An Overview of

Art Projects in JapanA Society That Co-Creates with Art
Written by Sumiko Kumakura and The Art Project Research Group
Translated by Art Translators Collective

Table of Contents
Introduction 

2What are Art Projects?: History and Relationship to Local Areas 

3by Sumiko Kumakura and Yūichirō Nagatsu
What are “Art Projects”?
The Prehistory of Art Projects
Regional Art Projects
Column 1 An Overview of Large-Scale Art Festivals in Japan

Case Studies from Japan’s Art Projects:
Their History and Present State, 1990-2012 

13

by The Art Project Research Group
1 Universities and Art Projects: Hands-On Learning and Hubs for Local Communities
2 Alternative Spaces and Art Projects: New Developments in Realizing
Sustainable Support Systems
3 Museums and Art Projects: Community Projects Initiated by Museums
4 Urban Renewal and Art Projects: Building Social Capital
5 Art Project Staff: The Different Faces of Local Participants
6 Art Projects and Society: Social Inclusion and Art
7 Companies and Art Projects: Why Companies Support Art Projects
8 Artists and Art Projects: The Good and Bad of Large-Scale Art Festivals
Held in Depopulated Regions
9 Trends After the 3.11 Earthquake: Art Projects Confronting Affected Areas of the Tōhoku Region

Thinking about the Aesthetic and Social Value of Art Projects 28

by Sumiko Kumakura
Departure from a Normative Definition of the Artwork
Trends and Cultural Background of Art Project Research in Japan
Local People as Evaluators of Art Projects
Column 2 Case Studies of Co-Creative Projects 1: Jun Kitazawa’s Sun Self Hotel
Column 3 Case Studies of Co-Creative Projects 2: Hiroshi Fuji’s OS Art, Kaekko Bazaar
Column 4 The Theory of Social Capital
Column 5 Marginal Art and Art Projects

Art Projects: Japan’s New Public Context for Contemporary Art 
Contribution by Justin Jesty

38

Introduction
The following is a condensation of a collaborative

In “Art Projects: Japan’s New Public Context for

research project conducted over five years, directed

Contemporary Art,” contributing writer Justin Jesty,

by Sumiko Kumakura, professor at Tokyo University ofassistant professor at the University of Washington,

the Arts, under the aegis of the Tokyo Art Researchoffers his view on Japan’s art projects, discussing theLab (a program run by Arts Council Tokyo).1 The

implications and possibilities they hold both forcurrent report is intended to summarize the salient

contemporary art and society as a new form of public

points of the research for an English-language

art.

audience who may be familiar with recent trends insocially engaged art and social practice but not as

One of the results of the original reseach projectfamiliar with the corresponding scene in Japan.

was to develop a concise definition of the art project,

The report is divided into four sections along withwhich is as follows:

five columns which discuss certain topics and themesin further detail. “What are Art Projects?: History andArt projects are a co-creative form of artistic activity

Relationship to Local Areas” introduces the idea ofcentered around contemporary art, that developed in

the “art project,” which is the term that much sociallyvarious locations around Japan beginning in theengaged public art projects go by in Japan. Though

1990s. Not limited to the exhibition of artworks, art

art projects often include socially engaged andprojects engage deeply with contemporary society,dialogic practices, the art project has some uniqueevolving in relation to the social conditions of afeatures that the section explains, as well as aparticular time and place. They are activities thatparticular history within the context of Japanesegenerate new artistic and social contexts by seeding

contemporary art.

new contact points and social connections outside of“Case Studies from Japan’s Art Projects: Theirpre-existing ones.

History and Present State, 1990-2012 ” contains
summaries of the research project report published in

Art projects are generally characterized by the2013, divided thematically, with one or two

following:

representative examples of each kind of project
introduced. Readers should be aware that the1. 	Emphasis on the process of art-making and active

research referenced in each of these case studies wasdisclosure of that process.

collaborative; the findings that are discussed are the2. 	Site specificity, with reference to the social context

result of the work of the people named in the text.

of the site.

In “Thinking about the Aesthetic and Social Value

3. 	Sustained, long-term, and developing operations,of Art Projects,” Kumakura undertakes a defense ofwith expectation of diverse ripple effects.

the aesthetic and social value of art projects against

4. 	Collaboration among people of diverse social

some of the criticisms commonly lodged against

backgrounds and emphasis on communication tothem. While the critical establishment in Japan has

foster such collaboration.

been slow to engage seriously with art projects, this5. 	Interest and engagement with social fields outside

section suggests some avenues for future criticalart.

development.

1 The research project conducted three courses, “Nihongata āto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai 1990-2010 [Japan’s art projects: their history and present state, 1990-2010]”(2010), “Āto purojekuto no kenkyū [Study of art projects]” (2011), and “Nihongata āto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai II––teigi no kokoromi & 3.11 ikō no ugoki [Japan’s art projects:
their history and present state II––an attempt at definition and trends after 3.11]” (2012), which led to the publication of the report, Nihongata āto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai
1990-2012 [Japan’s art projects: their history and present state, 1990-2012] (2013). A revised edition was later published in book form as Āto purojekuto––Geijutsu to kyōsō suru
shakai [Art projects––a society that co-creates with art] (Tokyo: Suiyōsha, 2014).

2

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas
by Sumiko Kumakura and Yūichirō Nagatsu

Yasuaki Igarashi, Sora-Ami: Knitting the Sky , 2013, Setouchi Triennale. Photo by Kimito Takahashi.

What are “Art Projects”?
Starting around 1990, initiatives referred to as “artof people.

projects” have become increasingly popular in Japan.

More concretely, the term art project is used in

Most basically, art projects are art-related initiatives

relation to a broad spectrum of activities, from artists

held outside traditional museum and gallery spaces

building organizations and holding exhibitions inthat differ from conventional exhibition formats that

disused spaces such as abandoned schools, to art

focus on displaying particular artists. Althoughfestivals involving outdoor exhibitions andnumerous alternative spaces of differing scale have

performances and activities that address community

existed in Japan as a third place for art for some time,issues like social inclusion. But in all cases they involvethe concept of the art project is quite different from anforms of creative expression that reach out into

alternative space in that it does not refer primarily to acontemporary society, commit to a particular social

single space or to the display of artworks, but implies

situation, and attempt to engender some

activities taking place at a whole range of sites thattransformation to that situation.

emphasize the process of engaging with a wide range

Participants in art projects are not limited to artists.

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What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

A hallmark of these activities is how their organizers

with the views of sponsoring local governments, it inoften collaborate with local governments, universities,

fact has more to do with the desire of project-oriented

corporations, and civic groups to realize a project.

artists to form numerous social relations with people

Many art projects are held in locations such as

outside the field of art. Another characteristic of art

schools, hospitals, and welfare facilities for the elderly

projects in Japan is the lack of a clear objective amongand disabled. Similar kinds of endeavor can be seen in

individual artworks and activities. Art festivals are often

many countries worldwide but what is likely the mostorganized under the general mission of regional

unique feature of Japan’s art projects is the large

development (chiiki shinkō ), which reflects the policies

number of art festivals held in smaller villages, towns,of local governments who usually sponsor suchand across large rural areas. These activities form andevents, but individual artworks and activities thatintersect with varying art scenes, ranging fromappear in those festivals do not necessarily present a

community-based projects organized by local

clear social mission. This aspect of art projects will be

amateurs, to exhibitions held by local professional

discussed further in the section “Thinking About theartists showcasing their work, to projects that invite

Aesthetic and Social Value of Art Projects” (p.28).
Japan’s art projects have provoked little criticalinternational contemporary artists to take part.
Among the projects in Japan that have attracted

discourse that might provide an analytical frameworkattention from art specialists, there are two distinctive

to understand the phenomenon of their rise and theirfeatures that are different from those in the West. First,

attempt to engage the general public. The critical

there are few artworks and activities that assert clear

disengagement differs from the active attention topolitical messages or socially critical views comparedglobal developments showcased at the world’s leading

to socially engaged art. Although this nonpartisan slant

art museums and galleries in Japan.

is often criticized by Japanese art critics as compliance

The Prehistory of Art Projects
There are two major factors that affected theculture of art has been received by Japanese society

development of art projects: the context of society as

generally. In order to understand the development of

it developed from the 1960s, and the way that theart projects, it is necessary to examine the environmentthat artists have worked in in Japan since the 1960s.
Coinciding with developments internationally, Japanin the 1960s and 1970s saw a plethora of avant-garde,
experimental expressions including happenings,
outdoor performance, outdoor sculpture, and“indépendant” style exhibitions.1 Despite the“miraculous” economic recovery after defeat in WWII,
the 1960s in Japan was characterized by a wave ofanti-establishment youth movements protesting theJapan-U.S. alliance and all that it symbolized. Sharing
this same political momentum, artists pioneered
numerous avant-garde activities in order to break free

Opening day of the “Yomiuri Indépendant” Exhibition held at theTokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno, March 2, 1961.
Courtesy of The Yomiuri Shimbun .

1 A nonjury, open-submission exhibition that adopted the protocols and attitude of the Salon des Indépendants held in Paris in 1884. Indépendant exhibitions were organized
in reaction to the rigid, hierarchical system and exclusive policies of the fine-arts establishment and were a major feature of the post-1945 avant-garde landscape.

4What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

inverse relation that seemed to exist between

Theatrical Company JōkyōGekijō (the precursor of Gekidan
Karagumi), pitching a red tent inHanazono Shrine in Shinjuku,
Tokyo to give a guerrilla
performance circa 1967.
Photo scanned from JōkyōGekijō zenkiroku shashinshū
Karagumi [Complete records ofJōkyō-Gekijō: photographs of
Karagumi] (Tokyo: Parco
Publishing, 1984).
Courtesy of Gekidan Karagumi.
Photo by Toshihiro Asakura.

economic development and the connection of society
to art. Needless to say, many internationally-acclaimed
artists have emerged from this period of economic
growth, but their names remain largely unknown tomainstream Japanese society.
From the late 1980s to early 1990s, a wave of
economic growth washed over provincial areas, driving
the construction of numerous cultural facilities such as
museums, concert halls, and theaters all across thecountry. However, the chasm between art and society
remained unresolved even through the 1990s. The
ones to reap the benefit of such institutional
advances were not young artists, but local citizens

from the existing art establishment and critique thewho could use the facilities, and established artists

society around them.

whose works populated the galleries. Politicians during

In the 1980s, however, as Japanese culture as athis decade urged public museums to purchase blue-

whole became more consumerist amidst the economic

chip impressionist paintings or Picassos rather thangrowth brought about by the bubble economy, tastes

acquire works by young, emerging artists. Oblivious toshifted against experimental expression as being “toothe weak domestic contemporary art market, thedifficult.” Advertisements and other commercial

affluent classes purchased more conservative andexpressions, which became increasingly refined duringmarket-tested art forms such as Western painting

this time, occupied people’s interests. Japanese(yōga ), sculpture, and Japanese painting (nihonga ),society entered an era dominated by well-made mass

while younger generations directed their interest

entertainment, exemplified by Japanese productions

toward media and fan cultures.

of Broadway musicals and Tokyo Disneyland, known

Young, independent artists viewed the fine-art

for its polished service. With economic growth, moreestablishment (in which members are accepted intoemphasis came to be placed on ease of understanding

established art organizations upon recommendationand enjoyment of beauty while more challenging things

by their teachers) and its exhibitions (judged by the art

became less tolerated.

organizations’ arbiters) as a retrograde tradition. They

In many genres, artists who rejected the trend

were, however, also unable to see a future in self-

towards commercialization turned their critiqueorganized indépendant-style exhibitions or solo shows

towards their own fields, often lapsing into self-

held at rental galleries.2 The circumstances forced

referential forms of work, resulting in even greater

artists to confront the question of where their artisticincongruence with society at large. As Japan

expression was destined: How long would they havedeveloped into the world’s second largest economy,

to wait within the small, weak field of contemporary art

society gradually regained its pride and confidence

to be noticed by the few curators and gallery owners

after defeat in the war, but such development hardly

specializing in the genre? Who, ultimately, were theycreated opportunities for young artists pursuing

making art for?

experimental practices. Many artists felt they were in a

But it was around this time that grants and fundraising

cul-de-sac with extremely limited opportunities toappeared in Japan’s art world, which began a shiftpresent their work. They sensed a contradiction in the

towards supporting individual artists and small artist

2 The rental gallery (kashigarō ) system which emerged in the 1960s was a dominant force in the Japanese art scene, serving as an outlet for many avant-garde artists. The
system allows artists to rent gallery space easily (usually for the duration of a week), though at high cost and with no support for installing work or curation.

5

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

stirrings of a nascent desire for social change amidst
the end of economic growth. In urban areas, the seedsof change began to grow in newly developed
commercial spaces, largely underused after thecollapse of the bubble, as well as in companies awareof the limitations of consumer culture who wereseeking to try something new. In provincial areas
outside major cities, it was in deserted interstices suchas abandoned office buildings and desolate shopping
streets created by rapid economic decline, spiraling
depopulation, and aging. These artists and organizers

Shiseido Gallery in 1920 (gallery founded in 1919).

began to seek new sites for artistic expression by andgroups. Until that time, it was standard for artists tofor themselves, outside the existing field of museums

hold self-organized exhibitions at rental galleries to try

and theaters which had provided them with few

to gain recognition. However, such spaces charged

opportunities. Gradually, more artists began tohigh fees, placing a heavy financial burden on

recognize the appeal of the process of working directly

individual artists.

with actual communities to organize artistic activities

The year 1990 was a turning point, marked by theand in previously unacknowledged sites which could

establishment of the nationally-run Japan Arts Council

be transformed into bases for activity just by gathering

3(Nihon Geijutsu Bunka Shinkōkai), which made artists

people to them.

eligible for governmental subsidies that had previously

An artist’s motivation to start an art project might

only been granted to cultural institutions. Moreover,begin with a fairly straightforward idea that it would be

following the collapse of the economic bubble, theinteresting to install their artwork at a specific location.

interest in cultural funding that corporations had

Until the 1980s, artists arguably sought spatial

cultivated during the bubble era began to be directeduniqueness in unconventional sites that could serve as

toward younger artists who could be supported withstages for their works. Open-air exhibitions on

smaller budgets. This further expanded opportunities

beaches or dance performances at a former quarry arefor emerging artists to present their work. The

some examples. From the 1990s onward, by contrast,establishment of the Association for Corporate

the interest appears more directed toward artistic

Support of the Arts (Kigyō Mécénat Kyōgikai, or KMK)4

intervention in the social context of a site. Artists

in the same year also led several companies to begin

began to shift from site-specific to community-specificsupporting young artists. One of the founding

works.

members of the KMK was cosmetics company

One pioneer of this shift is dancer Min Tanaka.

