We can make another future : Japanese art after 1989

163 CHRONOLOGY | REUBEN KEEHAN 162 WE CAN MAKE ANOTHER FUTURE: JAPANESE ART AFTER 1989 7 SEPTEMBER Despite radiation fears, Tokyo is awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics ahead of Istanbul and Madrid, with the International Olympic Committee citing the need for ‘stability’ in an ‘unpredictable world’. 21 SEPTEMBER The fourth Roppongi Crossing exhibition, titled ‘Out of Doubt’, opens at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. 6 OCTOBER ‘Yasumasa Morimura: Theater of the Self’ opens at the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. 12 OCTOBER Yasumasa Morimura restages his 1994 ‘Rembrandt Room’ exhibition at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. 2014 4 FEBRUARY ‘Hiroshi Sugimoto: Past Tense’ opens at the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. 4 JUNE Chiharu Shiota is announced as Japan’s representative at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). She is the ninth solo artist and sixth woman to exhibit in the national pavilion. 16 OCTOBER Independent curator Takashi Azumaya, director of the 2010 Busan Biennale, commits suicide at the age of 44. 18 NOVEMBER Doryun Chong’s study of postwar Japanese art, ‘Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde’ opens at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The exhibition is accompanied by a major catalogue and the compendium volume, From Postwar to Postmodern, Art in Japan 1945–1989: Primary Documents. 8 DECEMBER ‘The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ opens at QAGOMA, with Japanese participants Takahiro Iwasaki, Tomoko Kashiki, Paramodel and Tadasu Takamine among some 75 artists and collectives. Works by Iwasaki and Kashiki enter the Collection. 22 DECEMBER ‘Tadasu Takamine’s Cool Japan’ opens at the Art Tower Mito in time to top numerous critics’ ‘best of’ lists at year’s end. It is widely credited as one of the first museum exhibitions to critique post-3/11 Japan in a focused and sustained manner. 2013 12 JANUARY ‘Door to Modernity: Jikken Kobo’, a comprehensive study of postwar avant-garde group Jikken Kobo (experimental workshop) opens at the Museum of Modern Art in Kamakura. Other artists from the period to receive in-depth treatment in 2013 include Hi Red Center at Nagoya City Art Museum and Tetsumi Kudo at the National Museum of Art in Osaka. 15 FEBRUARY The survey exhibition ‘Gutai: Splendid Playground’ opens at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. 20 MARCH Setouchi’s art festival opens for a second instalment, re-badged as the Setouchi Triennale, and is staged in three seasonal iterations for spring, summer and autumn. 1 JUNE Koki Tanaka represents Japan at the 55th Venice Biennale, earning a special mention at the event’s awards presentation. 10 AUGUST The 2013 Aichi Triennale opens with a multidisciplinary program embracing contemporary and performing arts, opera and cinema. Curated by Taro Igarashi, the Triennale’s theme — ‘Awakening: Where are we standing? Earth, memory and resurrection’ — addresses 3/11. Installation view of How to make a paramodel 2012 by Paramodel (Yasuhiko Hayashi and Yusuke Nakano) in ‘The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT7), GOMA, 2012 / Photograph: Natasha Harth Installation view of Fukushima Esperanto 2012 by Tadasu Takamine in APT7 / Photograph: Mark Sherwood APT7 artist panel discussion — Art and Personal Memory, 8 December 2012; featuring (from left): Tadasu Takamine, Shihoko Iida, Reuben Keehan (curatorial host), Takahiro Iwasaki, interpreter, Tomoko Kashiki / Photograph: Brodie Standen Installation view of Paramodel joint factory 2012 in Kids’ APT7 / Photograph: Mark Sherwood Chronology images courtesy: QAGOMA Research Library and the Australian Centre of Asia Pacific Art (ACAPA) Following pages Mika Yoshizawa / Japan b.1959 / 1–5 1988 / Ink on vinyl sheet / 180 x 360cm / Purchased 1989