Japan Official Participation at the 12th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 2006

Mr. Hiroshi Fujimori, a participant from Japan,
has been awarded the Grand Prix at the 12th Asian Art Bangladesh Biennale.

USE –MIS-USE –RE-USE

National Participation: Japanese Pavilion

Dates:	March 5 (Sun.) –31(Fri.), 2006
Opening:	March 5 (Sun.)
Venue:	Osmani Memorial Hall, Dhaka
Organised by:	The Japan Foundation
Commisioner:	Arts Initiative Tokyo, AIT
Artists:	Hiroshi Fuji (Fukuoka) and Yuken Teruya (Okinawa/ New York)

Outline of the Exhibition

The Japanese participation in the 12th Bangladesh Biennale represents a moment of transition.
The Japan Foundation have for the first time invited an external arts organisation to curate the Japanese artists. The non profit collective Arts Initiative Tokyo (AIT) have been asked to be the commissioners, representing a change with past practices of asking museum professionals to curate the Japanese artists.

The two artists AIT have selected –Hiroshi Fuji and Teruya Yuken - represent forms of contemporary practice which slide with ease across different fields –their works take multiple forms including the aesthetic, but move beyond this into areas of social critique, community-making and system-building. This kind of expanded art practice can be referred to as ‘socially engaged art’.

The two artists come from different generations, Fuji being in his mid forties and Yuken in his late twenties. While sharing common themes and approaches, the two artists also represent unique voices from their respective generations.

The work of Fuji and Yuken share a concern with used, waste materials and how this can be re-configured or re-appropriated to create other possibilities. Although their works may illicit obvious ecological readings, it is perhaps more interesting to see their practices as extending the social potential of art today.

Artists

Yuken Teruya
Yuken Teruya was born in Okinawa in 1973, the chain of islands in the South of the Japanese archipelego. Okinawa has always had a delicate relationship with mainland Japan and was the only part of Japan to experience land war during the Second World War. Since then there has been a large American military presence on the islands. Yuken Teruya studied at the Tama Art University and finished his MFA at The School of Visual Arts in New York in 2001. Teruya has exhibited widely around the world. Notable recent one person exhibitions include: Josee Bienvenu Gallery, NY, 2005, Voges and Partner Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany, 2004 and Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2002. Notable recent group exhibitions include: Asuwa Docchi Da?, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan, 2005, Greater New York, P.S.1, Contemporary Art Center, NY, 2005, Yokohama 2005: International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Yokohama, Japan, 2005, Refrain; Korean, Balkan, Okinawa, Total Museum of Contemporary Arts, Seoul Korea, 2004, Fuchu Biennale, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 2004, Slab, University Gallery, Illinois State University, IL, 2003 and VOCA: Vision of Contemporary Artists, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 2002.

Hiroshi Fuji
Hiroshi Fuji was born in Kagoshima in Southern Japan in 1960. After completing his Masters at Kyoto City University of Arts in 1985 Fuji travelled to Papua New Guinea as a member of the Japan International Cooperation Agency until 1988. He worked as a salary-man on his return. Fuji has realised numerous projects and events over his long career as an artist. They take many forms including workshops, installations, fashion shows and the setting up of a café. Although he has made sculptures and objects, much of Fuji’s work involves creating systems or structures which enable new social activities to happen. He has initiated the ‘Kaekko’children’s used toy exchange project in towns and cities across Japan and the world. He held a major retrospective exhibition at The Fukuoka Art Museum in 2005 and has also had one person exhibitions at The Hakone Open-Air Museum/ Kanagawa, 1999. Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, 1993. Selected group exhibitions include: Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003, Tokamachi Stage/ Niigata, Japan, 2003, Beautiful Life?, Art Tower Mito/ Ibaragi, Japan, 2002, Labyrinth of Pleasure, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, 2002, Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival 2000, Metropolitan Art Museum/ Pusan, Korea, 2000, Khoj International Artists Workshop, Modi Nagar, India, 1998, Chiapas International Sculpture Symposium, Chiapas, Mexico, 1997, Lahole International Workshop Lahole Art Collage / Lahole, Pakistan, 1996, Chiangmai Social Installation, Chiangmai, Thailand, 1995, 4th Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Art Museum/ Fukuoka, Japan, 1994, and PNG na Siapan Bung long Kalsa, National Museum/ Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 1988.

Commisioner - AIT

WHAT IS AIT? - AIT is a non profit arts collective started by six Tokyo based curators and organisers in 2002.

Commisioner's Message

Arts and Cultural Exchange[Culture]

Visual Arts

• International Exhibition Participation
• Exhibitions Abroad
• Traveling Exhibitions
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• Sharing Information
• Support Programs for Visual Arts

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• Performances Abroad Program
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• Support Programs for Translation and Publishing
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• Japanese Film Screenings Overseas
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Human Exchange and Cultural Cooperation

• Cultural Cooperation and Preservation of Cultural Properties

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