internet. Bur
aesthetic experiences or artistic experiences are about engaging withuncertainty. Artworks have residues that resist elucidation. This quality
is crucial and is also an important feature in Nara's drawings. So, I
wanted to draw Nara as an example, because, if I had nor misunderstood,"one-ro-one communication " is slightly different from "peer-to-peer
communication. "MC I Thankyou. Lines can be replicated, and, therefore , forgeries can beproduced as a result. Bur lines could also be automated, and theautomation could trigger deviation, and I believe this was what
automatism in Surrealism was about. I have an impression that Nara 's
acrivi ties are slightly different from this, because there is a moment for

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"exchange" in the process of his art making rhar may be analogous rowhat Surrealists did in their group activities. This is apparent in theepisode about him signing his autograph on his drawings, or sending his
drawings in exchange ro the people who made contributions ro his
exhibition.

In other words, he is obviously conscious of the Other while he makes
his drawings. But, interestingly, he consciously creates an environment
where he shuts our transparent communication and says "I am nor
thinking about you. " Bur again, exposing himself ro rhe Other is aserious business for him. Drawing as a media is probably effective in
activating this paradoxical relationship.
The community is developed and renewed each time. Ir is not somethingthat is already there and granted, bur something rhar gets modified andleads ro multiple directions.
So I would like ro ask Professor Tanaka abour whom, which Others, arethe artworks meant for. Murakami Takashi, for example, had the desire romarket himself in the West. He rook it on as a self-conscious strategy. He
talks about "Japan," "decorativeness," and "flatness," in this context. I do
not know how Shahzia Sikander became known in the international arr
scene, bur I wonder who her target audience is. I would like to know how
the strategies of Murakami and Sikander affected each of their activities.
Tanaka I I am nor sure of the details,

bur from what I know, Sikander

went ro study in the United Sates for a master's course, where she
continued to work on miniature expressions. I suspect that she had somemotivations similar ro Murakami 's. That is, instead of working in styles
similar ro Americans and Europeans, she could have used Islamic andPakistani elements as a strategy ro attract audience.
I personally find her interesting because I do not think that she has
intentions ro emphasize Islamic or Pakistani identity. Even if I tried
hard ro search for elements that reflect on her self-assertion or claiming
the rights of her marginalized identity, I would be frustrated because it
is not easy. And that is what is so interesting about her.

MC

I I agree that Murakami and his references to Japanese art are very

strategic. His "super flat " theory is based on a very distorted

I Session3 I Liquidationof "Asian•ness"1: The Specter of Locality

Discussion I

understandingof Japanese art history. I think this problem could be

related to our discussion on installation from yesterday. For example,
when he describes his theory on "super flat" referring to Japanesetraditional art, Murakami uses photo plates and illustrations, placing
one image at a time on each page. This kind of presentation takes Ito
Jakuchu 's painting out of the context and "flat," ignoring the way it
was originally "installed" in a three dimensional space. This is not
something we are here to discuss today , so I will not delve into chis any
further.
So, I have a question to Dr. Baker. Mr. Maeda said that clothing or
dresses could be strategic, or an important media chat shapes an identity
in the context of relating to the Other.
You point out chat tradition is always being reconfigured in response to
the current demands. So, we must pay attention to the fact thatauthenticity or tradition goes through a series of relocation or
retranslacion. This process is what makes it hybrid . But what I see, inthe current postmodern environment, are hybrid items chat are being
distributed as consumer goods in forms of ethnic food or ethnic fashion.
This is what I would like to describe as "cosmetic hybridicy." In Japanesefashion, one could find a number of Japanese designers who incorporate
Japonistic elements. Bue someone like Kawakubo Rei rakes theseelements to a different level. She integrates new structures into her
design to deviate from the Western concept of fashion . In chat sense,
what happened in Japanese fashion in the 1970s seems very interesting tome. I wonder if the Filipino fashion designers face the same problem. Is
there, for example, a difference between the ones who use traditional
elements ro strategically market their designs and the ones who gobeyond chat to propose more radical ideas about fashion'Baker

I I think that 's a very good question. And I chink the Japanese casethat you cite and the Philippine case are two very different things,
because you're talking of cosmetic hybridity and how cosmetic hybridity
was used in order to commodify products, to make them more sellable in
the West so that they could insert themselves into the Western fashion
arena. Bue my perception of Philippine culture is that it tends to beinvisible overseas, because we are such a hybrid culture. In other words,

