Symposium “Why Mingei, Why Now?”
Theaster Gates Related Program
Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation available
The Mingei movement, based on an idea conceived chiefly by Yanagi Soetsu, Hamada Shoji, and Kawai Kanjiro, began in Japan in 1926. Recent years have seen growing interest in all matters Mingei, including a centennial exhibition 100 Years of Mingei: The Folk Crafts Movement at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, in 2021 coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the death of Yanagi Soetsu, and the 2023 touring exhibition MINGEI: The Beauty of Everyday Things, launched at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka.
Theaster Gates meanwhile views Mingei as symbolizing the reconsideration of values, and attempts to hybridize it with Black culture through his “Afro-Mingei” concept.
For the first part of the symposium we will contemplate the meaning that Mingei brings to our daily lives, and to society, from the perspectives of craft, design, and contemporary art, and the second will examine types of expression not previously associated with Mingei, such as African crafts, and discuss the possibilities of interpreting Mingei in contemporary settings.
- Date & Time
- 17:00-20:00, Saturday, May 11, 2024 (Doors Open: 16:45)
- Appearing
- [Part 1]
Hanai Hisaho (Chief Researcher, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
Fukasawa Naoto (Director, The Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo)
Kataoka Mami (Director, Mori Art Museum) - [Part 2]
Ogawa Hiroshi (President, TOKYO KANKAN CO., LTD.)
Sagi Tamae (Curator, Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum, Kyoto)
Nakamura Yuta (Artist)
Tokuyama Hirokazu (Associate Curator, Mori Art Museum)
Hanai Hisaho
(Chief Researcher, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
Fukasawa Naoto
(Director, The Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo)
Ogawa Hiroshi
(President, TOKYO KANKAN Co., Ltd)
Sagi Tamae
(Curator, Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum, Kyoto)
Nakamura Yuta
(Artist)
- Organizer
- Mori Art Museum
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