Shiseido, which had a long history of supporting young

Tanaka relocated his dance troupe, moving it from theartists through the Shiseido Gallery and an internalcity to an agricultural village in rural Yamanashi

department dedicated to support of the arts. Other

Prefecture, and led the launch of contemporary art andcompanies, such as Asahi Breweries, also began todance festival Art Camp Hakushū in 1988 together

offer support specifically to young artists.

with art producer Kazue Kobata, who served as an

Artists and arts organizers who saw potential for

adjunct curator at PS1 (now an affiliate of MoMA) in

new forms of activity outside conventional cultural

the 80s and 90s. The project’s idea––that participants

facilities emerged as a result of these shifts. What theyshould do farm work in addition to creating artwork

encountered outside cultural facilities were the first

while in residence––was a major factor that determined

3 Japan Arts Council: http://www.ntj.jac.go.jp/english.html.
4 Association for Corporate Support of the Arts: http://www.mecenat.or.jp/en/.

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What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

its later development. As art historian Kenji Kajiyasuggests, this event had many of the qualities oftoday’s art projects, such as funding by corporations
in major cities and participation from numerous
volunteers.5 In this way, Art Camp Hakushū was clearly
different in nature from prevailing artistic activities at
the time, which were centered on artworks andinterested in the site as a stage for works.

Hakuna Taabu, African Dance Workshop , 1995, Artwork Mino.

project received a great deal of attention in theJapanese art world at the time for a refreshingapproach which suggested a broad social perspective
in its planning, managed as it was by supporters witha variety of positions and backgrounds both in the artsand the corporate world.
Artist Tadashi Kawamata can also not be overlookedin this discussion. Already well-known internationallyfor his highly ephemeral, large-scale projects,

Rica Takashima, Exhibition with a Large Order , 1998, Ink and acrylic on canvas,
tarpaulin and mixed media, 359 pieces, Museum City Fukuoka 1998.
Installation at Canal City Hakata shopping mall.

Kawamata began to organize co-creative projects
around this time. In 1996, he began a project involving

Another example of a pioneering art project isalcoholics and psychiatric patients in the Netherlands

Museum City Tenjin. Riding the tailwinds of the bubble

and also made work with the same participants at

economy, local artist Shingo Yamano and a group of

Sculpture Projects Münster in 1997. We mightcollaborators launched the project in Fukuoka City in

speculate that Kawamata’s reference to his artworks

1990 with financing from private corporations. The

as “projects” had a great influence on the Japanese art
scene.
Other early examples of art projects include the
Izumiwaku Project, a series of exhibitions organized byartist Takashi Murakami (not to be confused with theinternationally famous contemporary artist whose work
incorporates elements of pop art, anime, and otaku
culture), which started in 1994 and continued forseveral years. Murakami, who worked as an art teacher
at a Tokyo junior high school, invited young, fellow
artists to participate in an exhibition utilizing the entire
school facility during summer vacation. In the following
summer, in 1995, artist Tsuyoshi Koishihara, who
volunteered as head of the PTA at his son’s elementary

Izumiwaku Project, 1994. Courtesy of Takashi Murakami.

5 Kajiya’s activities in relation to art projects are further discussed in the section “Case Studies from Japan’s Art Projects: Their History and Present State, 1990-2012 ” (p.14).

7

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

school in Okayama, organized an exhibition featuringpermissible in civilized places during peaceful times?

young artists as part of the school’s centennial

The Great Hanshin Earthquake caused these questions

anniversary called Artwork Mino.

to become deeply engraved in the thinking ofJapanese artists and helped stimulate interest in

The Great Hanshin Earthquake that hit the city ofartistic activities that addressed social inclusion.

Kobe in 1995 and resulted in over six thousand deaths,

The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, whichstrongly influenced the later development of art

resulted in the most casualties of any earthquake inprojects in Japan. Disaster relief activities byJapan post-WWII, elicited a very different response

volunteers in badly hit areas drew much publicfrom the art world. Immediately after the disaster,

attention, serving as an occasion to push for theinnumerable websites were launched encouraging

enactment of a new NPO law. On the other hand,donations through charity art sales. The then-because artistic activities were thought to serve no

Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs calledpractical purpose, many art-related events were

for cultural activities not to be canceled so long ascanceled in the wake of the disaster, not only in areas

safety was not at risk. Artists also flocked to affected

directly affected by the earthquake but also in theareas. This active involvement might have been thewider Kansai region due to concern that they would

result of artists’ knowledge and actual experience ofseem insensitive. Was art completely inadequate toworking in some of the art projects around the country

basic human needs? Was artistic activity onlythat were already engaged with actual communities.6

Regional Art Projects
Today the term art project is used somewhat

number is expected to increase. In the case of large-

ambiguously to refer to a whole range of activities.

scale festivals held in major regional cities such as theAmong the most high-profile are large-scale art

Yokohama Triennale, Aichi Triennale, and the Sapporo

projects, including an ever-increasing number ofInternational Art Festival, most of the exhibitions areinternational art festivals organized by prefectures orlimited to museums. Yet many of these also lead tolarge cities as a means to promote art tourism. Approx-

long-term projects that put roots down in local areas

imately ten such festivals exist in Japan and theoutside of the museum context.
In festivals held in depopulated rural areas, on theother hand, such as the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale,
Setouchi Triennale, Beppu Project, and Naka-BosōInternational Art Festival Ichihara Art x Mix, themajority of artworks are exhibited in a variety of spaces
in local towns and villages across a large geographicalarea. Compared to the urban festivals, artists
participating in rural festivals show a stronger interestin unraveling the history and social context of the localarea.
Mid-scale art projects include university-led
projects, with students engaging in collaborative

Shōdoshima Rural Kabuki. Courtesy of Setouchi Triennale.
Photo by Osamu Nakamura.

activities with the local community. Such examples

6 Art projects born out of the Great East Japan Earthquake are introduced in Chapter 9 of “Case Studies from Japan’s Art Projects: Their History and Present State, 19902012 ” (p.25).

8

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

include the Hiroshima Art Project, Art Project
Kemigawa Sōshinjo, the Toride Art Project, Hinonon
Fiction, and Art Access Adachi: Downtown Senju––
Connecting Through Sound Art, as well as thoseorganized to reactivate community and outdoor life inempty city centers such as the Zerodate Art Project
and the Breaker Project. There are also small-scale
projects organized by individual artists, art NPOs, andlocal communities. As exemplified by this range, theterm “art project” has been adopted to describe truly
diverse forms of activity.

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, The Rice Field , 2000, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale.
Courtesy of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale Executive Committee.
Photo by Osamu Nakamura.

Although sites for art projects are multifarious,
many utilize spaces outside existing cultural facilities(museums, galleries, concert halls, etc.) such asalternative spaces, the deserted downtown areas atunarticulated, vague sense of unease” during thethe heart of many cities, traditional Japanese houses

planning stages of a project. Perhaps the journey of anleft vacant, empty shops, abandoned schools, andart project begins by contemplating and exchanging

outdoor venues such as parks and fields. Of course,

opinions around that “something” which is not clearlysites for art projects are not limited to vacant or

good or bad but which cannot be left as is.
This tendency in art projects may also be related todeserted places. Projects can also be based in spaces
running shops or cafés. The scale of project sites also

an aversion to discussing politics in Japan and avaries, some covering areas that span several towns

desire to maintain an equivocal attitude toward politicaland villages, and some held in small, discrete areas,and civic movements. Needless to say, many active

such as parks, where artworks are scattered aroundpolitical and socio-civic movements do exist in Japan,

the premises. The common thread is the concurrent

but the participants in them remain a comparatively

use of multiple sites which viewers navigate to see

small segment of society. Rather than connecting withtemporarily installed artworks at various locations.

these more radical citizens, art projects aim to engage
the majority of people whose social awareness is

It is important to note that many regional art
projects are not entirely undertaken for the benefit ofcomparatively unformed. Art projects work with thosethe local community. Although the project as a whole

who may hold a nebulously reformist attitude in ordermight have an overarching––though often vaguely

to explore the “unarticulated, vague sense of unease”

stated––goal, such as building community orwithin society. By deeply engaging with others throughstimulating the local economy, all the participants do

a process of making art, such projects might result in

not equally share all of those goals. This brings us toraising the awareness of this majority, but that is rarely

the question of how art projects engage with society.

stated as-such.

The passion for engagement may be due to an

An important turning point for art projects was theinterest, shared by both mainstream society andEchigo-Tsumari Art Triennale organized by art director,

artists, in anticipating the formation of alternative

Fram Kitagawa, which attracted over 160,000 visitors

channels of communication and engendering new

during its first iteration in 2000. At a time whenkinds of activity outside of existing value systems. But

contemporary art exhibitions struggled to gain financial

it must also be pointed out that the conceptualization

support and when ten thousand visitors wasof social problems is rarely explicit or confrontational.

considered a success for an art event, the phenomenal

Artist Hiroshi Fuji, an organizer of many important

popularity of this art festival came as a surprise both toinitiatives, advises participants to “focus on one’s

the art world and mainstream society.

9What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

The venue for the festival, the Echigo-Tsumari

however, the festival was met with complete

region of Niigata Prefecture, is a mountainous, ruralindifference by local residents. One local attested thatarea with heavy winter snowfall that faces serious

many of them intentionally ignored the event: “Wepopulation decline. Though lacking in notable historicknew about the festival but we felt that it wasn’t meantsites or tourist attractions, the tiered rice paddies offor us.” In such circumstances, the organization of

the area offer visitors an idyllic, agricultural landscape.

festival volunteers named the kohebi-tai (literally “bandVisitors are able to rediscover a forgotten, archetypalof little snakes”), played a crucial role in forming a

Japanese landscape while re-encountering therelationship with the local people. The presence of acountry’s turbulent hundred-year history of

few hundred young volunteers staying over longmodernization through the region’s experience of it.

periods of time was a rarity in this depopulated region.

They are also prompted to contemplate the future––

These young people, working with genuine enthusiasmthat of both the region and Japan––as the crisis of

toward a goal with no particular financial benefit,

depopulation verges on community extinction.

generated sympathy among locals who began to feelthat they should lend a hand. The locals wereWith the exception of major cities, almost every
region in Japan faces precipitous depopulation,

especially moved by the willingness of young

birthrate decline, and aging, making it difficult tovolunteers to come back to the area unrelated to theimagine a brighter future. In small towns with noart festival, to help in relief activities when the Niigata

universities, most young people leave for the big cities

Chūetsu Earthquake hit the region in 2004, followed byand rarely come back because there would be no jobs

heavy snowfall. This contributed to a major change infor them if they did. Younger generations accustomed

the local community’s attitude. The locals did not

to urban culture can find no attractive peernecessarily understand contemporary art but could nocommunities or activities in rural areas, leaving nothing

longer ignore the presence of the young people hard

but an association with stagnation and resignation.

at work in their villages.

Rural society in Japan is on the verge of extinction,

The attitude of participating artists also changed.

with instances across the country of villages with only

Initially, there were many cases in which internationallya handful of elderly residents, or in extreme cases, only

established artists came to install their work and thenone.

left. But artists gradually began to stay longer in the

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale began from anarea and to involve locals in the production process byawareness of this impending problem and with theconducting interviews and other activities. People who

question of how the future of rural communities could

had initially kept a wary distance gradually began to

be changed, even if only a little. In its early stages,

accept Japanese and foreign artists who repeatedly
visited their homes requesting to speak to them andhear stories of the past as well as to ask them to makeappearances in their work. Locals found pride in thefact that their exchange with artists served as
inspiration for their works, which resulted in many local
citizens becoming passionate interpreters, explaining
the artist’s production process to visitors.
The locals received compliments from visitors
about their villages and towns, which they thought had
no notable appeal, and saw the community regain its
liveliness through interaction with a diverse range of

Volunteers making art work.
Courtesy of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale Executive Committee.
Photo by Kazue Kawase.

people. The outgoing hospitality which resulted fromthis has now become a distinct characteristic of the10

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

tourist destinations. Undoubtedly, the Echigo-Tsumari
Art Triennale has contributed a great deal to thispopular embrace of contemporary art.
However, activities that have economic impact onregions account for only a small proportion of art
projects. The majority are small-scale undertakings
organized by local citizens which have little to no
economic impact. These activities are thought toengender new channels for communication within alocality, to rediscover the hidden values of a specificarea, and to contribute to community-building. The

Ogijima Island, Setouchi Triennale. Photo by Osamu Nakamura.

locality is especially important for small-scale art

area. Currently, in addition to businesses that sell local

projects specifically because they cannot expect

produce, elderly women offer their home-cooked

festival-like crowds.

specialties to express their warm welcome towards

Artists today are more conscious of the social

visitors. The desire on the part of the local community

context underpinning an exhibition space, even whento show a kind of selfless hospitality (omotenashi )simply displaying work for exhibitions. Artists skilled inbegan to harmonize with the goals of the art festival.

project organization, who have the ability to take

The success of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale

characteristics of a local area into consideration andand the Setouchi Triennale (2010-) instigated a slew ofdesign initiatives that engage local and non-local

large-scale art festivals held by local governments

participants, are highly sought after by various local

across the country. Unlike their urban counterparts,

organizations across the country (even small-scale

many of these rural festivals take place over vast

projects). Unlike traditional forms of amateur culturalgeographical spaces, usually requiring three to sevenactivities carried out primarily for the benefit ofdays to view in their entirety. Another hallmark of theparticipants within a given, pre-existing community,

events is that they are popular among the mainstream

these activities aspire to open communities to new

public as well as art fans. Attracting four hundred

participants. They might therefore be thought of as

thousand (Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale) to one million“community-aiming art.”(Setouchi Triennale) visitors, they have developed into
a form of art tourism, garnering attention as a catalyst
for local economic revitalization.
Furthermore, the phenomenon has reversed thesituation in the early 1990s, when contemporary art
proved significantly less popular because of its
complexity. Artist Yayoi Kusama is a quintessential
example of an artist who has now become a widely
popular star, recognized by art fans as well as themainstream public. From the opening of Benesse Art
Site Naoshima, which led to the start of the Setouchi
Triennale, many rural contemporary art museums far
from Tokyo, such as the 21st Century Museum ofContemporary Art, Kanazawa and the Towada Art
Center in Aomori, have gained popularity among the

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin .
Courtesy of Benesse Art Site Naoshima.
Photo by Shigeo Anzai.

mainstream public, attracting a wide demographic as11

What are Art Projects?