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Count10 BeforeYouSayAsia I AsianArtafterPostmodernismIwe have been hybridized for the last half century and, therefore, havebecome invisible because we have this uncanny ability to assimilate into
Western tradition. So that it is very difficult to define, in fact, what is a
Filipino element besides the butterfly sleeves that everybody knows
about. It 's very difficult to pinpoint what is the Filipino element infashion besides this very literal cosmetic strategy that you referred to.
So, I think in the Philippine context I do not see a deliberate use ofcosmetic hybridity , talking of fashion, in order to market it overseas.
We do produce traditional and invent traditional forms for the foreign
market , where we use nipis, from banana fibers, pineapple fabric,embroidered clothing that visitors might want to bring home withthem. But this is not a deliberate merging of disparate elements.
I hope that answered your question.
Tanaka I Professor Hayashi'squestion is interesting, so I want to follow

up but putting it into a context closer to my own interest.
Commodificacion of hybridity is an important issue, but I had notconsidered this before making my presentation. I wonder what would
happen if I examined Sikander's work from this point of view.
Before I make this attempt, I should verify what hybridity is. Ir is
originally a strategy, right ? It is a de-constructive strategy, theorized bytheorists such as Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha. These posrcolinalisrs
studied Jaques Derrida to construct their theory, so they are obviously
working on the basis of deconsrructive concept. For example, hybridiry
was first used in a strategy to agitate the clearly dichotomized
constructions, such as white versus black, or the civilized versus thebarbarians.
So, hybridity is a strategy to undermine Western conceptions. For
example, one would see high tea is something very English. But what we
acknowledge as typically English would not have been possible without
the British colonization of India . So, as high tea undermines the Englishness in this way, we could conclude and say that it is hybrid. And in thiscase, the hybrid strategy has transformed into something that imparts
identity and eventually resulting in commodirizarion.
MC I The situation

surrounding hybridity is currently quite convoluted.

I Session3 I Liquidationof "Asian•ness"? : The Specter of Locality

Twenty years or so have passed since hybridity became the topi c of
discussion in the contexts of poscmodernism and posccolonialism. le has
certainly been a very legitimate theoretical cool. Bue the overwhelming
forces of capitalism are now turning anything hybrid into commodity ,and are all being recalled onto a smooched out surface .
Under such circumstances, the historical process gees lose and theresulting hybridicy remains in the foreground on its own. For example ,co examine the English high tea, which is presently perceived as
quintessentially English, in the context of hybridicy would be a very
critical exercise today. Bue unless you trace the history chat leads co chisoutcome, the criticality of the discussion gees brushed over (invitin g a
simplisti c response, ..How int erestin g !..) and is readily consumed .

So, when we discuss hybridicy or multiculturalism,

we need co be awareof the issues involved in discussing these copies. For once we scare tracing
the history or memory, the once-forgotten "tradition " (as a fictional
constru ct) could be summonedback , and perhaps the whole exercise may

turn into a cat-and-mouse game.
Lee us also reflect on Mr. Maeda's comment about the "plane, " in relation
co how the world is becoming flat and even. Murakami renders thesurface as a smooch and ominous plane. le resists all the traces of lines,
and indicates the flatness of the global market in a metaphorical way.
Professor Tanaka, do you have anything additional comment ?

TanakaI I don't have any good answer , but I have some chinking over codo. If we were co look at Murakami 's surface as a smooch and shiny
plane, we should also refer co the flatbed-based paintings in our analysis .
We should remember chat Leo Steinberg discussed the "flatbed pictur eplane ." Bue the surface in his concept was a very hard plane.

MC

I Mr. Maeda, is there anything co add ?

Maeda

I I'm not able co give you an answer, either, but I chink I do havea comment . When Murakami talks about flatness , he uses chis term withdouble meaning; one of the meanings sees flatness as consequence ofmodernism. And I chink chis is what has heightened his presence in theUni ced Scates. So, even if he is talking about flatness , what he means by

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it is totally different. It is a strategy that cleverly switches meaning andit is very much like an appropriation.
When I interviewed Subodh Gupta the other day, he told me that heuses everyday material just like Marcel Duchamp. So, I identify his
strategy with Murakami 's. It may be a useful strategy, but personally, I
would say it is, somewhat superficial and, in a way, calculating.
MC I Thankyou. I would like to invite Professor Kanai later to comment

on Gupta.
Before then, I have a question to Mr. Hosaka . You used the idea of
empathy to analyze Nara 's drawings. You suggested we consider drawing
as an incentive to create a kind of network. I agreed to some of yourthoughts bur had some reservations as well. Nara could say, "I will notthink about you" when he is drawing. He could send his drawings aspresents. But in return, the audience could reply by saying, "I don't likethis. " They could resist accepting his offer. So, if drawings could
encourage empathy and develop a network of people that share che same
emotions, it means chat the network could be exclusive. They could
ultimately shut out others who do not share the same emotions.

