PRESS RELEASERELEASE:: February
Feb4, 2016

No. 2015-059-P1
2015

Joint Symposium
ymposium Organized
rganized by
the National Art Center Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, and the Japan Foundation Asia Center“How Has Japan Engaged with Contemporary
ontemporary Art
A in Southeast Asia?”― A Researchesearch Project Now Underway, Building
uilding to a Joint Exhibition
Ein Summer 2017!
he National Art Center Tokyo, the Mori Art
In 2015, theMuseum, and the Japan Foundation Asia Center teamed
up to launch the “SEA PROJECT:
P: Contemporary Art
from Southeast Asia – 1980 to Now.”
Now. This joint project
conducts studies focused on the ASEAN-10
ASEAN 10 countries,
building to a jointly
jointly-organizedorganized exhibition scheduled forsummer 2017. With thehe research process by which“SEA PROJECTROJECT” conducts its studies considered an
important element
element, the project
roject website has been launched. There will also be some pre-exhibition
pre exhibition events continuously taking
place for the purpose of sharing this process with the public from an early stage. We are pleased to announce that, as the firstedition of such events, Symposium
ymposium entitled
tled “How Hasas Japan Engaged with Contemporary
ontemporary Art in Southeast Asia?
Asia?” is to beheld on Saturday
Saturday,, February 27, 2016.
The S
Symposium will formally explore the question
questions of how art specialists in Japan have researched and introduced
Southeast Asian contemporary art, how they have elaborated academic discussions on such since the 1980s, and what role
Japanese performance art has played in Southeast Asia.
Presentations in first half of the Symposium
ymposium will revolve around the activities of such institutions as the Fukuoka ArtMuseum, which had made significant contribution in the expansion of cultural and interpersonal exchanges as well as
pioneering research on Asian contemporary art since its 1979 inauguration
inauguration; the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum that took up suchactivities in 1999; and the Japan Foundation
Foundation that continues to stay active in Southeast Asia ever since the ASEAN Culture
Center first opened in 1990.
1990 In addition, the activities of the Nippon International Performance Art Festival (NIPAF), which
has made major contributions to the development of performance art in Southeast Asia since 1990 will be touched upon The
following panel discussion
discussion,, featuring the curatorial team members of the “SEA PROJECTROJECT” will center around the issue
issues of
how such accumulated knowledge and experiences in tthe past can be utilizeduin interchange between Southeast Asia andJapan from now forward.. We cordially extend our invitation
ation to the Symposium
ymposium for covering and publicizing the event
event.

■ Symposium “HowHow Has Japan Engaged with Contemporary
ontemporary Art
rt in Southeast Asia?”[TimeTime and DateDate][Venue][PresentersPresenters]

Saturday, February 27, 2016 5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium (3rd floor),floor), The National Art Center, Tokyo
Masahiro Ushiroshoji (Professor,Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Kyushu UniversityUniversity)
Yasuko Furuichi (Art Coordinator, The Japan Foundation Asia Center)
Seiji Shimoda (Director,(Director, Nippon International Performance Art Festival [NIPAF][NIPAF])[Program Schedule] Host:
Host Naoki Yoneda (Curator, The National Art Center, Tokyo)
5:00:00 p.m. Project Introduction: Yusuke Minami (Deputy Director, The
he National Art Center, Tokyo)
5:05:05 p.m. Presentations (30 min. each): 1) Masahiro Ushiroshoji, 2) Yasuko Furuichi, 3) Seiji Shimoda)
6:45:45 p.m. Panel Discussion & Question-and
Question and-Answer
Moderator: Mami Kataoka (Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum)
7:25:25 p.m. Closing Remarks: Fumio Nanjo (Director, Mori Art Museum)[Language]
Japanese (English simultaneous interpretation provided)[Capacity]
250 * First-come-first
first-served
served basis
basis.
[Booking]
Admission Free
Booking required: online booking available from Wednesday, February 44, 2016, on the Mori Art
Museum website.
website www.mori.art.museum

