EXHIBITION
Exhibition
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- Upcoming
Collection Exhibition: Scales
2020.10.17(Sat.) - 2021.5.9(Sun.)
On seeing an object, we perceive it to be small or large. This is not simply an experience of the object’s size—a measurable quality—but also an experience of its “scale,” a relative quality that varies depending on conditions affecting our judgement. This exhibition will place a focus on “scale” as a phenomenon arising in the relationship between the artwork and its encompassing environment. It will give viewers an opportunity to ponder the conditions of the space in which an artwork is placed and the conditions we individually bring to our experience of the artwork.
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- Current
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.
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- Current
Museum of the people, by the people, for the people
2020.7.18(Sat.) - 2021.3.21(Sun.)
In October 2019, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. Located in the heart of the city of Kanazawa, over the past fifteen years the museum has pursued its activities with the goal, among others, of working with local citizens to create a participation-oriented museum that adds vitality to the community. Over time, people have perhaps grown less conscious of the presence of the museum than when it first appeared, looking so fresh and novel. The past fifteen years have also seen some dramatic changes in the museum’s setting, that is, in the city of Kanazawa. In particular, while the museum as a now-popular tourist spot attracts a large number of visitors from out of town and overseas, one suspects the pressure of this relentless tourist tide may have gradually detached it somewhat from the everyday lives of Kanazawa locals. Fifteen years on, this exhibition offers a fresh opportunity for “us” to think about “our museum.” How does a museum conceived with the aim of being created alongside citizens, and revitalizing the community, appear in the eyes of Kanazawa people today? And what vision do they expect it to paint for the future? This exhibition aims to address, from various angles, the idea of “our museum” now. “Museum of the people, by the people, for the people” will be the creation not of artists, but the voices of those same local people, and museum visitors, who take center stage at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. A participatory exhibition, it will invite people to think about what the museum has been so far, and what it could be in the future, via interviews, and a series of seminars for Kanazawa residents. We hope it will encourage those who come to 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and those yet to make its acquaintance, to start thinking of it as “our museum,” and for the museum, for its part, to ponder its future direction by taking on board the views expressed via the exhibition.
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- Current
Aperto 12
ANZAI Tsuyoshi Poly-
2020.6.27(Sat.) - 2020.11.23(Mon.)
ANZAI Tsuyoshi (born in 1987) uses everyday objects as his primary medium, above all cheap plastic products consumed everywhere around the world. Removing their original function and meaning, he displays the plastic items as objects and compels us to question our interpretations of them and relationship with them. Everyday objects that move in unexpected ways, sculptures created from plastic packaging normally tossed in the rubbish, and drawings that trace the outlines of plastic fragments... Anzai’s works, colorful and interesting to look at, strike us somehow like an extension of children’s play. Yet, to see familiar objects engaging in unfamiliar behavior evokes an eerie sense of disorientation. The exhibition’s title “Poly-” derives from a prefix used in the names of several materials generically referred to as plastic: polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and so on. Besides meaning “many” and “multi-,” the prefix also indicates a condition of chemical molecules transformed (polymerized) into large single chain-like molecules. We may be aware such materials derive from crude oil, but most of us simply call them all “plastic” and use them every day without really understanding how they are made or the differences among them. Today, while their volumes of consumption and methods of disposal pose grave problems in the world, plastics are so much a part of everyday life we can hardly imagine living without them. Anzai speaks of our relationship with plastic as marked by “a strange close-yet-far distance.” This exhibition will examine the uncertainty and incomprehensibility of society around us.
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