History and Relationship to Local Areas

Column 1

An Overview of Large-Scale Art Festivals in Japan
Among the various kinds of art projects to emerge over recent years, large-scale art festivals with attendance ofover three hundred thousand have developed a particularly strong presence. Many of them are initiated bymunicipal and prefectural governments with the aim of revitalizing local areas, and the largest of them exhibits morethan three hundred artworks by international and domestic artists across an area of seven hundred sixty square
kilometers. These art festivals have become especially popular among a younger demographic for offering a culturalexperience set in a typical Japanese rural landscape.
The festivals have also gained attention from the public as a means to stimulate rural economies and revitalize
communities struggling with depopulation. In this column, we present the scale of such projects through data fromtwo of the largest art festivals in Japan, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale and the Setouchi Triennale, which are bothorganized by Sōichirō Fukutake (Chairman of the Board, Fukutake Foundation) serving as producer and Fram
Kitagawa (Art Director) serving as director.

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale

Setouchi Triennale

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is one of the largest

Setouchi Triennale is an international art festival held

art festivals in the world and has been held once every

in the Seto Inland Sea and its islands since 2010.

three years in the mountainous Echigo-Tsumari regionof Niigata Prefecture since 2000. The sixth Triennale

Overview of Setouchi Triennale 2013 “An Art andwas held in 2015, open for fifty days from July 26 toIsland Journey Through the Seasons on the Seto

September 13.

Inland Sea”
Duration: Spring: March 20 - April 21, 2013

Overview of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2012

Summer: July 20 - September 1, 2013
Autumn: October 5 - November 4, 2013

Duration: July 29 - September 17, 2012

Location: Twelve islands in the Seto Inland Sea and

Location: Echigo-Tsumari Region, Niigata Prefecture(760 km2）

the ports of Takamatsu and Uno
Organizer: Setouchi Triennale Executive Committee,

Organizer: Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale Executive

which includes the Governor of Kagawa Prefecture

Committee, which includes the Governor of Niigata

and Mayor of Takamatsu City, among others.

Prefecture, Mayor of Tōkamachi City, and Mayor of

Number of artworks: Approx. 200 (including

Tsunan Town, among others.

permanent works)

Number of artworks: 367 (including 189 permanent

Number of participating artists: 200, from 26 countries

works)
Number of participating villages: 102

Number of visitors: 1,070,368

Number of participating artists: 360, from more than

Budget: 1.17 billion JPY
Economic impact within Kagawa Prefecture: 13.2

44 countries

billion JPY

Number of visitors: 488,848
Number of registered volunteers (kohebitai ): 1,246
Budget: 490 million JPY
Economic impact within Niigata Prefecture: 4.65
billion JPY
Source: Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2012 Report
http://www.city.tokamachi.niigata.jp/page/000028292.pdf (Japanese only)

Source: Setouchi Triennale Report 2013
http://setouchi-artfest.jp/news/post/3034/ (Japanese only)

12Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012
by The Art Project Research Group

Otomo Yoshihide, Ensembles Parade 2011. Courtesy of Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Center. Photo by Kenji Ōtani.

This section will outline Nihongata āto purojekuto no

led to theorization. Inviting a diverse range of speakers

rekishi to genzai 1990-2012 [Japan’s art projects: theirfrom art project staff members who worked on site, tohistory and present state, 1990-2012], a researchresearchers in various fields such as aesthetics andreport released online in 2013 by Sumiko Kumakurasociology, these meetings unpacked the contemporary

and two editors, Takuji Kikuchi and Yūichirō Nagatsu.1

landscape of art projects. The research report is a

The Art Project Research Group was launched in 2010,

compilation of those meetings. What follows below arewith Kumakura as coordinator, to organize open

summaries of Chapters 1-9 of the report, each of

lectures and study groups on the current state of art

which featured a combination of interviews and2projects in Japan. These events involved

discussions on the chapter topic.

presentations of case studies and discussions, which
1 Downloadable in Japanese at http://www.tarl.jp/cat_output/cat_output_art/869.html.
Supervised by Sumiko Kumakura, planned and edited by Takuji Kikuchi, Yūichirō Nagatsu, and The Art Project Research Group. Published by the Tokyo Culture Creation
Project (currently Arts Council Tokyo) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. A revised edition of the report was published as a book titled, Ātopurojekuto––Geijutsu to kyōsō suru shakai [Art projects––a society that co-creates with art] (Tokyo: Suiyōsha, 2014).
2 The open lectures and study groups (refer to footnote on p.2) were a program of Tokyo Art Research Lab, part of the Tokyo Culture Creation Project’s Tokyo Art Point
Project. (Through a merger in 2015, the Tokyo Culture Creation Project, organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History
and Culture, was re-established as Arts Council Tokyo.)13

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

1.	Universities and Art Projects: Hands-On Learning andHubs for Local Communities
Contributors: Ken’ichi Nagata, Kenji Kajiya
Many art projects in Japan are implemented as partthe newly established Art & Design Social Systemof the curriculum of university courses or as

Program in the Department of Industrial Art (theindependent initiatives led by students and professors

department has since been reorganized). In a process

who organize them in collaboration with artists, local

that engaged the citizens of Hino, a suburban city inresidents, citizen groups, and local governments in thewestern Tokyo, the art project put together antowns and cities where a university is located.

exhibition of three groups of invited artists who created

Universities began to take the initiative in organizing

public, participatory works on the site of a former

art projects in the late 1990s, but a major systemic

sericulture experiment station owned by the Ministry ofreform implemented in 2003 involving the privatization

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (the project hasof national universities accelerated this movement bysince ended).

introducing a third mission of “social contribution” toKenji Kajiya, an active art historian specializing inuniversities, in addition to the existing missions ofcontemporary art, presented an overview of the“education” and “research.”

Hiroshima Art Project at Hiroshima City University.

Recently, art projects have taken on multiple roles

Launched by artist Yukinori Yanagi, a professor in thein the area of university education. They serve as auniversity’s Faculty of Arts, the project consisted ofmeans for educating artists and art managers in art

exhibitions staged across the city and its surroundings.

schools. They are also implemented as part of generalBy making use of underused facilities, the project

education curricula, including cases where they are

created opportunities for students and professionalorganized around practical education goals that

artists to present their work. After taking up a teaching

address real-life situations. They are often the focus of

post at the university in 2008, Kajiya managed thestudent research projects. With “social contribution”

project’s operation with the aim of developing artistic

added to national universities’ mission, opportunities

talent capable of working in cooperation with local

have increased for them to engage with local

citizens, developing the neighborhood, and promoting

communities through art. These efforts have led

arts and culture within Hiroshima.

universities and their professors and students to serve

University-led art projects take on a wide variety of

as local hubs, contributing to regional revitalization androles, from those developed as part of the university’s

addressing issues that face communities outside
metropolitan areas.
Art scholar Ken’ichi Nagata introduced a practicallearning course titled “Creating Culture” while teachingat Chiba University. “Creating Culture” is a general
education course launched at a university with no art
courses or art department. He invited guest lecturers
who, from the early 1990s, had pioneered new typesof cultural activity both inside and outside the country,
to organize projects with students. Based on thisexperience, Nagata launched Suburbia Tokyo, Hinonon
Fiction in 2008, after moving to Tokyo Metropolitanwah, Train Runs in the Forest , 2010, Hinonon Fiction 2010.
Photo by Masahiro Hasunuma.

University, mainly with professors and students from

14

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

Nagata’s courses at Chiba University, an art project
incorporated into the general education curriculum
was able to attract students from fields other than art,such as economics, law, and the social sciences(unfortunately Chiba University is the only example ofsuch attempts). We can speculate that when students,
who will be tomorrow’s leaders in various fields, see
the importance of art as something that goes beyond
rationalism and has the power to transform people’svalues in ways that can lead to social change, they
may become conscious of art’s vital role in society.

Outdoor Art Center PPY, Hiroshima Art Project 2010.

Art projects have much to offer universities: from thesocial contribution to those conceived from an

cultivation of young people with the flexibility andeducational standpoint as a way to train specialists

responsiveness to make innovations in the social

such as aspiring artists and art managers in basicarchitecture, to the development of non-autonomous

aspects of how art and society relate to each otherforms of artistic expression that engage people fromthrough hands-on education. As in the case ofdifferent backgrounds.

2.	Alternative Spaces and Art Projects: New Developments in Realizing
Sustainable Support Systems
Contributors: Nozomu Ogawa, Tsuneo Noda
Alternative spaces in Japan date back to the 1980s,

restaurants, and old warehouses, and this served as

but in recent years they have emerged as sites where

the starting point for Ongoing. Building on thiscommunity-engaged art projects are often based.

experience, he eventually realized his goal of opening

Nozomu Ogawa has been managing Art Centeran art center, something he had declared from theOngoing in Kichijōji, Tokyo since 2008. A renovatedoutset of the project. In addition to running the art

two-story traditional Japanese house with a total areaof only eighty square meters, Ongoing houses a gallerythat showcases works by up-and-coming artists; acafé and bar as a place for exchange, with a variety ofold and new art books available to read; and an
information booth with sources on a wide range ofartists compiled from Ongoing’s own network.
Japan has hardly any sites that resemble art
centers, like the Kunstverein in Germany that organize
various art events directed towards local people.
Sensing this lack, Ogawa established Ongoing singlehandedly, holding his own self-organized exhibitions
and events without relying on the conventional rental
gallery system. While still a graduate student in art,
Ogawa curated a series of five exhibitions held invenues such as abandoned schools, cafés,

Art Center Ongoing

15

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

space, Ogawa has expanded his activities, organizing
Teratotera, a project that takes place across a broad
swath of western Tokyo.
Tsuneo Noda, an architect specializing in building
renovation, launched the Travelers Project in Fukuoka.
This project manages both the “hard” and “soft” sideof their undertaking: not only renovating buildings but
also attracting diverse ventures to fill those spaces.
As one example, Konya 2023 used a renovated oldresidence-cum-tenant building built in 1965. Based on
the concept of a “future multi-purpose building,” theproject aimed for a site where all manner of occupation/business, age, nationality, temporality, and objective
could “share residence.” The project not only conducts
renovation planning, space management, and art
direction, but also organizes diverse programming
including exhibitions and events. In the past, it hasorganized summer education programs where tenantsMulti-purpose building of Konya 2023

served as lecturers.3
value rather, on the fortuitous emergence of diverse

The two spaces contrast in terms of their aims andmanagement style, but we can see common threads inactivities from day-to-day interactions. The activities of

the way they are like living organisms, constantly

these young leaders, still in their thirties, has served as

developing, and in the importance they attach toan important guide in defining art projects, in terms ofgenerating new social systems through their activities.

how people assemble around projects, how the

These projects are different from standard commercial

relationality among participants should be designed,

galleries and alternative spaces, where organizers

and finally, how to operate facilities which yield

select artists from a curatorial standpoint: they place

relations that bear unknown potentials.

3. Museums and Art Projects: Community Projects Initiated by Museums
Contributors: Yuu Takehisa, Meruro Washida
There are approximately one hundred eighty public

270,000 (Mito) and 460,000 (Kanazawa) people, bothart museums in Japan, only a small percentage ofmuseums are expanding the zone of their activity

which specialize in contemporary art. Chapter 3

outside their facilities by collaborating with local

introduces case studies of Japan’s pioneering

governments and civic groups. It is common forcontemporary art museum, the Contemporary Art

museums and theaters to hold community projects

Gallery at Art Tower Mito, which opened in 1990, andwithin their facilities, but there are few institutions that

one of the most high-profile of the newest generation

extend their programs outside their own walls,of museums, the 21st Century Museum of

collaborating with other organizations in the local area

Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, which opened in 2004.

to stimulate independent cultural activities. The two

Located in mid-size cities with populations of roughly

institutions in this case study are rare examples of

3 Konya-archives 2008-2013 , a documentation of Konya 2023 comprised of eighty interviews of people involved in the project as well as an overview of past activities, waspublished online in 2013. (Downloadable at http://www.dlmarket.jp/products/detail/267625, Japanese only.)16Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

museums that are actively doing that.

such as an Otomo Yoshihide

Art Tower Mito opened in 1990 as the firstexhibition that included an

municipal arts complex in Japan, comprised of aopen-participation music

contemporary art gallery, concert hall, and theater, withparade called the “Ensembles

the aim of showcasing cutting-edge works of an

Parade.” MeToo continues its

international level. The understanding of the research

activities while exploringgroup was that the museum’s sophisticateddifferent frameworks for

programming, comprised mainly of events curated bycooperation with local retailer

contemporary art curators––unique at a time whenassociations, economic

public museums’ main function was to rent exhibition

organizations, and unions.

spaces for local amateurs––struggled to be

The 21st Century Museum

understood by the local citizens. Among Mito’sof Contemporary Art opened

facilities, especially the Contemporary Art Gallery

in the heart of Kanazawa inseemed to have a weak relationship with local

2004––over a decade after Art

communities.

Tower Mito. Compared to Art

In her contribution to the research group, Yuu

Kyōta Takahashi, dreamseed
2008- Kanazawa , Kanazawa Art
Platform 2008 -To Create our Own
Place by Ourselves-.
Courtesy of 21st Century Museumof Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.
Photo by Yasushi Ichikawa.

