Tokyo Mori Art Museum: Can there be art?

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[/caption] “Roppongi Crossing” is a series of exhibitions that introduce the work of diverse artists and creators with an eye to present a vision of the future Japanese art scene. Starting from a fundamental question – “Can there be art”* - the third in the series highlights the ambitions and dynamic talents who are today actively turning the pages of Japanese art history. The exhibition represents a “crossing” of diverse output – photography, sculpture, installation, video, graffiti, performance and so on – by 20 artists and units ranging from up-and-coming stars to art world veterans. While the artworks chosen by the team of three curators are all new or topical, they are diverse in their approaches. Some refer directly to various social issues, while others take the form of projects, presenting new possibilities by their collaborative or trans-genres natures. The exhibition also introduces creative activities generated from the streets which is a stage of our daily life, as well as the work of a new generation that suggest the emergence of a new aesthetic. Now more than ever, with society and the economy going through a period of immense change, we are provided with a rare opportunity to think about the very nature of art. It will be a new Japan that emerges from this period of upheaval, and the discoveries, surprises and insights offered in this exhibition provide a clue as to what the art of that new Japan will be like. *In the 1990s, in the aftermath of the collapse of the bubble economy, the late Furuhashi Teiji, of the artist group Dumb Type, is known to have asked, “Can there be art” which seemed to inquire whether art can exist outside of the art world’s confines, in a direct discourse with society in general. Source: http://www.aaa.org.hk/event_detail.aspx?event_id=15086