Major Exhibition Examines How Photography and Social Unrest Laid the Foundation for Contemporary Art in Japan
Opening October 9 at Japan Society Gallery
For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979
In 1968 amid an economic boom, many in Japan took to the streets to protest social inequalities, the Vietnam War, and the impending renewal of a treaty extending American military occupation. Galvanized by this public upheaval, Japanese artists and photographers captured the moment in technically and stylistically experimental photographs, altering the cultural landscape and laying the foundations for camera-based contemporary art practices in the 1970s and beyond.
For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979 is the first comprehensive exhibition to spotlight this radical break with the past. Exhibiting some 200 objects by over 20 artists—including such luminaries as Miyako Ishiuchi, Daidō Moriyama, Jirō Takamatsu, and Shōmei Tōmatsu—Japan Society’s presentation charts the stunning diversity of photographic practices during this pivotal era, from conceptual series situated squarely within global artistic currents, to visually arresting meditations on time, place, and self. The show encompasses photographs, photography books and journals, paintings, sculptures, videos, and a film-based installation, many shown for the first time in New York.
October 9, 2015 to January 10, 2016 at Japan Society Gallery, located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues.
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Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), and co-presented in New York City with the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, where an additional 150 works are on view through Dec. 5, 2015.
Image: Toshio Matsumoto (b. 1932), For the Damaged Right Eye (detail), 1968. Triple 16mm film (transferred to DVD), color, 12 min. 9 sec. Toshio Matsumoto. © Toshio Matsumoto / Photo: PJMIA