The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue (APT2)

It would be wrong, however, to see modernisation and Westernisation as being one and the same, just because modernism originated in the West. It is necessary to analyse the two phenomena separately. Also, there are many elements of Western society which are remnants of feudalism, superstition, or ancient custom. Although they are in conflict with modern phenomena, the old coexists with the new, and thus there are similarities with the Asian situation. Japan was forced to abandon a large part of its heritage because of defeat in war, but it also gave up much, of its own free will. Since then, the Japanese have alternately shown a lack of, and an excess of confidence in their own culture. There have been recurring cycles of rejection and acceptance of foreign cultures, and conflicting cultural elements have existed simultaneously. Reflecting on Japanese art trends associated with overseas developments, one notices a shift from the internationally-oriented avant-garde of the 1960s, exemplified by gutai, pop, and neo-dada, towards the mono-ha movement, which represented a return to nature and Eastern thinking. By the early 1980s there was a new expressionistic tendency, but the situation changed again in the latter half of the decade.The new art had a pop flavour, but was influenced by a number of other factors-comic books, consumer society, pervasive commercial and cultural signs, multiculturalism, Japanese taste, body theory, urban theory, and technology. Comic book culture had a tremendous influence, producing a kind of art which became a genre in itself.The leading practitioner of this style is Takashi Murakami. He began by copying cartoon characters and eventually invented characters of his own for use in his art. There is also Yoshitomo Nara, who lives in Germany and has made sculptures and paintings of children which resemble cartoon characters. Their malicious expressions mirror the distortions in adult society. The influence of the consumer society appeared in the cynical allusions made by many artists to the party atmosphere of the bubble economy, which peaked around the mid-1980s and then collapsed. Yasumasa Morimura satirises this situation incisively with an image entitled Blinded by the light, taken from Bruegel. The commodification of human desire is presented in Minako Nishiyama's installation which replicates a pink room in a 'telephone club'.This work, showing how young men and women's sexual desires have been commodified, depicts an urban phenomenon related to conditions of Japanese society in the 1980s and early 1990s. Carefully designed marketing strategies have inundated society with a myriad of commercial icons.Yoshinori Tsuda takes one of these, the credit card, as the theme of his art. Enlarging an American Express card (often seen in television commercials starring famous contemporary personalities) to a huge size, he makes us aware of how a device for encouraging consumption is encoded and enters our subconscious. The consumption culture which exploded during the bubble period encouraged greedy consumption of almost any sort of product, and the Japanese learned to seek out products which were just a little different or a little newer. The Japanese lost their interest in American culture and became enamoured of the culture of Europe, influenced by the ascendance of European fashion. Growing tired of Europe too, many people, especially the younger generation, became fascinated with Asian culture. Artists began making works with materials and subjects taken from the various ethnic groups of Asia. Hiroshi Fuji's piece using white rice is a good example of art that expresses an attachment to Asia. Cai Guo Qiang, a Chinese artist living and working in Japan, creates installations and performances which use dynamite and fireworks, thereby retaining a Chinese sensibility which has gained the artist a loyal following in Japan. Yukinori Yanagi's World flag ant farm effectively symbolises the post-modern condition of today's world with its furious back and forth movement of immigrants, refugees, and jet set travellers. The continual desire for novelty has led to a new artistic vision which might be described as 'Japonisme'.This is seen in the work of Katsushige Nakahashi, who employs old style black wooden walls and images of Sumo wrestlers. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this trend is the way it reveals how old Japanese culture appears to the younger generation as one more exotic 'ethnic' culture. A discourse on the nature of the body has provided new directions and interests to the artists of the 1990s. To a generation who had already worked with similar ideas about the body in the 1960s, this work may not seem especially innovative, but the work of the 1990s is more sculptural and more analytical than that of the 1960s. One example is Emiko Kasahara's sculpture of a bed; with three holes in it symbolising human sexuality, birth, death and bodily functions: it describes life. Another fine sculpture by this artist, resembling a urinal, subtly combines elements of the male and female body and has a fetishistic appeal that attracts many viewers. Rei Naito, known for showing only rarely, constructs installations using cotton, string, branches, wire, and gauze inside a large tent. These works, which have the feel of a large city, are metaphors for the inside of the womb and indicate a serious concern with women's issues and the body. Nobuyoshi Araki barnstormed onto the art scene from the world of photography; documenting his involvement with women in what he called shishashin (private photographs from his personal history), and showing them in exhibitions designed around definitive concepts. His photographs record raw human relationships, usually centred on sex, and present a banquet of sensuality. They have an impact which transcends the artist's theories of expression because they directly engage the body, the most fundamental part of human nature, and have had a huge influence on the photography and art scenes in Japan. All these factors are fundamentally related to urban phenomena and to contemporary trends. During the heyday of the economic bubble, and since its collapse, a number of architects and thinkers have attempted to construct a comprehensive theory to explain the nature of the city. References to the urban landscape have also provided new subject– matter to artists. Kimio Tsuchiya's installations refer to current urban conditions, evoking memories of former states of the city and the history of human beings. The structures made by Tadashi Kawamata from the early 1980s contain implicit criticism of urban expansion. Of all current cultural tendencies, this critical thinking about the city seems likely to lead to the most meaningful involvement with a diverse set of global issues. Technology will play an important role in the future of the new cities. Tatsuo Miyajima began making installations in the mid-1980s using 'gadgets' with flashing LED numbers, and he has continued to make variations with different sequences of numbers. In the future, there is likely to be an increase in the number of artists working in or addressing this new media. There would seem to be endless possibilities on the Internet or in cyberspace for art based on well-defined concepts. The relationship between technological development and artistic innovation, however, is an uncertain one. The use of new technology does not necessarily guarantee that works of art will be of greater quality or even be more novel. Still, thinking of some obvious examples, like the effect on painting brought about by oil-based paints and the creative expression in music made possible by the electric guitar, we cannot afford to close our eyes to the possibilities for art which might be realised through today's technology. The year 1995 was a turning point when it became clear that the world of art could no longer ignore the new technology. At present it is difficult to predict what the new media and the Internet will c u RAT o RI A L E ss AY s : EA s T A s I A I 37