The Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, is proud to present STARS: Six Contemporary Artists from Japan to the World from Friday, July 31, 2020, to Sunday, January 3, 2021. The decades of postwar economic growth were punctuated in Japan by a series of national events including the Olympics and World Expo, as the country began to turn its gaze outward once more. In the contemporary art world, the period was characterized by debates on decolonization and multiculturalism, and the proliferation of new contemporary art settings, such as biennials and art fairs.

Image courtesy of Mori Art Museum

Image courtesy of Mori Art Museum

For this exhibition, we have chosen six artists whose careers propelled them beyond the confines of Japan during this period, earning them high acclaim today around the world, and across generations, and will trace the journey of these artists from their earliest to the latest works. STARS explores how the practice of each artist has been evaluated in the global context, and touch upon these artists’ pursuit of universal issues transcending nationality and culture; traditions and aesthetics; technology and subculture, while keeping in mind aspects of social, cultural and economic background unique and particular to Japan.

The exhibition also presents archival materials related to the major Japanese contemporary art shows staged internationally from the 1950s to the present, examining the bases for evaluating art and the historical lineage of exhibitions down the decades. Fast-forward to 2020, we now have the world thrown into turmoil by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the vulnerability of our social and economic structures. At this moment in history, as well as raising some fundamental questions about the essential role of art, how we define artistic success, and where we might find the “world” we seek, the output of these six top artists will doubtless offer some powerful messages suffused with inspiration for the post-corona age.

Image courtesy of Mori Art Museum

Image courtesy of Mori Art Museum