Art between Korea and Japan since 1945

Artists: 43 Artists including Paik Nam June, Lee Bul, Lee Ufan, Jung Yeondoo, Tanaka Koki, Takamatsu Jiro, Murakami Takashi, Nakamura Masato, Takamine Tadasu.

 The exhibition Art between Korea and Japan since 1945 has been co-organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and the Yokohama Museum of Art in Japan to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries and shed light on the trajectory of their artistic exchanges over the past eighty years. The term “road movie” in the Korean title of the exhibition refers to a cinematic genre in which a protagonist grows by means of encounters with unexpected people and events over the course of a journey. In a similar manner, Korean and Japanese artists have ventured into uncharted territory through cross-cultural engagement, broadening the channels of artistic exchange between their nations.

The exhibition explores how artists from Korea and Japan have developed relationships across the turbulent historical currents from Korea’s liberation and Japan’s defeat in 1945, through the Cold War and the division of North and South Korea, to the normalization of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan and into the present day. It focuses on artistic exchanges as manifested not only in official exhibitions but also in personal networks, informal encounters, and solidarity movements. By doing so, it demonstrates that these exchanges were not universally rooted in smooth or symmetrical relations, but were in fact often accompanied by rupture, misunderstanding, asymmetry, and tension.

Korean and Japanese artists sited within their distinct social, political, and historical contexts have taken part in multilayered exchanges across borders, recalling the diverse experiences encountered by the protagonists in road movies. The exhibition invites audiences to reconsider these exchanges from a new perspective and to imagine the possibilities of a shared future.