JPNB69 Socially Engaged Art in Japan

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
MgA. Karin Písaříková, PhD. (lecturer)
Mgr. Marek Mikeš, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jiří Matela, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of Japanese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Japanese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 8:00–9:40 D22, except Tue 16. 4.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course serves as an introduction to art projects and forms of artistic activity centered around contemporary art, that developed in various locations around Japan beginning in the last two decades of 20.th century. We will review art projects, that engage deeply with contemporary society, evolving in relation to the social conditions of a particular time and place. These activities generate new artistic and social contexts by seeding new contact points and social connections outside of pre-existing ones. Selected topics are intended to develop skills of close looking, critical thinking and improve research skills. Public engagement, discourse in class and writing about the visual arts will be excercised.
Learning outcomes
The students will have basic understanding about engaged art in Japanese context. It will help them understand the role such art events play in the society and analyse the principles and processes around them. They will evaluate materials and methods curators and artists are using and discuss with their peers. Oral presentation is part of the class, therefore the students will learn how to state their opinion and present the chosen topic to their peers.
Syllabus
  • Lecture 1: Course introduction and requirements. Convey an understanding of the broader local, national and global context within which japanese contemporary socially engaged artists operate today. Familiarize students with the theory and practice of the field of social practice art and its interdisciplinary, research-based methodology. Lecture 2: Politics, media, Culture and society: various aspects of culture and their influence on socially engaged art in Japan. Lecture 3: Artist-in-Residence programmes in Japan and corporate support for the arts and culture, the Seto Inland Sea Area. Lecture 4: Community vitalisation and „hometown making“ through art, architecture and cultural initiatives. Lecture 5: Tokyo Museum and gallery scene The exhibiting system and difference between big museums, small galleries and artist or community run spaces. Lecture 6: Feminist politics and gender art in Japan. Presenting multiplicity of gender, sexual, and cultural identities. Lecture 7: Overlap between socially engaged art and cultural practices generated by recent social movements around the world. Queer movements, Environmentalism, AIDS activism, immigration, alter-globalization. Lecture 6: „Cool Japan“ politial branding, Superflat movement and brands. Artists such as Takashi Murakami, Yoshimoto Nara, Mika Ninagawa, Yayoi Kusama, Sputniko…. Lecture 8: Art and Politics. Masao Okabe, Yukinori Yanagi, Makoto Aida, Miyako Ishiuchi…. Lecture 9: Art and Nature. Motohiko Odani, Kohei Nawa, Wataru Yamamoto, Reiko Ogura…. Submission of written assignment. Lecture 10: Art and technology vs. Art and Handiwork. teamLab, Akihiro Kubota, Sebastian Masuda, Miki Midori… Lecture 11: Guest lecture: experience of a Japanese artist studying or working abroad, discussion. (if epidemiological situation permits) Review and final presentations. Commented written assignments.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Elliott David. Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art, Yale University Press, 2011.
  • Yoshimoto, Midori. “Performing the Self: Yayoi Kusama and Her Ever-Expanding Universe.” In Into Performance: Japanese Women Artists in New York. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2005. 45-78.
  • Alberro, Alexander and Sabeth Buchmann. eds. Art after Conceptual Art. Cambridge, MH: MIT Press, 2006
  • Chong, Doryun, et al. From Postwar to Postmodern, Art in Japan 1945-1989: Primary Documents. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Durham: Duke University Press, 2012.
  • Kastner, Jeffrey and Brian Wallis, eds., Land and Environmental Art, London: Phaidon (New, Abridged Edition), 2010.
  • Rawlings, Ashley. Art Space Tokyo, Chin Music Press, 2008; Pre/Post Books, 2010.
  • Okabe, Masao and Chihiro Minato (ed.), Is There a Future for Our Past?: The Dark Face of the Light, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2007.
  • Fraser, Karen M. “Representation and Identity.” In Photography and Japan. London: Reaktion Books, 2011. 37-86.
  • Johnson, Mark. The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  • Favell, Adrian. Before and After Superflat: A Short History of Japanese Contemporary Art 1990- 2011. Hong Kong: Blue Kingfisher, 2012.
  • Ishiuchi, Miyako. Ishiuchi Miyako - Mother's 2000-2005: Traces of the Future, Kyoto: Tankosha, 2005.
Teaching methods
This class will be taught in lecture format with discussion sections. We will use audiovisual materials and texts, provided handouts or PDF documents should be read in time for the next lecture. Both, texts and class, will be held in English, however with focus on the subject and conversational abilities. Please contact the instructor if you have any questions.
Assessment methods
Attendance and active participation are expected of every student. Grades will be based on class participation, short presentation and a written assignment.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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