SYMPOSIA

Mori Art Museum International Symposium “Can Contemporary Art Museums Become New Places of ‘Learning’? - From Education to Learning”

Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation available

In recent years, it has become increasingly common around the world to replace the word “education,” which has traditionally been used at art museums, with the word “learning,” which refers to the mutual sharing of knowledge. This has occurred in the context of the trend toward interactivity in the relationship between museums and visitors stemming from the spread of the Internet and social media, and of the attention focused since the 1990s on participatory, performance and other forms of art in which the audience becomes actively involved. Another conceivable reason why learning has become necessary is that amid the global structure surrounding contemporary art, opportunities to engage with artworks born out of rather unfamiliar cultural contexts are expanding. At the same time, against the backdrop of worsening conflicts and refugee problems around the world along with harsher economic conditions and social polarization since the rise of neoliberalism, renewed attention is also being focused on socially engaged art as an artistic practice that is more deeply committed to social issues.

What does it mean that art museums become new places of “learning”? What types of needs and possibilities are there? In order for us to consider new relationships between contemporary art museums and audiences, we are hosting an international symposium to discuss possibilities of “learning” at the Mori Art Museum from various viewpoints, including those of art museums and artists, while looking at precedents in the UK, the US and elsewhere.

Date & Time

10:00-18:00, February 13 [Mon], 2017 (Doors Open: 9:30)

Speakers

Anna Cutler (Director of Learning, Tate), Nat Trotman (Curator, Performance and Media, Guggenheim Museum), Suzanne Lacy (Artist), Osaka Eriko (Director, Yokohama Museum of Art), Sumitomo Fumihiko (Director, Arts Maebashi), N. S. Harsha (Artist), Margit Czenki & Christoph Schäfer (Leaders, “Park Fiction”), Pedro Reyes (Artist), Kudo Yasuyo (Executive Director, Art & Society Research Center), Nanjo Fumio (Director, Mori Art Museum), Kataoka Mami (Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum)

Timetable

9:30Doors Open
10:00Opening Remarks by Nanjo Fumio (Director, Mori Art Museum)
10:05Introduction by Kataoka Mami (Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum)
10:20Keynote Speech #1: Anna Cutler (Director of Learning, Tate)
11:00Keynote Speech #2: Suzanne Lacy (Artist)
11:40Keynote Speech #3: Nat Trotman
(Curator, Performance and Media, Guggenheim Museum)
12:20Recess
14:00Session #1 Lead-in:
“A New Wave of Socially Engaged Art in Japan”
by Kudo Yasuyo (Executive Director, Art & Society Research Center)
14:15Session #1 “Art and Society: From the Artists Practices”
Panels:
Suzanne Lacy (Artist)
N. S. Harsha (Artist)
Margit Czenki & Christoph Schäfer (Leaders, “Park Fiction”)
Pedro Reyes (Artist)
Moderator: Kataoka Mami
15:45Recess
16:00Session #2 “What New Place of Learning Can Be?”
Panels:
Osaka Eriko (Director, Yokohama Museum of Art)
Sumitomo Fumihiko (Director, Arts Maebashi)
Anna Cutler
Nat Trotman
Moderator: Kataoka Mami
17:30Wrap-up Discussion / Q&A
Panels: Anna Cutler, Nat Trotman, Kataoka Mami
18:00Close

Organizer

Mori Art Museum

In Association with

Embajada de Mexico en Japon

Corporate Sponsor

Benesse Holdings, Inc.

Cooperation

Academyhills