HosakaI I used the word "empathy " with a kind of positive connotation

this time. I thought it was interesting that Mr. Maeda used the word
"flat " as a metaphor to describe today 's global marker. It is the flatness ,or similarities in che contents, that makes the artworks more accessible
and marketable. As a result, some of the works are sold at very highprices.
To tell you the truth, I am personally not interested in the works by theartists discussed in Session 2. (I should perhaps say that I cannot "empathiz e" withthem.) The reason is thatthe works are quite accessible. I feel chat theysuggest a certain framework that does nor leave anything to offer beyond
it. Once we figure the framework out, that is all. In other words, they donor exert the qualities of continuity and sustainability that are essential
to visual experiences.
What I find interesting in drawings, or particularly in Nara 's drawings,
is that they evoke che physicality, for example, personal traces of Nara's
physicality. Nara knows chat there would be people who would not care

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian-ness·?: The Specter of Locality

DiscussionI

for his works. He secures himself so that he can deal with facing
responses that say "I hate it." In other words, he is actually expecting to
get incomprehensible.
The title of the exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art, "I DON'T
MIND, IF YOU FORGET ME.", describes Nara's determination: You
now have empathy or sympathy to send me a doll, but maybe in five
years time, you will not need me any more. But I don't mind. I can live .
Nara is determined to live in isolation while he creates his works. To
put it lyrically, he gives presents and produces many works to create as
many opportunities

as possible to ascertain his isolation . That is why hiswork has a quality that is in quite the opposite of the seemingly
accessible sty le.
MC I Thankyou.

Mr. Maeda commented that Gupta's work is calculating. Mr. Hosaka
said that once he's figured the work out, it's enough to see the works in a
catalogue. Professor Kanai, what is your view?
Kanai Tadashi I Let me first respond to the comment

about being"superficial and calculating." This may be the unfortunate circumstancesof the latecomers into the scene in general. It is the destiny for all artists
after Marcel Duchamp. And this may be an outcome of modernity.
And another point. If you could be satisfied with the catalogue photos,
after having seen the real work once, then we could generalize and saythat the opposite is true, too. Once you see the catalogue photo, you feel
as if you know the work already even before you see the actual one.
The reason I decided to present Gupta in a very particular context, is tosee if the viewers could acquire a perspective that does not simply brush
Gupta aside for the reason of being calculating. I wanted to see ifl could
argue my case as a model for new way of reading art . So the case study
was actually not about Gupta, but about was about testing my own
views. I wanted to focus on how I see the works. I understand where Mr.
Maeda and Mr. Hosaka's comments are coming from, but I wanted torake the existing value standards and attempt to turn it around. I hope
you understand my intentions.
I try ro support my view by making the surface an issue, but I did

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struggle co put my theory together. I initially thought of discussing
Anish Kapoor. I consider Kapoor and Gupta co be symmetrical; the cwo
having seemingly different interests. I wanted co rum your eyes, asviewers, away from che repres entation and the narratives specific co
India, so I turned the focus onto the surface. Kapoor is popular for hishighly sublime, modern style chat maximizes che use of the material
surface. Gupta, on the ocher hand, is situated exactly at the opposite andhis activities are an exactly a reverse of Kapoor's. However, if we focus on
the surface or the flatness of their works, we unexpectedly findcommonalities between the two. And if we compared their works cochose by the artists in Mumbai, the closeness of cwo becomes apparent
and interesting, coo. le is certainly Kapoor and Gupta's interest in thematerial surface chat make their presence in the international arc scene
strong and firm. So, chis is che kind of context chat I cake inco account in
observing Gupta. Of course, I have not been able co reach any
conclusion.
MC I Thank

Tanakayou. Does anybody else have a comment?