No. 2015-059-P2
2015[For Reference
Reference]
About the Exhibition[General Information]
Dates: Wednesday, July 5 -–– Monday, October 23, 2017
Venues: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Tokyo; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Organizers: The National Art Center, Tokyo;
Tokyo Mori Art Museum
Museum; Thehe Japan Foundation Asia CenterThroughThroughout
out the postwar years to the 1990s,
19
many of the Southeast Asian countries gradually achieved independence anddemocratization: new ideas of nation
nation-buildingbuilding,, national identity, and conflicts between the acceptance of Western dominatedmodernism and the sustenance of each ofof their respective cultural traditions have frequently surfaced as themes in expressionsof art. While attention was given to ideas of narrativityity, mythology,, and magical thinking in contrast to Western formalism
during the 1980s
1980s, new issues and new modes of expression began to emerge during and after the 1990s when economic
development and modernization at home - and multiculturalism
ulticulturalism internationallyinternationally–progressed
progressed further and systems surrounding
the contemporary art became all the more globalized.
For the “SEA PROJECT,”PROJECT, Japanese curators from the National Art Center, Tokyo and Mori Art Museum
Museum, Tokyo
collaborate with a group of Southeast Asian curators of the new generation (all born in, or after the 1980s1980s)) in an attempt tocollect and connect contemporary persp
perspectives
ectives rooted in the histories.. Within this framework,
framework many current issues of interest
come to the fore: 1) desires or intentions to portray new stories by turning their eyes to previouslyy untold parts of the history;2) a number of collective activities in order to preserve or rediscover cultural memories and values of local communities andprovincial towns amidst the development of urbanization and modernization
modernization; 3) acceleration
cceleration of active interinter-regional
regional exchange
and travels due to the proliferation of regional
regional hub airports and low
low-cost
cost carriers;
carriers 4) DIY-spirited
DIY
performative activities tobring about changechangess to the status quo on their own, faced with undeveloped public support system, or the lack thereof, forcontemporary art
art;; and more. As well, there
the also seems to be a strong
trong will to pass down the generations the fruits of thedevelopment of contemporary art in the respective region through education and archiving
archiv can also be witnessedwitnessed.
From the research trips that commenced in January 2015, thehe team not only
only saw the obvious progressivist, economicdevelopment, but also a positivist attitude to the “present/currentpresent/current” societal conditions that still continue to be fraught withchanges of stagnation, regression, reform, loss, and transpositiontransposition.. While continuing these research trips from FY2015 toFY2017 and deepening our communication with professionals of the region, we will explore the ways in which we can share,with Japanese audiences, the many paths the contemporary arts of this region lead in the exhibition.
exhibitio* Please note that “SEA PROJECT”
PROJECT is the project title, and not the exhibition title.

[Members of the Curatorial Team]
From The National Art Center, Tokyo: Yusuke Minami, Naoki Yoneda
The From Mori Art Museum, Tokyo: Mami Kataoka, Natsumi Araki, Kenichi Kondo, Reiko Tsubaki, Haruko Kumakura
Ong Jo-Lene
Lene (Malaysia), Merv Espina (the Philippines), Grace Samboh (Indonesia), Vera Mey (Singapore)* “SEA PROJECT” Website: http://seaproject.asia/
Officially launched on February 4, 2016, theth website is to house essential information so as to include not just “SEAPROJECTPROJECT” research archives but lists of referential
tial materials based on research on the region conducted to date.
dateGeneral Inquiries (about the Organizers and “SEASEA PROJECTPROJECT”):●GeneralThe Japan Foundation Asia Center Murakami (Ms.), Sano (Ms.) Tel: +81-(0)(0)3-5369-6140
6140
Inquiries:: The Japan Foundation Communication Center Kawakubo (Ms.), Mori (Ms.)●Press Inquiries
Tel: +81-(0)(0)3-5369-6089
6089 / E-mail: press@jpf.go.jp