Tower Mito, the museum’s identity is strongly tied to its

Takehisa, curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery at

relationship with the local community. Along withArt Tower Mito, introduced art projects orchestrated by

showcasing top class contemporary art, the museum

the museum. The Art Gallery proposed launchingplaced outreach at the core of its mission, conducting

CAFE in Mito in 2002, one of the reasons of its

programs right from its opening that target local

establishment possibly being to resolve the chasm

citizens, such as elementary school students in

between the museum and the local people. The project

Kanazawa City.

staged a group exhibition with works exhibited

Curator Meruro Washida, discussed past projects

throughout the local area. This eventually evolved intoorchestrated by the museum. Kanazawa Art Platform,

the establishment of an autonomous organization, thean outreach initiative launched in 2008, holds

MeToo Promotion Office (a play on the word “Mito,”

numerous programs both inside and outside thethe name indicating that anyone could become an

museum facility. These include exhibitions in venues

organizer), which aimed to serve as a bridge between

such as the local shopping districts and vacant

Mito residents and art. MeToo has collaborated withhouses; workshops and events in community centers,

the Contemporary Art Gallery to organize programs

elementary schools, and group homes; and programs
utilizing underused buildings as bases for activity.
Although today both museums actively collaborate
with organizations and initiatives in their local
communities to contribute to building a cultural
network, the discussion between the curators from thetwo museums revealed slightly different standpoints
towards community-based projects. Takehisa, at thetime, still seemed to face the challenge of resolving thediscord with local citizens sown in the span of twelve
years since the museum’s opening. By contrast,
Washida stated that he felt nothing unusual or special
about museums taking their programs to the local areaand seeking cooperation from the local community.

Atelier Bow-Wow, Iki-Iki Machiya Project, 2008, Kanazawa Art Platform 2008 -To
Create our Own Place by Ourselves-.
Photo by Atelier Bow-Wow.

The contrast in their views seemed to mirror the17Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

museums is to maintain a platform that offers theopportunity for local people to overcome perceived
differences in social station so that they canproactively initiate activities of their own design.
Museum-led programs that engage the local
community have spawned multiple small-scaleinitiatives independent from the museums in both Mitoand Kanazawa. Iki-Iki-Sō in Kanazawa is one such
example. This traditional Japanese house, originallyrented by an artist, was transformed into a weekly
gathering place that attracted a diverse range of

Otomo Yoshihide, Ensembles Parade , 2009.
Courtesy of Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Center. Photo by Kenji Ōtani.

visitors. These social gatherings developed into CAAK
(Center for Art & Architecture, Kanazawa), a project

different institutional legacies, reflecting the gap

that traverses genres of art and architecture. It became

between the eras in which the two museums wereclear in the session that such bases for small-scale,established. What particularly stood out from theself-initiated activities that have sprung up around thediscussion was the sense of a difficult struggle to build

museum, function as gathering places for artists

community relations being behind Takehisa’s emphasis

invited by the museum and people from theon off-museum projects.

community interested in creative activity.

Takehisa also pointed out that one of the roles of

4. Urban Renewal and Art Projects: Building Social Capital
Contributors: Jun’ya Yamaide, Yuri Yoshida
Many art projects approach the challenges of

who had returned to the area from an artist-in-

declining rural areas and regional cities by taking on

residence overseas, established the NPO Beppu

regional revitalization. Art projects that take theProject in 2005, with plans to launch an international

historical context of a local region/area into

art festival in the area. However, because the idea ofconsideration can contribute to building new

an international art festival received little buy-in from

communities by serving as intermediaries among

the local people, he started a range of small-scale

existing social groups, facilitating the formation of new

projects to rediscover the appeal of the town. One ofrelationships.

these efforts was the “platform” scheme which began

Jun’ya Yamaide introduced the Beppu Project, ofwith small-budget renovations of vacant shops in thewhich he is founder and producer. Beppu City in Ōitacity center, spaces which then became staging points

Prefecture was at its economic peak during Japan’s

for a string of new activities, including a community

period of rapid develoment, when it served as a large-

café that provided employment opportunities for the

scale hot springs destination. However, there was adisabled, managed under the auspices of the local

drastic change of fortune after the collapse of theuniversity’s Department of Social Welfare; a hub toeconomic bubble in the 1990s, and Beppu has seen

revive a local traditional craft that was fast

many hotels, inns, and other facilities forced to close

disappearing, operated by an NPO promoting bamboo

down. As a result, vacant shops and underused

crafts; a hotel conceived of as an artwork itself whichbuildings now dominate the hot spring district, which

offers accommodation to visitors; and an artist-in-

still retains its old-town architecture. Yamaide, an artist

residence facility available to domestic and18

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

City. It had seen a marked increase in the number ofvacant buildings as the textile industry declined. Afterthe burst of the bubble economy, the number of textile
companies in the area dropped by half. With little
opportunity for younger generations in the local
wholesalers’ association to lead local activities, asense of stagnation had set in within the local
community. Moreover, there was little interaction
between the wholesalers and the new businesses thatentered the area after other wholesalers closed.
Within this context, artists organized many projects

Yūsuke Asai, The indoor forest / Clay auspicious animal , 2009, Chōjamachi Project2009. Photo by Kō Yamada.

that sought civic participation. Seeing that the
Triennale had no commercial intent, the elders amonginternational artists.

the wholesale businesses decided to designate

Beppu Project currently runs an extremely broad

younger managers to work together with the art

range of operations, from staging an international art

festival staff. By individually approaching each of thefestival, to creating new platforms for civic cultural

younger business owners, Yoshida was given

activities, to running a mail-order business promoting

permission to use the vacant spaces of their buildings

fresh local produce and food products as well as local

free of rent to display artworks. As one example, thecrafts. Such activities have stimulated younger

artist duo KOSUGE1-16, launched an updated local

generations to open small retail shops in the old-town

parade with the cooperation of the younger businessarea which has further revitalized the city.

owners, recreating the town’s large, wheeled festival

Yamaide’s ability to take action, along with his

float which was destroyed during the war. This event

imagination in coming up with ideas that can upend

became a symbolic turning point for the neighborhood.

existing social systems, is a major attribute of the

The parade initiated by KOSUGE1-16 is still held

“artist/producer,” which is an important figure in theannually, attracting participants from outside the textile

landscape of Japan’s art projects. Beppu Project has

district as well. Also, artists creating works that feature

kept developing during its initial ten years, its activities

the townspeople has yielded new frameworks for

now extending outside Beppu City. The Ōitaparticipation and cooperation. Attitudes among thePrefectural Government and Yamaide planned andtownspeople, many of whom were initially skeptical

held the Kunisaki Art Festival in a remote area of theprefecture that still retains many archeological sites.
The activities in Beppu have also spawned art projects
in other cities around Ōita.
Yuri Yoshida a former assistant curator for the Aichi
Triennale introduced the Chōjamachi Project, part of
the Aichi Triennale in 2010, which she was responsiblefor. The Triennale is a large-scale international art
festival held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, and the
Chōjamachi Project took place at one of its four main
venues. While the three other venues included
museums and theaters, this project was staged in the

Kitchen Dance from “Dance Journey through Beppu city community center––OpenRoom”, 2009.
Courtesy of Beppu Contemporary Art Festival “Mixed Bathing World” Committee.
Photo by Takashi Kubo.

Chōjamachi neighborhood––a historic textile
wholesaling district located right in the heart of Nagoya

19Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

towards art, changed after the Triennale. The local

determination to employ art as a means to revitalize

community independently established the Chōjamachi

the neighborhood. The project also resulted in

Art Annual Organizing Committee, without relying on

volunteers from outside the area moving into thethe local government, an expression of theirdistrict, which has created new communities.

5. Art Project Staff: The Different Faces of Local ParticipantsContributors: Orie Takano (Sustainable Art Project Himming), Takuma Ishiyama (Zerodate Art
Project), Yasue Habara (Toride Art Project), Keita Arai (Kitamoto Vitamin), Masato Nakamura
remote fishing town of Himi City, Toyama Prefecture,
Sustainable Art Project Himming runs programs thatinvolve many elderly male participants of varying
occupations such as fishermen and carpenters. The
Zerodate Art Project, initiated by creators from Ōdate
City, Akita Prefecture, serves as a creative community
for young people who have returned to their hometown
from Tokyo where they originally moved in search ofjobs––following a trajectory known as the “U-turn.”
The Toride Art Project is a collaboration between theTokyo University of the Arts and the small Tokyo

KOSUGE1-16, Dondoko! Kyodai Kami-zumo Kitamoto-basho Senshūraku [Dondoko!
giant paper sumo Kitamoto tournament, final day], 2009.

satellite city of Toride in Ibaraki Prefecture, which hosts

Volunteers have a central role in art projects that

one of the university’s campuses. The project is a

are founded on cooperation and participation. For

well-known example of a university-led art project,large-scale art festivals, volunteers usually work as

attracting participants from white-collar families of all

guides, ticket-checkers, or security for the artworks

ages, including retired businessmen and housewives

during the festival season. However, for small- andwho have finished raising their children. Kitamoto

mid-scale projects, many local volunteers take part in

Vitamin, based in Kitamoto City, Saitama Prefecture, isthe projects as organizers. As one examines therun by young staff members who majored in art or

unique characteristics and local color of each project,design.

it becomes apparent that the social changes or the

Sustainable Art Project Himming and the Zerodate

new community that volunteers in a project aspire

Art Project were both produced by Masato Nakamura

toward varies widely.
For Chapter 5, young project organizers from four
different locations around Japan were invited to
introduce their projects as case studies. In theirpresentations, each speaker discussed thecharacteristics of the local citizens who take part in the
projects, either as operating staff or as participants inthe art activities the projects entail. The organizers also
exchanged opinions on the necessary qualities for
project staffers and the challenges of project
management.

Ken’yū Oku＋Yūsuke Suzuki, Ino Danchi Ashiyu Project , 2008, Toride Art Project
2008.

Located in a renovated fishing net warehouse in the20

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

system can be considered one of the major
characteristic features of these small-scale projects.
Regarding the challenges of running a project, thestaff members noted that the daily work required iscomparable to starting a new business––long hours
with unstable pay, which is low if there is any at all. In
the meantime, managers must always remain attentive
to those working around them, including other staff,
volunteers, local community members, local officials,
and artists in order to maintain high levels of
motivation. Although two of the four contributors havesince left their projects, the remaining staff members

Himming Art Center

continue to work on these projects, drawn to thewho represented Japan in the Venice Biennale in 2001.

appeal of working with a specific community and being

Nakamura reported that the appeal of art projects isable to feel when their activities begin to have somethat “they have large doorways and drawers that can

impact within it.

absorb different values and then return them again to
the local area.” He emphasized that building asustainable system that can develop while maintaining
a balance between staff, systems, and finances was ofgreatest importance to the longevity of rural art
projects. Among the projects introduced in thesession, Kitamoto Vitamin has since ended. The otherprojects, however, have attained nonprofit status in thecourse of their development. The goal of establishing a
non-profit in order to establish a resilient management

Zerodate Art Project Center in 2010 (reopened as an art gallery in May 2015).

6. Art Projects and Society: Social Inclusion and Art
Contributors: Nobu Amenomori, Kazumitsu Kawamoto
live, known as doyagai , or “flophouse districts.” ThisIn recent years, art has been increasingly involved

chapter introduced two contrasting cases. Nobu

in social arenas outside the field of art as it is usually
understood, engaging with, among others, thehomeless, immigrants, the disabled, and the elderly, in
locations such as hospitals and welfare facilities. As inother countries, art projects that aim to build an
inclusive society where diverse values can coexist arealso beginning to emerge in Japan. In many cases,
projects of this type offer opportunities to accept
people’s differences through art or provide a hint as tohow art can engage with society. The most noteworthyof such cases in Japan are projects carried out in

Hiroshi Fuji, Experiment in the Town: Dekopori “Toysaurus” , 2009, Zetsumetsukigu
Fūkei [Endangered landscape project] (organized by the Breaker Project).

areas where many homeless people and day laborers

21

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

people are not necessarily homeless but hopeless. The
theme of our activities is to explore how these people
can reconnect with society, that is, to see whethersocial inclusion is possible through art.” The project’s
approach contrasts to that of the Breaker Project inthat it does not display works for the enjoyment ofoutside audiences but places emphasis on thepossibility of enabling those who lead solitary lives toenjoy art on a daily basis and, through it, regain asense of life being worthwhile.
The two art projects, which differ in terms of goals

Kotobuki Candle Night, 2010, Kotobuki Creative Action.
Photo by Ken Katō.

and approach also form different relationships withlocal governments and engage different types of

Amenomori leads the Breaker Project, which started

residents. However, both projects are similar in thatas a cultural venture initiated by the Osaka City

they are founded on the fundamental question ofGovernment in 2003. Concerned with the isolation ofwhether communities can be transformed through art.

contemporary art from society, Amenomori sought to

In a discussion of how projects should engage with arebuild an effective relationship between the two

given locality and whether art risks exploiting marginal

through an art project. As opposed to the Cocoroom,groups, Kawamato pointed out the need to departa project that directly engages the doyagai residents infrom existing notions of art: “Rather than imposing thea neighboring area, Amenomori’s project is moremeaning of art on people from a place of authority,

concerned with cultivating an arts audience and a newwhat’s more important is a willingness to work withsite for expression, as well as attracting visitors

them.” Amenomori added to this argument byunfamiliar with the area by installing artworks in it.

commenting, “The aim of our project is to create an

Kazumitsu Kawamoto is the organizer of Kotobuki

environment where artists can survive. At the same

Creative Action in the Kotobuki neighborhood oftime, that will enable people to accept different values,

Yokohama. Kawamato is a clear example of anleading to the formation of a society where everyoneorganizer who employs art as a tool for social

can live and belong. Moreover, the project aims toinclusion. He commented: “Kotobuki is a place wheretransform the local area into a site for artistic

those who have lost touch with society come to live as

experimentation which will generate interest toward

their final abode, their final destination in life. Thesethe area among the public.”

