Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures

Abstract

As part of my ongoing research on the pioneering alternative arts space, Sagacho Exhibit Space (1983–2000) in Tokyo, this presentation and the subsequent paper focus on the subtle changes registered in the mode of presentation of the works by the artists, specifically the painters who exhibited there during the mid-1980s. By residing in a 1927 Japanese Art Deco building of distinctive features, scale, and history and adopting interdisciplinary curatorial approaches, the alternative space produced iconic one-off exhibitions in the relatively new field of ‘installation’ by designers and artists alike, including some painters of abstract and figurative natures. Curiously, the latter’s exhibitions showed what can be called integrated display systems as if to take control of the presentation of their own works, which in turn placed them somewhere between paintings and sculptures as well as exhibition design and installation. Based on this discovery, I will explore such exhibitions from two perspectives. Firstly, I will observe them in relation to the architectural feature of the alternative space, by siding with the classic view proposed by Allan Kaprow that the shape of the art was determined by the shape and style of the room where it was shown. Secondly, I will examine them with reference to the definition of installation. It has been suggested installation art as a specific genre was established in the late 1980s. It is my intention to open up a glimpse of endeavours made by painters in Japan under the influence of the new word, installation.