Award winners, award Ceremony and symposium announced
April 21, 2019
Tokyo 135-0022
Japan
The winners have been decided upon for the first ever Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA), for mid-career artists whose work, including work produced outside Japan, deserves global recognition. This award, established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Arts and Space (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture) is intended to encourage these artists to make new breakthroughs in their art.
Details of the award ceremony and symposium:
Winners
Kazama Sachiko, Shitamichi Motoyuki
Award ceremony and symposium
At this symposium to commemorate the first TCAA, the winners and judges will discuss an overview of the awards and hopes for the future.
Panelists / winners:
Kazama Sachiko, Shitamichi Motoyuki
The international selection committee:
Kamiya Yukie (Gallery Director, Japan Society, New York), Sumitomo Fumihiko (Director, Arts Maebashi / Associate Professor, Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts), Doryun Chong (Deputy Director / Curatorial and Chief Curator, M+), Carol Yinghua Lu (Director, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum), Kondo Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space)
Moderator:
Shiomi Yuko (Director, Arts Initiative Tokyo)
*With Japanese-English interpretation provided
*Because of other commitments, Maria Lind will not participate.
*Please note that the list of panelist is subject to change.
Chief Juror's Comment
"The jury of the TCAA award spent three exciting days together in Tokyo and Kyoto exploring the work of seven artists, all nominated for the TCAA award. After intensive and interesting discussions we concluded that Kazama Sachiko and Shitamichi Motoyuki were the winners. Both of them have strong practices and are at a moment in their work where the possibility to spend time abroad can be very fruitful.
Kazama Sachiko’s unique way of reviving and reinterpreting the traditional technique of woodcut prints immediately stood out. Combining many prints into large-scale images which are often depicting dystopian scenarios set in urban landscapes, the artist is evoking the genre of history painting. Through this extremely laborious process, she is combining a feeling of awkwardness in everyday life, as a woman in a patriarchal society, with careful historical research, addressing difficult moments in the history of Japan. Her recent research is focusing on Germany and Japan during World War II.
In Shitamichi Motoyuki’s sensitive work, borders are often transgressed. Whether with photography, videos, objects, interviews, workshops or other social situations, he is observing and connecting things which are apart. Drift bottles on the island of Okinawa, toriis in Japan’s former colonies, and a giant tsunami boulder lying alone since 1771 on a sandy beach, far from its geological companions – they all operate slowly over longer periods of time."
–Maria Lind
Award winners’ profiles
Kazama Sachiko
Born in Tokyo in 1972. Work focuses on dark woodblock prints that explore the past in search of the roots of contemporary phenomena and foreshadow dark clouds hanging over the future. In her woodblock prints she experiments with a variety of styles, using compositions embodying a variety of motifs in one picture plane, including a somewhat manga-like style with a nonsensical touch. Exhibitions: Queensland Art Gallery, Australia, 2018, Yokohama Triennale, 2017, etc.
Shitamichi Motoyuki
Born in Okayama in 1978. Shitamichi, known for creative activities based on extensive travel and fieldwork. They are evidence of stories forgotten in everyday life or so routine as to seem trivial, brought to life through photographs, events, and interviews, edited to restore their reality, and shown to us today to be events beside us, that continue to affect life today. Exhibitions: KADIST, Paris, 2018, Gwangju Biennale 2018, etc.
About this Award
The Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA) was established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Arts and Space in 2018 as a contemporary art prize for mid-career artists active in Japan. The two winners will receive two years of continuous support, including, in addition to funding for overseas activities, the opportunity to show their work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and the publication of a monograph.
Contact
tcaa2018@tokyoartsandspace.jp
www.tokyocontemporaryartaward.jp
