International Symposium

Creating Diverse Narratives:
The Arts of Japan in Museums Exhibitions

January 18, 2020
Heiseikan Auditorium, Tokyo National Museum

Introduction to the Symposium
In this age of global exchange, people, things, and information are crossing national borders on
an unprecedented scale. People of diverse backgrounds are visiting museums around the world,with each person perceiving the art they encounter in different ways.
Moreover, the roles of museums are being reevaluated and the definition of “Japanese” art is
becoming more inclusive. Narratives of Japanese art are also becoming more nuanced, with manyscholars sharing the view that because the arts of Japan are so diverse and complex, they cannot
be explained through a few essential characteristics.
This symposium will focus on the question of how Japanese art may be presented from diverse
points of view in museum exhibitions. Generally, we may regard museums as places that create
narratives between past and present through physical objects. Those who will present at this
symposium—curators of Japanese art from Europe, the United States, and Japan—create
exhibitions that are influenced by their respective cultures and environments. Through these
exhibitions they interact with diverse audiences. Each curator and visitor creates his or her own
narrative of Japanese art, yet none of these narratives is the single “correct” one.
Through concrete examples of museum exhibitions and the narratives they create, thissymposium will provide an opportunity to better understand the diversity and complexity of Japaneseart.
Kazutaka KawanoSupervisor, Research Division, Tokyo National Museum

International Symposium

Creating Diverse Narratives:
The Arts of Japan in Museums Exhibitions
January 18, 2020
Heiseikan Auditorium, Tokyo National Museum9:30-10:00

Registration

10:00-10：15

Opening Remarks
Greetings from the Organizers
Mr. Masami Zeniya (Executive Director, Tokyo National Museum)
Chairperson: Mr. Kazutaka Kawano (Supervisor, Research Div., Curatorial
Research Dept., Tokyo National Museum)

10:15-11:15

Keynote speech : Narratives of Japanese Art in European and North AmericanMuseums
Dr. Kenji Yoshida （Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology）

11:15-11:55

Presentation 1: America’s National Museum of Asian Art:
Displaying and Collecting Japanese Paintings at the Freer Gallery of Art
Dr. Frank Feltens（The Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art,Freer Gallery of Art）

11:55-13:30

Lunch Break

13:30-14:10

Presentation 2: Against the Grain: Untraditional Explorations, Interpretations
and Extrapolations of Japanese Woodblock Prints
Mr. Stephen Salel（Robert F. Lange Foundation Curator of Japanese Art,Honolulu Museum of Art）

14:10-14:50

14:50-15:30

Presentation 3: Curating Special exhibitions of Japanese Arts for an Overseas
Audience
Dr. Khanh Trinh (Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Museum Rietberg Zurich)Presentation 4: An Unprecedented Presentation of Japanese Art at theExhibition Marcel Duchamp and Japanese Art
Mr. Masato Matsushima (Supervisor, Planning, National Center for promotion ofCultural Properties, Tokyo National Museum)

15:30-15:45

Break15:45-17:05

Panel Discussion
Moderated by Ms. Satomi Kito (Special Research Chair, Curatorial Planning
Dept., Tokyo National Museum)
Closing Remarks
Mr. Hiroyuki Shimatani (Executive Director, Kyusyu National Museum)

17:05-17:20