Collection Exhibition: Scales

2020.10.17(Sat.) - 2021.5.9(Sun.)

When viewing an object or space, we often sense it to be smaller or larger than we thought. This occurs not simply because of the “size” of the object or space but because our perception arises, relatively, from our viewing position as well as our physical memory of a relationship with the object or space. This exhibition will look at “scale”—a variable based on our relationship with an object—as opposed to “size,” a measurable attribute. Works by the Museum’s collected artists will be displayed in seven galleries having different proportions. In every case, the world expressed by the work—that of landscape, void, resonant sound, personal memory, or the time of plants and inorganic objects—is difficult to measure and will appear different depending on our scale of measurement. This exhibition will give viewers occasion to ponder the varying scales we continually form with our senses. List of works

MICHAËL BORREMANS MARK MANDERS: Double Silence

2020.9.19(Sat.) - 2021.2.28(Sun.)

Both Michaël Borremans and Mark Manders are known to the world for unique and unconventional expression grounded in the proud traditions of European art. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa is now delighted to present “Double Silence,” an exhibition that will see the works of these two artists occupying the same space for the first time. The wave of globalization that gathered momentum from the end of the 20th century began in the west, and proceeded to wash up in various parts of the world, making an impact wherever it broke and simultaneously sucking up myriad things, material and otherwise, as well as people, to form a heaving swell that now covers the entire globe. What we refer to as “contemporary art” shares the same trajectory as this mighty torrent of people, things and ideas. Ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent multipolarization of art, the degree to which art possesses the unique qualities of particular regional cultures and histories has been in question. Thirty years on, the art world – caught between globalization and multipolarization – is beginning to reflect less on the importance of cultural differences grounded in locality, than on what our universal human values might actually be. There are a number of possible reasons for this shift, but it could simply be that in the modern world, where the dissemination of information at lightning speed has engendered a kind of global simultaneity, we are now noticing that exploration of universal values is not confined to any specific region. Moreover, COVID-19 has made introspection in the arts a global phenomenon. Following in the footsteps of a European art tradition that has explored universal human values over many centuries, Michaël Borremans and Mark Manders share their own such reflections with those of us inhabiting the same times. The paintings of Borremans, who mines Baroque tradition to portray the dark recesses of the human soul, and sculptures of Manders, with their striking pieces of bodies, created in accordance with the artist’s concept of “self-portrait as a building,” may employ different media, but both delve deeply into complex psychological states and relationships. In “Double Silence,” Borremans and Manders invite the viewer into a space and time in which the artists themselves engage in a dialogue through their works, as the title suggests, amid calm or silence. The word “double” means to be twice as much, twofold, but also has several other meanings, such as two together, distinctly different aspects (eg “dual personality”), and forming a pair. All of which makes the title of this exhibition eminently suitable for a show by two artists who are themselves far from straightforward. We hope you will take the opportunity to visit this exhibition of over eighty sympathetically curated works by two of the top artists in Europe today.

de-sport: The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Sports through Art

2020.6.27(Sat.) - 2020.9.27(Sun.)

In anticipation of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, this exhibition sets out to reexamine the significance of sports from an artistic perspective. The title, de-sport, is a newly coined term derived from the medieval French word desport, meaning “to enjoy,” and the idea of dismantling and rebuilding sports, expressed by the phrase “deconstructed sport.”* In tracing the etymology of the word “sport,” one finds that it originally meant “an enjoyable diversion from routine labor,” and included artistic pursuits such as music, theatre, painting, and dance. In contrast to contemporary sports – a parade of consummate physiques and skills, and a commodification of competition as entertainment – this exhibition returns to the roots of sports and adopts an artistic viewpoint in order to reconsider these activities as social constructs that reflect various issues of the day, including play, the body, the state, war, and non-verbal communication. Don’t miss this chance to watch and experience sports, deconstructed and reconstructed from the artistic perspectives of ten artists from nine countries around the globe. *The exhibition title was inspired by Eugene Kangawa’s solo exhibition “supervision / Desport.” ●List of works / description

Rei Naito: Mirror Creation

2020.6.27(Sat.) - 2020.8.23(Sun.)

Stretches of earth extend in places where tiny people stand and water falls, swaying threads and ribbons spawn breezes, beads and glass invite the light inside. While engaging in a dialogue with space, Rei Naito combines natural elements with delicate motifs, and layers faint colors on canvas to evoke primordial scenes of life. In this solo exhibition, Naito, an artist who has consistently endeavored to “transcend what people (I) make,” deals with “creation” for the first time. Naito suggests that this will be an act of becoming a person while acknowledging the fact that people are the main constituent in creation. This process involves moving back and forth between human beings and nature, you and I, life and death, inside and outside, and people and art as well as copying, reflecting, and altering these things. In developing a sense of unity with the anima and compassion that emerges from these mirrored images, a moment of creation arises as one attempts to face life. The exhibition venue will consist of galleries of various sizes, light courts, and the spaces created by the corridors that connect them. In the daytime, natural light, varying according to the weather and time, will fill the spaces. After the evening, the works will be illuminated. There, visitors will find creations made by the artist, some very small, and each person’s perceptions will be freed by the sense of resonance with the act of human creation that they see and feel. Visitors can move back and forth between the corridors and the galleries, and in and outside of life. And as they repeatedly see and are seen, they are certain to grasp a vision of life.

chelfitsch & Teppei Kaneuji

Eraser Forest

2020.2.7(Fri.) - 2020.2.16(Sun.)

Hot on the heels of “Eraser Mountain” for the theater now comes “Eraser Forest” for the museum! “Eraser Forest” is a piece of theater to be staged in the galleries of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Except that rather than the usual theatrical relationship of performer vs spectator, it will attempt to create an experience in which the environment itself becomes the drama. Playwright Toshiki Okada and contemporary artist Teppei Kaneuji will turn the Museum’s galleries into a laboratory in a fascinating work that addresses the use of bodily expression to rethink relationships between people and objects in the Anthropocene era.

15th Anniversary Exhibition

Where We Now Stand—In Order to Map the Future［2］

2020.2.4(Tue.) - 2020.4.12(Sun.)

Now in our 15th anniversary year, the museum’s collection stands at 3,880 artworks—an achievement of the two decades since collecting began in 2000, prior to the museum’s opening. In those two decades, society has changed radically, a phenomenon the collection strongly reflects in its growing number of artworks sharply attuned to their times. This exhibition will reinterpret the collected works from the perspective of today’s issues so as to form a picture of where we now stand, in a complexly diversifying world, and begin sketching out a map of the future.