Course detail

Socially Engaged Art in Japan

FA-SAJ-TEAcad. year: 2022/2023

Not applicable.

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

2

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

MgA.,MA.,Dott. Karin Písaříková, Ph.D. et Ph.D.

Department

Department of Theory (UT)

Offered to foreign students

The home faculty only

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Not applicable.

Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Co-requisites

Not applicable.

Planned learning activities and 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.

Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes

Attendance and active participation are expected of every student. Grades will be based on class participation, short presentation and a written assignment.

Course curriculum

  1. Course introduction and requirements.
    Convey an understanding of the broader local, national and global context within which japanese contemporary socially engaged artists and architects operate today.
    Familiarize students with the theory and practice of the field of social practice art and its interdisciplinary, research-based methodology.
  2. Politics, media, Culture and society: various aspects of culture and their influence on socially engaged art in Japan.
  3. Artist-in-Residence programmes in Japan and corporate support for the arts and culture, the Seto Inland Sea Area.
  4. Community vitalisation and „hometown making“ through art, architecture and cultural initiatives.
  5. Tokyo Museum and gallery scene.
    The exhibiting system and difference between big museums, small galleries and artist or community run spaces.
  6. Feminist politics and gender art in Japan. Presenting multiplicity of gender, sexual, and cultural identities.
  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.
  8. “Cool Japan” politial branding, Superflat movement and brands. Artists such as Takashi Murakami, Yoshimoto Nara, Mika Ninagawa, Yayoi Kusama, Sputniko…
  9. Art and Politics.
    Masao Okabe, Yukinori Yanagi, Makoto Aida, Miyako Ishiuchi…
  10. Art and Nature.
    Motohiko Odani, Kohei Nawa, Wataru Yamamoto, Reiko Ogura…
    Submission of written assignment.
  11. Art and technology vs. Arts and craft.
    teamLab, Akihiro Kubota, Sebastian Masuda, Miki Midori…
  12. Guest lecture. Discussion. Review and final presentations. Commented written assignments.

Work placements

Not applicable.

Aims

This course serves as an introduction to art projects and forms of artistic activity centered around contemporary art and architecture, that developed in various locations around Japan beginning in the last two decades of 20th 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 visual arts will be excercised.

Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences

Not applicable.

Recommended optional programme components

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Not applicable.

Recommended reading

Alberro, Alexander and Sabeth Buchmann. eds. Art after Conceptual Art. Cambridge, MH: MIT Press, 2006. (EN)
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. (EN)
Elliott David. Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art, Yale University Press, 2011. (EN)
Favell, Adrian. Before and After Superflat: A Short History of Japanese Contemporary Art 1990- 2011. Hong Kong: Blue Kingfisher, 2012. (EN)
Fraser, Karen M. “Representation and Identity.” In Photography and Japan. London: Reaktion Books, 2011. 37-86. (EN)
Ishiuchi, Miyako. Ishiuchi Miyako - Mother's 2000-2005: Traces of the Future, Kyoto: Tankosha, 2005. (EN)
Johnson, Mark. The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. (EN)
Kastner, Jeffrey and Brian Wallis, eds., Land and Environmental Art, London: Phaidon (New, Abridged Edition), 2010. (EN)
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. (EN)
Rawlings, Ashley. Art Space Tokyo, Chin Music Press, 2008; Pre/Post Books, 2010. (EN)
Roberson, James E. and Suzuki, Nobue. Men and Masculinities in Contemporary Japan, Dislocating the Salaryman Doxa, Routledge, 2003. (EN)
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. (EN)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme BX_A+U Bachelor's

    branch ARCH , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective

  • Programme N_A+U Master's, 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
  • Programme NX_A+U Master's, 1. year of study, summer semester, elective

Type of course unit

 

Seminar

26 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

MgA.,MA.,Dott. Karin Písaříková, Ph.D. et Ph.D.