Relay Talk “Nature Session”

*Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation available.

“Sensing Nature” attempts to rethink the Japanese perception of nature. In the three participant artists’ works you can see manifestations of amorphous natural phenomena such as snow, light, water and earth, as well as the Japanese sense of spirituality, which arose from an ancient cosmology that saw nature and humans as one. What do the three artists' approaches to nature have in common? How do they make use of nature in their work? In this relay talk, “Nature Session,” we give a brief introduction to the exhibition before exploring these artists’ works and the contexts behind them.

Speakers (order of appearance):
Introduction: Kataoka Mami (Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum)
Yoshioka Tokujin (designer, artist) with Niimi Ryu (Professor, Arts Policy and Management, Musashino Art University)
Shinoda Taro (artist) with Shigemori Mitsuaki (artist, Director of Mirei Shigemori Garden Museum)
Kuribayashi Takashi (artist) with Shimizu Minoru (art critic, Professor at the Institute for Language and Culture, Doshisha University)

Lecture
"Mono-ha and the Japanese Sense of Nature"

*Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation available.

The Japanese sense of nature involves the notion of sensing a kind of spiritual presence, or "vibrations," within the natural environment or natural phenomena. The idea of perceiving the existence of such invisible vibrations is closely related to the important late 1960s and early 1970s art movement called Mono-ha in Japan. In this lecture, Lee Ufan, an artist who played a major role in giving Mono-ha its theoretical foundation, discusses the connection between the movement and the Japanese sense of nature.

Speaker: Lee Ufan (artist)
Date: 19:00 – 20:30 Tuesday, 26 October, 2010
Venue: Mori Art Museum
Capacity: 80 (bookings required)
Admission: Free (exhibition ticket required)

Curator Talk

*Japanese only.

The exhibition curator will talk about the exhibition in the galleries.