7. Companies and Art Projects: Why Companies Support Art Projects
Contributors: Taneo Katō, Tomoko Kitamura
Today, corporate support of the arts is not limited tocontext that can be highlighted is the sense thatfunding but can include various forms such as accesscompanies must move in tandem with the emergenceto human resources, corporate infrastructure, andof new social values, as the social values of twentieth-

networking platforms. In 1990, the Association for

century mass consumerism are becoming

Corporate Support of the Arts (Kigyō Mécénat

unsustainable.

Kyōgikai, or KMK) was established as an intermediary

Taneo Katō, currently the Executive Director oforganization to promote corporate cultural support and

KMK, led the Department of Corporate Cultural

conduct research and study on the field. What is theActivities inside the global beer company, Asahi Group

motivation for companies to support the arts? One

Holdings, from 1990 up to his retirement in 2013. The

22

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

Chishima Real Estate Co. Ltd., in Osaka. Chishima is asmall-scale, privately held, local real estate company
with a hundred-year history. With the economic
downturn, vacant spaces proliferated in the land
owned by the company. As a way to address thesituation, the company promotes art projects in orderto redevelop local areas through culture. By making
use of underused assets––converting a former
shipyard into an art facility or offering vacant smallscale real estate to artists at an affordable rent––
Chishima is transforming much of its property in the
Rubber Duck Project, 2009, Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009.
Photo by Hiromitsu Morimoto.

areas around the shipyard into an artistic hub. An

company has had a major impact on the field of art

they are closely connected with Chishima’s main

projects through a support program called the Asahi

business, enhancing local real estate value. Chishima’s

Art Festival. The Festival is designed to grantcase is an example of a win-win relationship between

intermediary support to new projects in the startup

art projects and the main activities of the organizing

phase of their activities, in the form of seed moneycompany. Kitamura reported that art has contributed

grants, corporate endorsement to show credible

to increasing corporate value: “Through art, thebacking, and a platform for project organizers tocompany is now recognized as unique for the role it isnetwork and exchange information.

playing in revitalizing Osaka.”

important characteristic of these art projects is that

Asahi initially adopted a mainstream approach to

As seen in both cases, the two companies are notcultural support as carried out by many companies in

simply providing financial support to projects but are

Japan, including operation of self-owned cultural

also expanding their activities to build a future social

facilities and sponsorship of cultural events. Katōmodel through art support in a way that coincides with

explained that after realizing the limits of this approachthe company’s main interests.

he became interested in focusing on activities that only
a national-scale company could realize. He pointed
out that, “Regardless of the location and contents ofthe projects that received support, these initiatives still
remained as independent ‘dots’ strewn across thecountry.” By weaving together a nationwide network ofseed projects, Asahi Art Festival built a new platformthat encourages citizen-led, small-scale activities, andcontributes to their validation.

Group photo from Asahi Arts Festival The World Network Project, 2011.
Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture.

Tomoko Kitamura is responsible for CSR at

8.	Artists and Art Projects: The Good and the Bad of Large-Scale Art
Festivals Held in Depopulated Regions
Contributors: Tadashi Kawamata, Hiroshi Fuji
The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2000-) and theof large-scale art festivals that became milestones for

Setouchi Triennale (2010-) are quintessential examples

art projects in Japan, and boast an unparalleled23

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

number of visitors for contemporary art events.4
These art festivals have sparked a phenomenon that
could be called “art tourism” and have contributed tocommunity revitalization and benefited local
economies in rural areas that face serious
depopulation. As a result of these successes, art
projects have garnered attention as an effective
strategy for regional revitalization and tourism.
For this chapter, we invited two artists, Tadashi
Kawamata and Hiroshi Fuji, who have both taken partin the two festivals. Kawamata, a renowned artist
currently based in France, was highly critical of largescale art festivals and art projects in general for theirtendency toward emphasizing popularity. He pointed
out that large-scale art festivals succeed in attracting
Tadashi Kawamata, Cosmology of Yusuke Nakahara , 2012-, EchigoTsumari Art Triennale 2012.
Courtesy of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale Executive Committee.
Photo by Osamu Nakamura.

visitors by promoting the locations where they arestaged, but in turn compromise the quality of theartworks and the concept of the event. As a result,experiencing the scenery and exploring an unfamiliar

influenced by Kawamata. Fuji likened his work to thatlocation become the main objective of the event rather

of a computer operating system6––a platform thatthan the art, which according to Kawamata, is merely

facilitates different creative activities undertaken byan added value to the experience. Kawamata also

local people (in this analogy, the equivalent ofmaintained that because of the festivals’ site-

computer applications). His OS operates in a way thatspecificity, both the artists who create the work andencourages and motivates his participants to takevisitors who view it have begun to conform to aaction by their own initiative and links those activities

standardized pattern, indicating that these exhibitions

to society. Fuji recalled that the early works ofhave reached a dead-end. Kawamata emphasized that

Kawamata in the 1980s gave him the impression of anagainst this backdrop, artists needed to explore how

installation artist who “drew in space.” Fuji observed

the homogeneity can be reversed.

that the artistic activities of Japanese artists influenced

Kawamata launched the CIAN project in 2009 to

by Kawamata shifted from transforming the function ofcollect, preserve, and publicly display documents“space” to “place” in the 1990s, and developed further

5

pertaining to art projects held across Japan. CIAN

in the 2000s towards changing “systems ofasserts the need to investigate the true purpose of art

participation.”projects, which emerge only to quickly disappear, andThe discussion involving Kawamata and Fuji

serves as a warning to other projects to avoid fallingbrought to light differences in their thinking about art

into the trap of being merely a means for regional

projects. Fuji, holding a positive view, saw potential inrevitalization.

art projects, drawing attention to how, in a pre-Hiroshi Fuji is currently the Director of Towada Art

consumer civilization, people executed diverse skills

Center and a Professor at Akita University of Art. He is

as a means of daily life, and arguing that reviving those

one of the first generation of younger activists strongly

skills could lead to the rediscovery of people’s ability

4 Refer to Column 1 (p.12).
5 CIAN (Center for Interlocal Art Network), launched in 2009, is one of the hub facilities of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, and aims to build an archive of creative activities
including documents of Kawamata’s own projects and a collection of maquettes of works exhibited in the Triennale.
6 Refer to Column 3 (p.32) for more information on Fuji’s work and his concept of the “operating system art.”24

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

desire to pursue artistic work aloof from the moment ofpresenting work to an audience, as a way to avoid
being caught up in the art project boom. Kawamata,
who has organized participatory projects on aninternational level, gives the impression that he istrying to escape the danger of his projects being
sucked up by the trend of art festivals.
Kawamata and Fuji, representing different
generations of artists, appeared to have contrasting
approaches toward artistic authorship. Kawamata is
the artist who first proposed the “project” as an artistic

Hiroshi Fuji, House of Hachijuro Fujishima , 2010, Setouchi Triennale 2010.
Photo by Osamu Nakamura.

concept, and there are many people who haveparticipated in his work both inside and outside Japan.

to create for themselves. Fuji also claimed thatBut due to their highly sculptural form, his works are

participating in art projects could enable participants

often, ultimately, labeled as “Work by Tadashi

to adopt new perspectives and acquire a new

Kawamata” and assimilated into the art world. In aunderstanding of social conditions. Fuji, who has

contrary fashion, Fuji, who refers to his artistic

conducted numerous sustainable projects throughout

practices as “OS-style art,” invents systems which, asJapan, increasingly seeks possibilities of artistic

the name suggests, allow open use. Fuji’s willingness

expression in social relations. On the opposite side,

to abandon authorship can be considered closer to the

Kawamata held that art tourism was to blame formainstream of art projects in Japan than Kawamata’s

rendering art projects superficial. He expressed aposition.

9.	Trends After the 3.11 Earthquake: Art Projects Confronting Affected
Areas of the Tōhoku Region
Contributors: Risei Satō, Otomo Yoshihide, Kimura Toshirō Jinjin, Yoshitaka Mōri
The earthquake of unprecedented scale that struck

Satō, discussed his views on the activities of Art

the Tōhoku region on March 11, 2011 and the tsunami

Support Tohoku-Tokyo,7 musician Otomo Yoshihide

and nuclear power plant meltdown that ensued,

introduced Project Fukushima!, artist Kimura Toshirō

devastated a large area of the country. Four years have

Jinjin considered his “Nodate” project, and sociologist

passed since the disaster, yet reconstruction measures

Yoshitaka Mōri shared his thoughts on the theme “Arthave shown little progress in many places, and theafter 3.11.” Satō, Otomo, and Kimura, who discussed

effects of the tsunami continue to cast a dark shadow

art projects in the affected areas, all pointed out thaton Tōhoku. The last chapter of the research project

the disaster exposed existing community divides while

report is a summary of an open discussion held in thecreating new ones.8 All three shared their attempts toyear following the earthquake, which introduced art

transcend the chasms existing within and between

projects in the affected areas.

communities through art.
Risei Satō pointed out that although the disaster

The Tokyo Art Point Project program officer, Risei

7 Art Support Tohoku-Tokyo was launched in July 2011, targeting three prefectures affected by the earthquake: Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima. The project works with localorganizations and coordinators to launch and organize cultural programs such as symposiums, workshops, and residencies, and aims to provide support to make those
programs sustainable.
8 Specifically, Otomo pointed out examples of things that could sow discord among the people of Fukushima: whether one was from the area or not, whether one had stayedbehind or evacuated, or whether one had received compensation or not.

25

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

itself did not directly influence art projects per se, thedisaster possibly served to highlight their approaches
and merits. Conflicts and frictions along various“borders” often ended up obstructing reconstruction
efforts in the region, but Satō maintained that art
enabled the “creation of alternative communication
channels” that could cross such borders. The
earthquake resulted in a rapid cascade of issues that
impacted local communities, such as exodus,
Fukushima! Ō-furoshiki, 2011. Photo by Hikaru Fujii.

industrial stagnation, and unemployment. He asserted
that recovery from the earthquake is “not simply torestore ‘normal life’ as it was before the disaster but toit. The project also claimed that the role of the artist is

re-design society anew in light of the possibilities theto create diverse arenas that include participants ofearthquake made visible.”different opinions and standpoints in a flexible andProject Fukushima!, initiated and promoted byconsistent way, and to realize a platform that can bring

Otomo Yoshihide, among others, was launched bythem all together in ways that complement each otherpeople both inside and outside Fukushima Prefectureor while affording conflict. Otomo stated, “What is

as a crucial challenge in the wake of the earthquake:

happening now is not just a local issue specific to“What can we do to transform ‘Fukushima’ into

Fukushima but a universal problem that mankind must9

something positive?” The organizers aimed to resolve

resolve in the future,” pointing out the need to confront

divides between people by devising a project thatand consider all of the major social systems thatgathered people to Fukushima from Tokyo. They werecreated the situation in Fukushima.
Kimura Toshirō Jinjin conducted his outdoor

able to put on a music festival with over ten thousand
attendees by enlisting the help of experts to evaluate

ceramics workshop entitled “Nodate” in Ōtsuchi, Iwate

and publicize the level of radioactive contamination at

Prefecture, which was severely damaged by thethe music festival site. The approach demonstrated atsunami.10 The artist reported how the preparatory

principle of action post-meltdown, where citizens

process for the workshop highlighted divides among

could develop their own understanding of the situation,

the organizing staff members, such as local earthquake

consider different solutions, and do something about

survivors vs. outside volunteers and residents in
temporary housing vs. residents in homes thatwithstood the disaster. However, the dialogue
necessitated by the project gradually enabledcommunication between individuals, overcoming thedivisions among their standpoints. The discussion
reconfirmed that the healing properties of art executedby artists showing or performing their works was
possibly not enough to bring down social divides
caused by stereotypes, and that creating a platform
with the collaboration and support from local people

Festival Fukushima! Synchronized Worldwide Events, August 15, 2011.

9 Besides music festivals, Project Fukushima! organizes an ongoing program of events including poetry and music workshops, study groups on radiation, webcasting, andmusic streaming.
10 The project involves Kimura visiting various locations across Japan with a hand-pulled cart loaded with a tea ceremony kit and tools for making ceramics, including a kiln,
unglazed ceramics, and glaze. Participants are situated outdoors, giving them a clear view of the area while they make and glaze their own tea bowls and then drink fromthem after they have been fired on the spot in the kiln, using a method known as raku-yaki.

26

Case Studies fromJapan’s Art Projects: Their History
and Present State, 1990-2012

was of major importance.

present. He drew parallels between the 3.11

Referencing Walter Benjamin’s “The Author as

catastrophe and the angel of history, gazing fixedly

Producer” in Theses on the Philosophy of History ,upon the debris, and also between the “storm blowing

Yoshitaka Mōri postulated a theory of art of thefrom Paradise” and the amnesia toward thecatastrophe forced upon people by today’s media.
Mōri said, “The role of today’s artists is coming toresemble that of the angel of history who commits toobserving the pile of wreckage while being pushedahead by strong winds,” and asserted that the
implications of new artistic approaches lie in how they
can re-problematize all the issues pertaining to the
nuclear meltdown, which existing media and art
institutions have failed to fully capture. Mōri mentioned
Project Fukushima! as an example of this new
approach, one that offers a glimpse of the role of theartist of the future.

Kimura Toshirō Jinjin, Nodate , 2012. Sakuragi Town, Ōtsuchi.

List of Projects
The following is a list of projects introduced in the chapters of Nihongata āto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai 1990-2012 [Japan’s art projects: their history andpresent state, 1990-2012] (2013).

