Today, thanks to increasingly sophisticated translation apps, we can navigate multiple languages with ease. Language barriers to cross-cultural understanding seem to have been significantly reduced as we can now communicate naturally in languages other than our own.
However, language is not merely a means of interaction. It also provides the foundation for identity, ideas, and culture. While languages and dialects have long shaped communities, a sense of belonging, culture, and the arts, the words we encounter every day continue to nurture and transform our thoughts and awareness. When we come into contact with others who speak different languages, such interactions can lead to positive discoveries and change. Yet it is important to remember that they have also repeatedly resulted in cycles of conflict, confrontation, domination, and oppression, creating asymmetrical relationships.
This exhibition brings together works that explore images and words from places where languages, ethnicities, cultures, and ideologies intersect, with a particular focus on locations in Asia historically regarded as borderlands. The practice of these artists sheds light on the history of a place as well as the experiences and memories of the people who live there. Their work brings to the surface various aspects of modern and contemporary history, from the divisions caused by colonial rule and war to the oppression inflicted by normative language and ideology, inviting us to imagine the inner experiences of people that have never been recorded in official histories.
Contemporary art is a critical practice that encourages us to reflect more deeply on the times in which we live. Drawing primarily on the collection of the National Museum of Art, Osaka, this exhibition seeks to explore the layers of history through a selection of works and to cultivate empathy for others.
Artists:
Heshiki Kenshichi, Shitamichi Motoyuki, Cao Fei, Maeda Toshiro, Muraoka Saburo, Yamashiro Chikako, Uehara Sayaka, Koizumi Meiro, Ilya Kabakov, Kitajima Keizo, Natalia Papaeva, Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joon, Takekawa Nobuaki, Imazu Kei, Ho Rui An, Carrie Yamaoka
The durations of the video works are as follows:
・Cao Fei, MatryoshkaVerse, 37 min. 38 sec.
・Yamashiro Chikako, Your Voice Came Out Through My Throat, 7 min. 10 sec.
・Koizumi Meiro, In the State of Amnesia, 13 min. 06 sec. (2 screens)
・Natalia Papaeva, Yokhor, 10 min. 47 sec.
・Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joon, News from Nowhere: Freedom Village, 14 min. 35 sec. (2 screens)
・Ho Rui An, Student Bodies, 26 min. 30 sec.
Cao Fei, MatryoshkaVerse, 2022
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
© Cao Fei, 2026 Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers and Vitamin Creative Space
Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joon, News from Nowhere: Freedom Village, 2021
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Courtesy of the artists and SCAI THE BATHHOUSE
Heshiki Kensichi, Let’s Speak in Standard Dialect, Iheyajima Island, 1972
Private Collection
Shitamichi Motoyuki, Taichung, Taiwan from “torii”, 2006-12
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
© Motoyuki Shitamichi
Uehara Sayaka, From “The Island of Peace”: Uncoordinated time, 2024/25
© Sayaka Uehara, Photo courtesy of MISA SHIN GALLERY
Kitajima Keizo, From “USSR 1991”, Street performers on Peace Square, September 27, 1991, 1991, Collection of the artist
Courtesy of the artist ⒸKEIZO KITAJIMA
Natalia Papaeva, Yokhor, 2018, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Cameraman Oleg Revenko
Period December 1, 2026–March 22, 2027
Opening Hours 10:00–17:00 (10:00–20:00 on Fridays)
*Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Closed Mondays (except January 11 and March 22), January 12, and December 28 to January 4.
Organized by The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Sponsored by Daikin Foundation for Contemporary Arts