The Japan Foundation (JF) announced on June 12 that artist Yuko Mohri has been selected to exhibit in the Japanese Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. The exhibition will be overseen by Sook-Kyung Lee, senior curator of international art at the Tate Modern.
On June 16, the Inamori Foundation announced the laureates of this year’s Kyoto Prize. In Art and Philosophy, the 2023 Kyoto Prize laureate is Nalini Malani, an artist who has faced the predicaments of the oppressed, pioneered artistic expression representing the voice of the voiceless, and contributed greatly to the decentralization of art from the Global South.
Painter Tang Jo-Hung has won the Grand Prize of the 21st Taishin Arts Award, it was announced in Taipei on May 27. This is the first time in the award’s history that a painting exhibition has taken home the top honor.
On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Eriko Osaka) launched the National Center for Art Research (“NCAR”, Director: Mami Kataoka) within the Institution as the first comprehensive hub to support the sustainable and international promotion of art in Japan.
The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (FAAM), with generous support from the Ishibashi Foundation, has launched an English-Japanese bilingual website, Asian Art Resource Room, a learning space dedicated to deepening understanding of modern and contemporary Asian art, using the museum’s collection of documentation, information, and networks that it has accumulated over the years.
Broadcast online from Taipei on Jul 2, the 20th Taishin Arts Award ceremony proved to be a memorable occasion in more ways than one, as Mr. Wing Theatre Company became the first recipients in the history of the awards to win in multiple categories in the same year.
Tokyo is getting a new, citywide art initiative, it was announced Aug. 25. Scheduled for Nov. 4–7, the inaugural Art Week Tokyo will be a showcase of one of the world’s most exciting and dynamic art scenes.
After a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the winners of the 19th Taishin Arts Award were announced in a livestream presentation on Jul 10. The award is one of Taiwan’s most prestigious honors in the fields of art and culture, conferring NTD 1.5 million to a grand prize laureate and NTD 1 million each to laureates in the visual arts and performing arts categories.
Against Again Troupe is the Annual Grand Prize winner of the 18th Taishin Arts Award, it was announced in Taipei on Jun 6. Taking home NTD 1.5 million, the troupe received the prize for White Clear Song, directed and written by Snow Huang.
We, the undersigned artists and cultural workers, feel compelled to speak out against the closure of “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’” at Aichi Triennale 2019 from the perspective of gender equality—one of the stated principles of the Triennale’s organization. One of the primary targets of the harassment and threats of violence received by the Triennale was the sculpture Statue of Peace by Korean artists Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung, a work inspired by the voices and experiences of the women who suffered under the “comfort woman” system of forced prostitution, sexual slavery, and human trafficking exploited by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy in military campaigns in the Asia-Pacific from the 1930s onwards.
The problem behind the closing of “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’” was initially an operational problem of “risk management.” But now I think the situation is gradually sliding into a problem of self-censorship by Aichi governor Hideaki Omura and artistic director Daisuke Tsuda in the name of “safety.”
The closure of “After ‘Freedom of Expression?'” at Aichi Triennale 2019 has set off a chain reaction of responses from artists in the exhibition, beginning with requests by Minouk Lim and Park Chan-kyong for their works to be withdrawn from the Triennale submitted on August 3, the same day as the announcement of the closure. Many of the Triennale participants are still considering what actions to take, and how they can stand up for freedom of expression. Some are acting in groups, others individually. This page has been set up to document the statements that accompany their actions.