1 Creating Culture (General Learning Course at Chiba University, 1992-Present) /Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
Suburbia Tokyo Project, Hinonon Fiction (2008-2010) / Hino City, Tokyo
http://www.comp.sd.tmu.ac.jp/artsystem/hinonon/project.html (Japanese only)

Toride Art Project (1999-Present) / Toride City, Ibaraki Prefecture
http://www.toride-ap.gr.jp/en/ (English)
Kitamoto Vitamin (2008-2012) / Kitamoto City, Saitama Prefecture

6 Breaker Project (2003-Present) / Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture

Hiroshima Art Project (2007-2010) / Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture
http://hiroshima-ap.jpn.org/web/index.html (Japanese only)

http://breakerproject.net/english/ (English)
KOTOBUKI Creative Action (2008-Present) / Yokohama City, Kanagawa
Prefecture
http://creativeaction.jp/ (Japanese only)

2 Art Center Ongoing (2008-Present) / Musashino City, Tokyo
http://www.ongoing.jp/en/index.php (English)

7 Asahi Art Festival (Asahi Breweries, Ltd.,)

Travelers Project (2005-Present) / Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
http://www.travelers-project.info/eng/top/ (English)

http://www.asahi-artfes.net/english/ (English)

3 Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Center (1990-Present) / Mito City, Ibaraki

Creative Center OSAKA, Kitakagaya Creative Village Project, and the Rubber
Duck Project (Chishima Real Estate Co. Ltd.) / Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
http://www.chishimatochi.com/english/solution/regional/ (English)

Prefecture
http://arttowermito.or.jp/gallery_en/gallery01.html (English)

8 Tadashi Kawamata (1953-)

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2004-Present) /Kanazawa City, Kagawa Prefecture
https://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/ (English)

http://www.tk-onthetable.com/index.html (English)
Hiroshi Fuji (1960-)
http://geco.jp/ (Japanese only)

4 Beppu Project (2005-Present) / Beppu City, Ōita Prefecture
http://www.beppuproject.com/english/ (English)

9 Art Support Tohoku-Tokyo (2011-Present) / Iwate Prefecture, Miyagi
Prefecture, and Fukushima Prefecture
http://asttr.jp/ (Japanese only)

Aichi Triennale (2010-Present) / Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
http://aichitriennale.jp/english/index.html (English)

5 Sustainable Art Project Himming (2003-Present) / Himi City, Toyoma Prefecture
http://himming.jp/ (Japanese only)

Project Fukushima! (2012-Present) / Fukushima Prefecture
http://www.pj-fukushima.jp/en/ (English)
Kimura Toshirō Jinjin, Nodate (1995-Present) / Ōtsuchi, Iwate Prefecture

Zerodate Art Project (2007-Present) / Ōdate City, Akita Prefecture
http://www.zero-date.org/ (Japanese only)

The above links have been last accessed on October 6, 2015.

27

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

by Sumiko Kumakura

Two girls proposed an art museum for their ideal town after their homes had been wiped out by the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami.
Jun Kitazawa, Mytown Market , 2011-. Photo by Yuji Itō.

As discussed up to this point, many art projects in

dismissal, as when critics or historians simply assume

Japan take on aspects of community art or are held asthat there is no art in art projects. When critiques are

events in which local citizens––non-artists––participate

put forth, they often argue that works created throughin creating artwork. They are designed to involve

participation fail as artworks because they lack artistic

people in provincial areas who are marginalized byquality. Indeed, such skepticism has become

mainstream society in many ways. In other words,

inseparable from art projects in Japan; they are

many art projects include works that have no distinct

constantly called into question regarding issues such

artwork or author, something that can be problematic

as whether entertaining local people is enough,from the perspective of modernist aesthetics. For thiswhether enjoyment alone can validate artistic value,reason, art projects in Japan have been ignored orwhat art is, and who decides. If art projects in Japan

treated with dismissive ridicule for many years withinhave some significance in spite of all this doubt, what

the fields of art, art history, and art criticism. The

would it be? In this segment, we will discuss the value

critical failure comes mainly in the form of wholesalethat art projects create from several perspectives.

28

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

Departure from a Normative Definition of the
Artwork
Skepticism Regarding Authorship
Of course, art projects are not devoid of artworks.
Art festivals often feature conventional works, namely
large-scale installations and both temporary andpermanent works installed in public spaces that havebeen created by individual artists. Anyone would see
these as works of art with little reservation. At thesame time, these festivals also include projects where
the artwork and author are not clearly defined, or thatconsist entirely of participatory workshops.
Jun Kitazawa, Living Room , 2010-.

The underlying premise of the assumption that
there is no art in art projects is that an artwork createdby a group of amateurs cannot withstand criticism.

has now begun to engage them more seriously.

There is also the concern that by being exploited as

Despite the indifference and criticism, many artists

tools for local revitalization, artists or art itself will lose

have been working to challenge the notion of thetheir autonomy. These concerns among art specialists

artwork and author in a variety of ways in the context

are understandable considering the idea, establishedof art projects. Numerous projects, like Hiroshi Fuji’s

as a norm of modernism dating from the 19th century’s“OS-style” art and Jun Kitazawa’s work, intentionally“art for art’s sake,” that the artwork is defined as

ignore the idea of autonomy, placing less value onsomething created from inception to completion by theauthorship and the stereotypical artwork.

individual artist, along with the overriding priority

From Talent to Co-creation

placed on artistic autonomy. Moreover, the artworks
appearing in art projects that cater to the interests ofIn this report, we described creative activities which

local governments appear to be only superficially takeplace value on relations between people and theon the avant-garde techniques of artists from theprocess leading up to a project as “co-creative.”

1960s and 1970s.

Traditional artistic thought takes artists to be people

As a result of this attitude, almost no criticalpossessing a level of talent well above that of the

discourse on the aesthetics of art practices in theordinary individual. Co-creative art by contrast, places

context of art projects has developed, even though themore emphasis on creativity, an attribute inherent inpractices themselves emerged in the 1990s. This

everyone. Art projects encourage individuals tosituation continued into the 2000s even after large-

manifest the creativity that anyone possesses in ways

scale art exhibitions became part of the art project

they haven’t experienced before. The aggregation ofscene. The dismissal of art projects by the mainstream

this creativity has the potential to develop into

art world is to some degree parallel with the situation

something larger than what a single individual canin the West where similar forms of art were undervalued

produce. Collaboration, frequently used to describe

until the concept of socially engaged art began tocreative activities involving multiple participants, often

describe and establish them. However, as discussed

entails a one-way relationship centering on the artist

later in the section, since art projects have grown to an(such as non-artists lending things or providing labor

extent that they can no longer be ignored, criticism

to the artist). Conversely, co-creative art involves

29Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

Column 2

Case Studies of Co-Creative Projects 1
Jun Kitazawa’s Sun Self HotelSun Self Hotel takes place in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture,

the hotel staff who make the preparations to suspend

a satellite suburb of Tokyo which developed in the 1970s

it. The idea of the sun as well as the overall frameworkand 1980s, with a population of a hundred thousand. Theof the project is the only part of it that was conceived

event is part of the Toride Art Project. Twice a year, Sun

by Kitazawa. The actual service is planned and

Self Hotel accepts guests to stay in an empty unit of an

performed by the hotel staff and Kitazawa chooses notapartment complex, reimagined as a hotel. Local

to intervene in their creative process. After selecting

volunteers from the area play the role of the hotel staff,

guests from a group of applicants, the staff spend two

preparing hand-made amenities and home-cooked meals

months in preparation, consulting the guests on their

to welcome guests. After check-in, the guests are taken

needs during their stay. Thirty-odd hotel staff of widelyon a tour of the premises of the apartment complex with adiverse backgrounds who come to the project as

cart equipped with a solar panel and a battery. The solar

something outside their daily routine, then let theirenergy is used both to light the hotel room and also aideas run freely about how best to manage each stay.

“sun” consisting of a yellow balloon equipped with an LED

Sun Self Hotel is a form of co-creative artistic

light bulb, which is illuminated for the “Ceremony of theexpression, created as specific individuals work

Night Sun,” where the guests, hotel staff, residents of thetogether to create an experience for a specificapartment complex, and participants from the area spend

audience.

a sociable evening.

Dramaturge Kaku Nagashima, a pioneering figure in

Jun Kitazawa, a young artist still in his twenties, stated

postdramatic theater, pointed out that the project wasthat in response to the 3.11 earthquake and the nuclear

like a play, with the hotel staff playing the leading role.

meltdown that followed, he started to ponder how people

Initially, the guests are unsure of how to position

could better come to terms with nature, and came up withthemselves in response to the hotel service, which is

the idea of people creating an element of nature with theiroverloaded with the imagination of the hotel staff. The

own hands. Indeed, the most notable event of Sun Self

staging of the event, however, envelops them in a way

Hotel is when the sun is pulled up into the sky in thethat forces them to take some kind of role in theevening and illuminates the apartment complex. This sun,“performance,” a feature which may well be seen asa purposeless artifact for the hotel, is the only element ofakin to postdramatic theater.

the project that resembles an art object. Even then, it is

Jun Kitazawa, Sun Self Hotel, 2012-. Photo by Yuji Itō.

Jun Kitazawa, Sun Self Hotel, 2012-. Photo by Yuji Itō.

30

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

individuals coming together to create somethingalternative outcomes through careful observation of

beyond what a single individual would be capable ofpresent conditions.”1 As Mōri suggests, it might beproducing, in terms of the diversity of ideas andnecessary for artists undertaking participatory projects

perspectives involved.

to be able to patiently observe a community until a
way of thinking naturally takes hold among them thatJun Kitazawa and Hiroshi Fuji, whose works arefeatured in Columns 2 and 3, are representative

affirms their view of the world can change when theyexamples of artists who specialize in co-creative art.

act and exercise their creativity.
However as curator Meruro Washida, among

For example, the most distinctive aspect of Kitazawa
as an artist is that he avoids giving directions toothers, have pointedly criticized, we must not overlook

participants and is adept at stimulating discussion

the pitfalls of “exploiting” the creativity of local citizens

among people while remaining patient in overseeingor leaning toward “fascist” tendencies.2 A demon-

the process. He continuously encourages plainspoken

stration of creativity by local citizens can easily turnimagination among participants so that they take theinto a form of labor if it is simply assimilated into theinitiative in liberating themselves toward a slightly

work of an artist. Also, there is the danger of projects

out-of-the-ordinary fantasy––a process that differs

creating a stifling atmosphere of compulsory

from participants following the instructions of artists.

participation and of participants uncritically embracing

In The Art Project Research Group’s publication

art as an established value, rather than as somethingsummarized in the previous section, sociologist

open to change. Yoshio Shirakawa has also suggested

Yoshitaka Mōri argued, “Instead of heroically doingthat imposing a system of values that leads towhat has previously not been done before, what will

ostracism if not complied with can easily devolve into

become more important is a form of art that can createa fascism of values.3

Trends and Cultural Background of Art Project
Research in Japan
Art projects in Japan occupy a slightly different

task generates new channels of communication

position from socially engaged art or relational art.

between people and keeps the project going. In Japan,

Relational art considers social relations as the subject

what people hope art projects can achieve is to undoof representation, while what is typically considered

constraints entrenched in existing communities,

socially engaged art considers the capabilities anddissolve inherited social relations, bring new appeal toenergy of its participants as a form of expression,a particular area by establishing new social contexts

placing emphasis on the political and calling for direct

which did not exist prior to the project, and aid people

discussion of social issues. Art projects differ fromin discovering a sense of purpose in their lives. This

these two forms in their use of a more moderate

has led to active discussion of art projects in fields

approach. Participants are invited to partake in creative

outside of art history and aesthetics such as sociology,

tasks using their hands, for instance, and this ongoing

cultural economics, cultural policy, urban planning,

1 Kumakura, Sumiko (Sv.). (2013). Nihongata āto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai 1990-2012 [Japan’s art projects: their history and present state, 1990-2012] (Kikuchi, Takuji &Nagatsu, Yūichirō, Eds.). Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, Tokyo Culture Creation Project (currently Arts Council Tokyo), Chapter 9, 9-18.
2 Washida, Meruro. (2009). “Āto purojekuto no seijigaku” [The politics of art projects]. In Kawaguchi, Yukiya (Ed.). Tenji no seijigaku [The politics of exhibitions].
Tokyo: Suiseisha, 237-253.
3 Shirakawa,Yoshio. (2010). Bijutsukan·dōbutsuen·seishinka-shisetsu [Art museums·zoos· psychiatric facilities]. Tokyo: Suiseisha.

31

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

public administration, and education.4

elucidate the implications of art projects and theconcerns of the artists involved in them regarding theSocial Capitalidea of social capital.5

Among these, one area that is particularly well-

Art projects can activate pre-existing forms ofresearched is the question of the social capital that art

bridging social capital, but they also form new bridging

projects develop. For example, Takayuki Yoshida’ssocial capital by connecting existing communities

research draws on the example of the Chōjamachi

within a particular locality. While conventional forms of

Project that was part of the 2010 Aichi Triennale tourban redevelopment are almost always infiltrated by

Column 3

Case Studies of Co-Creative Projects 2
Hiroshi Fuji’s OS Art, Kaekko Bazaar
Held across Japan as well as abroad, Kaekko Bazzar isstaff. It is designed so that shoppers can switch roles

a workshop that allows children to have fun playing

to become staff or workshop facilitators. In this way,

shopkeeper and customer, exchanging toys and otherFuji’s OS triggers unexpected creative experiences forthings, using an international children’s currency called

participating children.

kaeru points. The mascot for the workshop is a frog, aBased on the system of the Kaekko Bazaar , Fuji also

play on words in Japanese, where the word kaeru means

created a disaster drill workshop Iza! Kaeru Kyaraban

both “to exchange,” and “frog.” Children come to the(Hey! Froggie Caravan!) with the non-profit organization

venue with unwanted toys, books, and accessories which

Plus Arts. Created after the Great Hanshin Earthquake

are assessed by child bankers at the Children’s Bank andin 1995, the project seeks to enliven disaster training

exchanged for kaeru points. The assessed prices are

and to engage participants from different generations.

displayed on each item and from there they are moved toMany art workshops relating to disaster prevention are

the appropriate shop. Participants can browse the shops

held at a Kaekko Bazaar venue where participants

and buy previously owned items with their kaeru points.

receive kaeru points for participating.

There are also shops that hold workshops and issue kaeru
points for participation.