I Mr. Hosaka did not seem co be convinced with Mr. Maeda 'scomment . Bue I thought I could connect the two. I was impressed withthe word "non-distinction,"

which Mr. Hosaka used co describe che

artworks in a srace before they could articulate their quality, ormaterialize in meaning. He discussed how one could cry and understandthese "non-distinct" qualities. I thought I could apply the word "nondiscincc " co che relationship between the self and the Ocher.
For example, my signature is my identity. The lines I draw with my pen
are so intertwined with my identity chat they could ultimately
substitute me. When I trace these lines co study their forms, it becomesan ace of accepting elements of the ready-made, absorbing something chatbelongs co the Ocher . If I write the letter "A" and Mr. Hosaka writes theleccer "A," the different penmanship makes each "A" unique, but theleccer "A" is, nevertheless, universally acknowledged as leccer "A." So ifl
could argue chat the self and the Ocher are not distinct, then I could also
argue chat the state of "non-distinction"

could potentially open che

channel for communication between the two. And I chink chat is how Mr.

I Session3 I Liquidationof "Asian•ness"?: TheSpecter of locality

Discussion I

Hosaka and Mr. Maeda 's arguments could overlap with each other.
MC I I would like to get back to the word "drawing."

Mr. Hosaka

discussed the concept of drawing as a noun and contrasted it with
Richard Serra's concept of an artwork as a verb. But, contrary to that, I
had an impression that you emphasize the process of seeing and theprocess involved in the making of a drawing. So, I have a feeling thatyou don 't want to allow drawing to spell out the letter "A. "HosakaI The curator Hoptman suggested that "drawing is a noun." Herargument was that that the drawing is no longer about presenting theprocess but presenting the outcome, a completed artwork. It was quite a
simple proposal. In her curated show , "Drawing Now," she did not makeany distinctions between drawings and paintings, as you saw in mypresentation photo and also apparent in the section titles.
Matsui Midori used the word "youth " in describing the drawings fromthe 1990s onward. This concept of "youth" is drawn from Julia
Kristeva 's concept that challenges the dichotomies of "adult and child"or "male and female ."Kristeva furthermore analyzes "youth" as "signifiance, " trying to generatea meaning that draws a line from the meaning of "signifie / signifiant."
Drawing as a noun or a sign could be also understood at a transcendental
level, "drawing is signifiance."
For the benefit of keeping the focus of my argument, I did not mention
calligraphy in my presentation. But we should discuss it, particularly
when we look at drawings from certain areas in Asia. When I went to see
the Soejima Taneomi's exhibition at the Gotoh Museum, I had anexperience of feeling the sensation by tracing the strokes with my eyes. It
was slightly different from rinmo, but it was something that I would nothave experienced ifl were viewing a flat-surfaced painting. Looking at
calligraphy is very physical.
MC I Thankyou. I think we now see the problem of how media operates

between drawings, decorativeness, and their recipients, the Other. I havea question to Dr. Baker related to this.
I found the photo of the flight attendant's uniform very interesting,

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because they are indeed working in the contact zone, where theforeigners meet the locals. In this context (where they will be seen by theforeigners), the Philippine-nessin the uniform design could be taken as

deliberate appropriation. It is similar to Murakami's approach to the arc
market. So, my question is, whether or not the metaphor or the rhetoricof "tradition" in "authentic" Filipino dress is considered attractive andhas an appeal to the market?
Baker I I chink there is kind of a complex process, where one invention or

reinvention of tradition triggers another. It's then replicatedcontinuously until the original is hardly recognizable. In the case of the
stewardess uniforms, chis was a design by a very well-known designer,
Jose Moreno, who was fond of drawing from ethnic, non-Christiantraditions and combining chis with the Christianized mainstream
cultures. And as what happens also in Western fashion phenomena,
something that is initiated by a known couturier or designer thentrickles down to the mass-produced market, and is then replicated,
imitated, by the masses. When it's replicated and mass-produced, theoriginal meanings are lost by chose replicating it.
So there is no real consciousness of the discrepancy of the elements ofwhat one is wearing from the original.