Kaekko Bazaar is a representative example of Hiroshi
Fuji’s practice, which moves away from artwork as an
expression of the individual artist, to see art in the act of
creating situations where various participants are able todevelop their own expressions by their own initiative. Fuji
calls these activities “OS (operating system) art.” Just as
various applications run on a computer operating system,

Kaekko Bazaar serves as a platform that organizers canuse to run different workshops. Fuji’s work functions as an
OS: a platform that spurs creative activities.
In Kaekko Bazaar , children who initially take part as

Hiroshi Fuji, Kaekko Bazaar , 2004, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary
Art, Kanazawa.

customers can also receive kaeru points by working as

4 In Japan, scholarly organizations conducting research on art projects include The Japan Association for Arts Management (Nihon Āto Manējimento Gakkai), The Japan
Association for Cultural Policy Research (Nihon Bunka Seisaku Gakkai), The Japan Association for Cultural Economics (Bunka Keizai Gakkai), The Japan Sociological Society(Nihon Shakai Gakkai), and The Japan Association for Urban Sociology (Toshi Shakai Gakkai), as well as some in the field of architecture.
5 Yoshida, Takayuki. (2013). Toshigata geijutsusai no keiei seisaku: Aichi Torienāle wo jirei ni [Management policies in urban art festivals: the case of the Aichi Triennale]. PhD
diss., Tokyo University of the Arts.

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Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

economic agendas that inevitably highlight starkby art specialists and appreciated by those withdifferences between communities that will stand to

specialized knowledge, and popular art, created bygain or lose, Yoshida argues that art projects have thespecialists and appreciated by the general public,

potential to produce explosive effects in establishing

Tsurumi coined and promoted a third realm of art

new norms and trust––characteristic aspects ofrooted in everyday life and common cultural practices,bridging social capital––when employed as part ofproduced and appreciated by people in their everyday

bottom-up, local revitalization, precisely because art iscontext. Japanese people have a long history ofultimately not connected to economic purposes or any

enjoying finely produced handicraft and this can stillother practical purpose (although with the caveat thatbe seen in local customs in rural areas. In this way, thesuch projects often fail to deliver sustained effects).

desire to partake in creative expression within theThis form of art, therefore, has the potential to create

realm of everyday life is very much a part of Japanese

new social relations that get beyond economic andpolitical divisions.

Perspectives from Cultural
Anthropology
Cultural anthropology offers another perspectivethat should be considered when thinking about thecultural context of art project research in Japan. Herewe will touch on two concepts: marginal art andmatsuri festivals.
In 1956, critic Shunsuke Tsurumi introduced a newconcept––marginal art (genkai geijutsu )––into the field

KOSUGE1-16, Katai Dashi [Hard festival float], 2010, Aichi Triennale 2010. Photo by
Ryōsuke Ishida.

of cultural anthropology. In addition to fine art, created

Column 4

The Theory of Social Capital
The idea of social capital derives from the theory of

local organizations. Bridging social capital, meanwhile,

French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, who developed threecreates links among instances of bonding social capitalclassifications for the kinds of capital available to theand seeks coordination on a wider scale. It isindividual: cultural, economic, and social. More recently,

characterized by broad reciprocity, with an emphasis

American political scientist Robert Putnam has pointed

on social tolerance and diversity. In Bowling Alone: The

out that characteristics of social organizations such as

Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000),

trust, norms, and networks facilitate active cooperation,

Putnam stated, “…art is especially useful ingenerating social capital that improves the functioning oftranscending conventional social barriers,” though hesociety. Putnam further divided social capital into two

did not discuss in detail what he meant by this claim

categories: bonding and bridging. Marked by exclusivity(p.411). Numerous studies on art projects and socialand homogeneity, bonding social capital is based on

capital have appeared recently in Japan in fields such

intrasocial relations that generate reciprocity only valid

as cultural economics, municipal engineering, andwithin a specific group. Common examples include circles

civics education.

formed around hobbies, sports clubs, and self-governed

33Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

society. This was pointed out by Tsurumi long before

used concepts of liminality and communitas proposedart projects existed.

by Victor Turner.7 In this thesis, Kitazawa analyzes

The concept of marginal art has drawn renewed

three of his representative projects: My Town Market ,attention in art project research and, in some cases,

an event held several times a year, where 3.11 refugees

has influenced the way art projects have been carried

residing in temporary housing organize attractions

6out. For example, the Kiriko Project in Minamisanriku-

such as shops and cultural facilities to create an ideal

chō, Miyagi Prefecture, has produced high-quality

future city; Living Room , where local residents barteredpaper cutout works by making use of the skills which

unwanted articles at an underused shop inside an

have been passed from generation to generation in theapartment complex and then organized events based

local area. Marginal art can be considered something

on those articles; and Sun Self Hotel , introduced inthat stands between what is created by the talent offurther depth in Column 2 (p.30). All three projects

artists and the creativity of non-artists. Though not at

involved people who responded to Kitazawa’s call forthe same level as the expression of professional

participants and came together to brainstorm, makeartists, it clearly exceeds the creativity of typical

proposals, and implement ideas––a process which

reproductive work.

required a great deal of preparation and dailycommitment. Kitazawa claims that these public events

In contrast, there are also activities such as
traditional festivals, that exist outside of regular social

held a few times a year, along with the process ofstructures. Daily life in traditional village society can

preparing for them, destabilized pre-constituted roles

result in a sense of stagnation and dwindling vitality,

within a community resulting in a temporary realization

but extraordinary events, like annual festivals, serve asof communitas, a form of solidarity different from the

an interruption to everyday life. Numerous traditional

existing, structured community.

festivals, referred to as matsuri , that often involve the

Anthropological studies have traditionally observed

worshiping of a local deity, continue at various scales

such aspects in a community’s rite of passage rituals.

throughout Japan today.

Thought to produce catharsis from the pent-up

In a thesis analyzing his own work, Jun Kitazawa

frustration of traditional, rigid community life, thisfocuses on the necessity of matsuri festivals,

liminal state in which rigorous societal roles aredeveloping an interesting theory that adopts the well-

temporarily dissolved is referred to as liminality. In his
own practice, Kitazawa attempts to catalyze suchconditions, creating communitas by leading
participants to a state of liminality through an aesthetic
experience that emerges from the process of
individuals seeking connection with others throughvarious creative acts. The out-of-the-ordinary aspectof Kitazawa’s work is the opposite of Tsurumi’s
marginal art located in everyday acts. Kitazawa claims
that art in art projects is not something undertaken forthe sake of either society or art. Rather, it opens us up
to an alternative social landscape and enables
ephemeral opportunities for new channels ofcommunication that would otherwise not occur in

AAF Program, Minami-sanriku Fukkō Kiriko Festival, Minami-sanriku Town, Miyagi
Prefecture, 2012.

ordinary life.

6 Refer to Column 5 on next page.
7 Kitazawa, Jun. (2014). “Mōhitotsu no nichijō” wo umidasu āto purojekuto ni kansuru kenkyū [Study of art projects as a vehicle for producing an alternative form of daily life].
PhD diss., Tokyo University of the Arts.

34

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

Musician and founding member of Project

cooperation with neighboring communities. Such

Fukushima!, Otomo Yoshihide among many others

festivals are by nature closed to outsiders, such as

have pointed out the strong resemblance between the

non-residents or newcomers with no previous

role of art projects and matsuri festivals. But are art

participation in the festival. They are also traditionallyprojects really interchangeable with festivals?

male-dominated. In contrast, the aforementioned

With the exception of large-scale matsuri festivals,

Kiriko Project was launched predominantly by young

traditional and religious festivals are generally held in

women and has drawn attention to creatingsmall communities occupying an area of no more thanopportunities for foreign-born wives (gaikokujin-zuma )a few blocks, providing little opportunity forin the Tōhoku region to open their own stage forColumn 5

Marginal Art and Art Projects
Ren Fukuzumi is an active art critic who has

is contemporary art? The extent to which we sense

spearheaded a number of critical and practice-based

absurdity at trying to give a precise answer to thatexperiments in an effort to apply philosopher Shunsuke

question corresponds to the extent that the parent-

Tsurumi’s concept of marginal art (genkai geijutsu ) in thechild relationship is not only to be inscribed upon, butcontext of art projects and contemporary art, updating

actually enmeshed in, the relationship between

Tsurumi’s concept in the process. According to Fukuzumi,

marginal art and contemporary art. What kind of art will

the two salient characteristics of the genre are its

emerge with that awareness?”
In the 2015 installment of the series titled “Selected“primitiveness,” or its lack of refinement, which
encompass a wide range of expressive modes from

100 Marginal Arts of Today,” Fukuzumi brought

contemporary art, to folk art, to street culture, calligraphy,

together works of over thirty participants of diverseand dance, and its emphasis on the people behind thebackgrounds such as a traditional Japanese flower

work rather than the art. Exploring this concept in thearranger (kadōka ), former painter of film advertisement

context of art projects provokes questions about what art

boards, security guard, dancer, and local elderly

is and who decides.

citizens from Tōkamachi City, Niigata Prefecture.

Since Autumn 2012, Fukuzumi has been organizing aseries of exhibitions titled “Marginal Art in Satoyama” at
Matsudai Noh Butai in Echigo-Tsumari, which feature aselection of both professional and non-professional
artists. The 2014 exhibition in the series, which featured
contemporary artists and their amateur-artist parents orchildren, was subtitled “Relational Aesthetics,” a title thatclearly references Nicolas Bourriaud’s relational aesthetics.
The exhibition showcased the work of three contemporary
artists and their amateur-artist parents or children, whose
creative output cannot easily be called art. One of theparticipants, for example, was Jun’ichi Nishio (father ofartist Yoshinari Nishio) who creates miniature F1 circuits
and actively uploads videos of them to his YouTube
channel. Fukuzumi opened the introduction to the 2014
exhibition with the confrontational statement, “Whichwork, by the parent or the child, is marginal art and which

35

In the 2014 installment of the “Marginal Art in Satoyama” exhibition series,
Jun’ichi Nishio’s son, artist Yoshinari Nishio showcased works from his
Familial Uniform series where he reproduced family photos from decades
before by creating the same clothes from the original picture andre-shooting the image at the same place with the same family.

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

activity and through it form new social relations.
Compared to traditional matsuri , art projects are more
open and allow people other than the establishedleaders of a local community to assume a central rolein the events, which gives them the potential to
become a new vehicle of liminality.

Opening of Festival Fukushima! 2012, August 15, 2012. Photo by Osamu Kikuchi.

Local People as Evaluators of Art Projects
Is Art Criticism Possible in Art
Projects?

projects were to lie in the establishment of liminality, as
Kitazawa claims, perhaps, this type of expression does
not require art criticism. Judging from the extensive

The most important criticism of art projects inJapan is the idea that they leave no room for outside

discussion of art projects regarding their social

criticism because of the overriding emphasis they

implications across various fields like sociology,

place on the process of the project. What can be thecultural economics, and cultural policy, the basis forbasis for criticism in art projects? From what point invalid criticism is not limited to art alone. The social

the process should a critic begin his/her observation insciences can indeed evaluate art projects insofar as it

order to establish an objective judgement? This is

is a critique of an art projects’ ability to produce newindeed a major issue that must be addressed.

channels for communication. But who is responsible

For art projects which place emphasis on thefor discussing the aesthetics of art projects? Clearly,

process rather than the outcome, criticism from athis is something left unaddressed in fields within the

traditional critical standpoint is logically impossible

social sciences. Discussion by art critics is limited tobecause of a mutually exclusive contradiction.

questioning the use of art for functional means andEven if a critic attempts a critique of a work from an

expressing concern for art being exploited by public

objective standpoint, they cannot gain access to its

administrations. The majority of art critics have notcontent unless they participate in its production

gone as far as to examine how the aesthetic aspect ofprocess. However, doing so would eliminate theart projects––their primitiveness or lack of refinement

possibility of reaching an objective judgment. Whenpointed out by Fukuzumi or the overloaded

considering this issue, it is worth noting that a work ofimagination of the participants in Sun Self Hotel ––art initially required criticism because of its autonomy

manifests as a form of beauty.

and its absolute ascription to the artist as an individual.

A Society of Independent-Minded
Citizens

Because of this, it was necessary for critics to serve asa third party who could validate the work from the

Unlike local rituals, art projects generate active

outside. Only after it was accompanied by critiquediscussion. They involve various non-specialist

could an artwork be socialized.

participants gathered for the event, discussing andOn the other hand, if the objective of co-creative36

Thinking About the

Aesthetic and Social Valueof Art Projects

voicing candid opinions like “What part of this is art?”bottom-up development of social awareness. Sharingor “I don’t understand this, but it’s somehow

a temporary form of shared imagination whichinteresting,” and in cases of long-term participation,

produces a new experience is what will impact“This artist isn’t at his/her best this time.” Indeed, thepeople’s values, even if the experience is limited to thebiggest difference between art projects and rituals is

specific time and place of a project. If anything, thethe fact that individual participants have no intention ofimportance of art projects lies in the very fact that it

blind submission and have a clear awareness of thedoes not aim to produce a universal set of values

events at hand. The difficulty of objective, constructive

accepted by all. Art projects are by nature transient,criticism from outside is admittedly problematic, but

fluid, and modest in scale. It is in its thoroughthe diverse critical views that exist within the process

particularity––in terms of time, place, and the peopleof art projects provide some solace.

involved––that we see the potential and power of art

In order to impact society using approaches thatprojects.

differ from the usual ones, artists introduce theirsubjective viewpoints into people’s lives and ways ofthinking. By proposing ideas that deviate slightly fromthe norm, artists undermine people’s understanding ofwhat they consider to be common sense through astate of communitas. The artists avoid setting clear
goals in order to ensure a certain level of purposelessness, yet attempt to generate some outcome inthe daily life of the people who are participating. Art
projects provide a place for people to sense a slight
uncertainty or flexibility about what they thought was
obvious or what they assumed or depended on.
This personal approach of art projects is perhaps
only permissible in/as art. By exercising thisprerogative, art projects depart from the vague idea ofthe public used by public administrations, in order toattempt to create another public, inclusive of actual
individuals both present and absent. Their aim is tocreate an alternative public by establishing personal
relationships, even if only temporarily, between
individuals.
As a result of globalization, society at large
paradoxically seems to seek straightforward and easily
understandable answers more than ever. However,what we need is a society where people are not quick
to reject things that are hard to understand or
uncritically accept the opinions of specialists, but areable to contemplate the value of a seemingly
purposeless act as an independent individual. The
approach deployed by art projects holds potential for
raising, albeit modestly, the awareness of individuals
within civil society and serving as a catalyst for a37