In the case of the stewardess uniforms, there was a deliberate
juxtaposition by Jose Moreno of these two elements. Of course, for apurist chat would be a travesty of tradition. But from chis particular
couturier 's perspective, this is tradition; he's reinventing tradition.
Perhaps, maybe consciously or not consciously, he 's being inclusive in
combining all these different elements from the non-Christian regions
and the Christian regions to create an entirely new entity. That is how heproposes tradition.
In 1998, it was our 100th anniversary of our independence from Spainwhich as also the 100th anniversary of the coming of the Americans, so it
was a little bit ironic that we were celebrating chis-there

was a lawenacted where every Monday we were required to wear Filipina dress tobe part of that and contribute my service to the country. All of us were
simply purring together eclectic elements from various groups, withour
really being consciously chinking of how incredible these combinations

I Session3 I Liquidationof •Asian-ness•? : The Specter of Locality

Discussion /were, because they just look pretty. We wanted a supplementary weftfabric from the Muslim regions in the south, and sometimes we would
even appropriate Indonesian kain songket from Minangkabau (in Wesc
Sumatra) or a batik from Indonesia,

and we would feel justified in

combining chis with the kimona, which is derived also from the Japanesekimono, using it with a baro (traditional blouse with embroidery). As long as
there was something ethnic, something from some pare of the country,
we felt justified in combining this. It's only when you kind of seep backand look at these phantasmagoric combinations chat you begin co realize
really how incredulous chis whole combination is and how inauthentic.
Bue when you then step back again and look at the 15th century andbefore the 15th century, and you see chat even during the early contact
period, dress was hybrid, co begin with. There was combination of
Bengal silks, as well as silks from China and India. So there was always
this hybridity that was ongoing, and perhaps are we culturally
conditioned then co see the hybridities of roday as disturbing, whereas, isthis a cultural conditioning that we have that if we are scholars, forexample, of 19th century dress that we are kind of visually offended bythese violations of 19th century authenticity,or is it simply cultural

conditioning, and is everything then acceptable? That was one ofquestions I posed.
MC I Thankyou. Let us move on co questions from the floor.

I •Nam iko Kunimoto I My name is Namiko Kunimoco. I'm a student at the
University of California, Berkeley, and I also had the honor of working
with Professor Hayashi last year while I was doing my research.
I had a couple of questions. I hope my questions won't detract from thatat all.
The first one is about the issue of hybridity and the market. That was thediscussion that was just going on. And I wondered if it would be helpful
co think about the ways that the marketplace has, in fact, produced
hybridity right from the beginning, from the Silk Road all the way
down co clothing today as it exists. So that was one issue. And then thesecond issue was about the nature of the conference topic as a whole, andthat would be about postmodernity. And I wondered about the issue of

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gender. And if we can exist after postmodernity in a certain state of
inequity of gender, particularly when I think about the conference,
which I did really enjoy , and the fact that there was only one presenter
who was a woman, and this has only brought even further by the very
hardworking Japan Foundation staff who were there ro greet us andtranslate and pass out documents, but unfortunately, there was many
more women on the service side than there were, perhaps , on the
speaking side. I wonder how that reflected on Asian postmodernity , or if
it did at all.
MC I Thankyou. Let me start by answering your second question. Yes,

under-representationof women is an issue, but frankly speaking, I was

not aware of it until right before the symposium. I looked at the list ofpanelists two days ago again and realized that we only have one female
panelist. This may be problem. But maybe the real problem is the sexual
discrimination that may be looming in the background.
For example , in Japan, I think the problem remains robe a structural
one. And perhaps the same is true for other countries and those countries
in Asia as well. I'm not sure about how it is in the Philippines, but
looking at the number of academics and the number of curarors inmuseums, imbalance of representation is apparent.
But the situation in Japan is changing . There is an increase in thenumber of female art historians, and women are the majority in the
curatorial profession. But that is not to say that we have gotten rid of thestructural problem. Those women who finish master and docroral course
remain in the field of art history as curators, because there are not many
academic posts available for them at universities.

[. 01] In comparison , I

think the Philippines have produced many female academics. Dr. Baker,
are you a minority 'Baker

I No. It 's quite well-balanced in my country .

MC I Thankyou. So, let me answer your question on hybridity. I think
0 1

that was an insightful comment. In fact, in Dr. Baker 's presentation, we

I O f course, rhe same could besaid for male students, buc in terms

learned that the Chinese merchants were the ones who contributed firstof academic postings andto the hybridization of the Filipino dress in the very early years, proving

privileged ove r women. [ Haya.shi]) Session3

I Liquidationof •Asian-ness•? : The Specter of Locality

promotions, men are probably still

Discussion I