Art Projects

Japan’s New Public Context
for Contemporary Art

Art Projects

Japan’s New Public Context
for Contemporary Art

Contribution by Justin Jesty
The rise of socially engaged art, social practice, andout, Japan’s art projects are always minimallynew genre public art over the past two decades hasrecognized by local governments––they are legal––andbeen a global phenomenon. The social turn has had

in some cases local governments and community

particularly deep impact in Japan, where the art worldorganizations are deeply involved in their planning andhas seen a massive shift towards socially engaged art

management. More provocative and confrontational

both in terms of artistic practice and art policy. As art

socially engaged artists, like Chim↑Pom for example,

and social reform have woven together to create new

are not included in the category.

fields, art itself has begun to change and in Japan that

The category of the art project has developed tochange has been particularly pronounced. The art

come to terms with new contexts and interfaces for

project (āto purojekuto ), which is the subject of Sumikoart. It has emerged at the center of recent

Kumakura and The Art Project Research Group’s work,transformations to Japan’s art world, pulling together

is one expression of these shifts in practice, policy, andmany of the strands of recent developments in sociallyinstitutions.

engaged, participatory, and collaborative art, as well as

As the first section of the report outlines, the art

patterns of institutional experiment and innovative

project substantially overlaps with socially engaged art

context creation which are themselves socially

but it is not the same kind of category. Sociallyengaged, participatory, and collaborative. It overlaps

engaged art refers first and foremost to somethingwith socially engaged art insofar as both forge newabout the practice of art. An art project, however, is notcontexts for creativity and exploration, but it also

necessarily an art project. In some cases it is: whenencompasses things as diverse as education andthe term is used to talk about coherent and self-

outreach programs at museums, public scholarshipcontained projects initiated and run by artists, as in theand community-engaged curriculum at universities,

work of Jun Kitazawa, Hiroshi Fuji, Otomo Yoshihide,and the activities of various art-council-like entities atand Kanayo Ueda, it is essentially interchangeable withthe local level that support art to strengthen and enrichsocially engaged art. But in the majority of cases the

local communities. Art projects are things that haveterm is not referring directly to artwork, but to aappeared at the overlaps between fields that used tosocially-engaged context for art. In the Beppu Project,

be more clearly divided: art and social welfare, art andthe Echigo-Tsumari Triennale, the Asahi Arts Festival,

vernacular culture, art and everyday life, art andor the Toride Art Project, for instance, many artists andeducation, etc. It is not necessarily a transitional form,

non-artists participate in the project as a socially-

but a form that has emerged at a transition, as art

engaged context, but not all of the artwork within it ismoves towards a postautonomous condition. In thissocially engaged (though it’s worth noting that evenway, art projects are both a sign and vehicle ofthe most traditional-looking works of sculpture,

fundamental changes to the conditions of

installation, and photography often take oncontemporary art’s social existence in Japan.

1

participatory, socially-minded add-ons when they are

As in other places, the changes in question aresited in an art project). Additionally, as is often pointed

complex. They affect different people differently, and1 I am thinking particularly of Néstor García Canclini’s account of this transition in Art beyond itself: anthropology for a society without a story line , translated by David Frye
(Durham: Duke UP, 2014).

38

Art Projects

Japan’s New Public Context
for Contemporary Art

occasion both celebration and consternation. Perhaps

contemporary artists in Japan, therefore, it is far fromthe most common critique is that they encourage tepid

clear whether the system has become more restrictive

art and provide no support for especially radical oror opened up more opportunity.

refined work. This is a familiar critique of public art,

While there is not yet a clear answer to the question

addressed further below. Another concern––one alsoof how institutional shifts have affected theraised about socially engaged art––is that art projects

professional opportunities for artists, something that ishave appeared just as infrastructural shifts havealready quite clear is that art projects have expanded

destabilized public and private support for art. Since

opportunities for broader understanding of their work.

the bursting of the bubble in Japan, both corporate

They have brought artists and art into sustained

and public support for the arts have shrunk. All

contact with specific groups of people in many

formerly public museums are now semi-private. Amidst

localities who had no previous knowledge ofa neoliberal rhetoric emphasizing “autonomy” andcontemporary art. General audiences have also

“performance” many have struggled with budget cuts

exploded. It is in this sense that we might think of art

combined with increased programming demands.

projects as examples of a new kind of public art, orMuch of the patronage that survives has shifted toperhaps, a new mode of public-ness for art in Japan,

grant-based programs that support an ecosystem of

one that is much closer to the specificities of daily life

art NPOs. Funding is precarious and the system

in diverse localities, and more cognizant of addressing

encourages producers to diversify their activities byitself to a newly-enlarged domestic audience. Insofar

taking on more roles, including social service roles. We

as one values contemporary art for its autonomy, formight see art projects and socially engaged art more

its ability to rise above or cut through the infelicities ofgenerally as a response to dwindling support for purer

particularity and contingency, the new contexts for art

forms of art.

will probably appear compromised. And insofar as one

The concern is an important one, but it is far fromtakes the privilege of the global market and criticalclear whether any evidence supports it. It is worth

establishment in determining artistic value to benoting that young artists are among the mostlegitimate, the hybridity and unevenness of the art inpassionate participants in these new contexts, and as

art projects may well be unsatisfactory.

Kumakura mentions in her text, the rise of art projects

But it is precisely at this point of controversy about

may well have increased opportunities for young artists

what art should be and for whom, that art projects canin Japan. With almost no domestic market forbe seen making a consistent intervention into culturalcontemporary art in Japan, what investment there ispolitics. While numerous social systems and economic

tends to follow the global market, not take risks on

infrastructures govern who can legitimately appear asdeveloping local talent. Museums have likewise had

an artist and what can appear as art, both art projects

only a very limited role in supporting emerging artists.

themselves and much of the art within them

Modern and contemporary art––as living, developing

deliberately question such orderings, proceeding withfields––have always been in a precarious position.

an assumption of equality and inclusion, to rethink theGoing all the way back to the early 20th century, it hasvalue in marginalized practices and reaffirm thebeen DIY collectives of artists and enthusiasts who

capacity of marginalized people to access and assesshave supported the social existence of modern andart. In the process they mix multiple registers ofcontemporary art, taking on the role of critic, curator,

culture––traditional craft, contemporary art, children’sand market to legitimize and establish value for artists’games, hobbies, postdramatic theater, music festival,

2

work over their careers. Neither museums, nortalent show, and much more––into an experimental

governments, nor the open market have played muchand sometimes chaotic hybrid: a new interface whoseof a role. When looking from the perspective ofrules and proper place have not yet been worked out.

2 Tomii, Reiko. (2013). “Introduction: collectivism in twentieth-century Japanese art with a focus on operational aspects of Dantai,” positions: asia critique , 21(2), 225-267.

39

Art Projects

Japan’s New Public Context
for Contemporary Art

It is in the very unsettledness of the form, the way thatdeflation, disintegration. That negative valence, rooted

it transgresses established categories and locations forin frustration and declining expectations, historicallyculture, together with the distinct impression that it isprovides rich fuel for neo-nationalism. The future may

artists who are leading the way while critics struggle inwell be dark.

an environment that rejects established delineations of

But against these darker possibilities I would frame

taste, that these new contexts for art may resemble an

the experiments in new public art in Japan as beacons

avant-garde. But if they are thought of as an avant-of hope. They have not given up on a vision of smaller-

garde, it is an avant-garde in an unusual configuration.

scale futures and publics, realized through dispersed

If there is one element that seems essential to thecreativity and efforts at cultural enfranchisement. In

20th century avant-garde it is its association with

their integration into the circuits of contemporary art,

development, modernization, and progress, albeit

they open themselves to critical currents andoften in the mode of radical indictment of theirdifference, while in their valuation of local and populardehumanizing effects under capitalism. The situation

culture, they make contemporary art more diverse andfor art projects is quite different. Most take place inaccessible than it otherwise would be. In their concern

regional cities and rural areas: sites that are declining

for the handicapped, aging, and underprivileged, theyand depopulating, sometimes to the point of literaladdress themselves to those most structurally invisible

disappearance. These bring to light a situation that iswithin the paradigm of unlimited development. In theirrarely imagined in theories of capitalism andduration, spanning years if not decades, they have theglobalization. What happens when development ispotential to sustain small-scale, constructed cultures

removed from the picture, as it is at most sites inin city, country, and everything in between. Finally,

Japan? At the core of many critiques of the society ofrather than investing in the narrative of malaise, they

the spectacle and neoliberalism is the insight that

propose to discover value within spaces and activities

capitalism preys upon forms of everyday life with theeconomic logic has abandoned, implying that theeffect of alienating it from its everyday context ofsolution is not development or other form of

production and consumption. But what happens indestructive grand resolution, but heightened

situations where capital is demonstrably withdrawing

awareness of how improvements and enrichments canfrom everyday life? The result, I think, is unlikely to be

be seeded in the here and now. If the best-

unmitigated isolation and decay, nor outright liberation

remembered moment of the early twentieth century

or a return to idealized community. More basically, theavant-gardes was their excoriating critique of capitalist

terms of cultural production in the everyday milieu

development, perhaps Japan’s experiments in new

appear to be shifting, as the organization of both the

public art are the obverse: scattered, ad-hoc, often

opportunities for and the costs of cultural productionunassuming attempts to find value in the pockets ofbecome less centralized, systematized, andstillness left after the shadow of developmentalism has

professionalized.

passed from the land.

Ten years ago, Japan’s “lost decade” may still haveseemed like an aberration: something unique to Japanand soon to be overcome anyway. But the global
financial crisis has demonstrated that Japan is hardly

Justin Jesty

alone in seeing development reverse, with little chance

Assistant professor in Asian Languages and Literature at theof it returning in the same form. Japan, like many

University of Washington. He researches the relationship between

countries now, remains developed, highly literate,visual arts and social movements in postwar Japan and teaches on

globally-connected, but its public culture is dis-Japanese film, literature, and post-1945 art. His book manuscript
Arts of Engagement: Socially Engaged Art and the Democratic
Culture of Japan’s Early Postwar , is currently under review. He
organized the symposium “Socially Engaged Art in Japan” inNovember 2015. http://washington.academia.edu/JustinJesty

integrating and faith in the future has faltered. The
most common experience and public understanding of
this situation is negative, articulated as malaise,40

Acknowledgements
The idea for this booklet came from friends in the United States, Europe, and South East Asia, who themselves organize art
projects that work closely with society, expressing their disappoint toward not being able to access the contents of Nihongataāto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai 1990-2012 [Japan’s art projects: their history and present state, 1990-2012], a research report
myself and The Art Project Research Group (which I represent) published in Japanese. In response to their feedback, wearranged to have the report translated into English only to quickly realize that simply translating the material was not enough tofully convey its intent. The development of art projects in Japan is closely tied to specific social structures and values and manyof the keywords used to discuss this topic are not necessarily translatable. And so, it became necessary for us to consider how
to fully communicate the intentions of the report to English language readers.
The ones to take on this important task were the members of Art Translators Collective (Kanoko Tamura, Nobuko Aiso, Shuko
Ebihara, and Tomoko Momiyama). Through countless meetings we deliberated––the collective members at times leading thediscussion––on how the report could be received by an English language audience with a level of clarity. I would like to express
my greatest respect, towards not only their highly skilled translation and editing but also their passion and their long-term
commitment toward realizing the publication of this booklet.
This publication could not have been realized without the cooperation of Justin Jesty. Not only did he carefully copyedit the
text but he also provided us with countless suggestions on how to phrase sentences for an English audience and also advice,
backed by his research on post-war Japanese art, on the content. I would like to express my gratitude for his willingness to go
well out of his way to assist us in making this booklet.
This booklet was created with Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture). Arts Council Tokyo
has been involved in this publication project from the outset, starting from the publication of the original Japanese report,

Nihongata āto purojekuto no rekishi to genzai 1990-2012 [Japan’s art projects: their history and present state, 1990-2012], to the
publication of this English report. I would like to express my gratitude for their continued support.
Sumiko Kumakura

Sumiko Kumakura
Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Teaches art
management and cultural policy. Producer ofnumerous regional art projects such as the Toride Art
Project, Kitamoto Vitamin, and Art Access Adachi:
Downtown Senju––Connecting through Sound Art.
She is also an adviser on cultural policy for the
Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government.

Yūichirō Nagatsu
Born in 1985. Received Ph.D. from Tokyo Universityof the Arts in 2013. Managing Director of NPO
Research Laboratory for Art and Dialogue Related toDiversity and Boundaries. His research focuses onsocially inclusive artistic activities such as the creative
activities of the disabled. Through both research andPhoto by Hiroshi Ikeda

practice, he explores how people of different
backgrounds and standpoints can work together.

41

The firing stages of ceramics, created byartist Kimura Toshirō Jinjin preparing theunglazed ceramics, and the workshop
participants painting patterns on them.
Kimura Toshirō Jinjin, Nodate , 2014.
Oshishizuka-kofun Tumulus, Toyonaka City,
Osaka. Photo by Ayaka Umeda.

This report was compiled as a part of the Tokyo Art Research Lab (ArtsCouncil Tokyo)’s “Dissemination and Research on the History and Present
State of Art Projects in Japan” research and development program(consigned to Tokyo University of the Arts).
http://www.tarl.jp
Written by Sumiko Kumakura and Yūichirō Nagatsu (The Art Project Research Group)With a contribution by Justin Jesty
Translation, editing, and project management by Art Translators Collective(Kanoko Tamura, Nobuko Aiso, Shuko Ebihara, and Tomoko Momiyama)Translation and copyediting by Justin Jesty
Design by Mashu Miyagai (m-nina)
Project supervised by Yuri Sakamoto (Arts Council Tokyo)

Published by Arts Council Tokyo© 2015 Arts Council Tokyo
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.