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Following \u201cMedicine and Art\u201d and \u201cThe Universe and Art,\u201d \u201cFuture and the Arts\u201d was the final installment in a trilogy of exhibitions curated by Fumio Nanjo, who has been the Mori Art Museum\u2019s director for 13 years. For myself, \u201cMedicine and Art\u201d with its displays of medical apparatus and materials, alongside works by star contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst and Jan Fabre, but also the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Maruyama Okyo, was a particularly impressive exhibition. That was primarily due to the brilliant ability to bring items collected from an archaeological point of view into the realm of aesthetics, while focusing on the beauty within technology and creativity cultivated over the course of human history, and crossing the boundaries of art\/non-art and past\/present. Such ability is immensely important not only regarding the appreciation of things valued as works of art, but also for creative curatorial work that focuses on contextualization from a unique point of view.<\/p>\n
Now let me share a few thoughts on \u201cFuture and the Arts\u201d exhibition, with regard to the challenging contents of the whole trilogy. Divided into the sections \u201cNew Possibilities of Cities,\u201d \u201cToward Neo-Metabolism Architecture,\u201d \u201cLifestyle and Design Innovations,\u201d \u201cHuman Augmentation and Its Ethical Issues\u201d and \u201cSociety and Humans in Transformation,\u201d it was a large-scale exhibition showcasing a variety of plans, case examples and works related to artificial cities, as well as cutting-edge technologies such as biotechnology, AI and robotics. Focusing among others on the Japanese \u201cmetabolism\u201d movement in the 1960s, which likened architecture to a constantly metabolizing living organism, the first two \u201ccity\u201d themed sections featured concepts for artificial cities and constructed environments using plants, microorganisms and other sources of renewable energy. The next sections were dedicated to AI and biotechnology, including displays showcasing current technical developments, and a discussion of ethical issues in a society that is penetrated by such technologies. Also introduced were services utilizing AI, image recognition and robotics, and even state-of-the-art artificial legs. Many of the examples on display concerned matters related to services, scientific experiments and urban design that are actually being discussed in society. In this respect, it was an exhibition that vividly conveyed the intent to promote a rather profound discussion of future issues by extending the scope of art, however I did feel somewhat uncomfortable about the use of both \u201cfuture\u201d and \u201cart\u201d in the exhibition title.<\/p>\n
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ecoLogicStudio H.O.R.T.U.S. XL Astaxanthin.g \u00a02019 \u00a0PETG, biogel, euglena \u00a0317 x 270 x 114 cm \u00a0Installation view: Future and the Arts: AI, Robotic, Cities, Life \u2013 How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2019-2020 Photo: Kioku Keizo Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo<\/p>\n
Firstly, \u201cfuture\u201d is one word that simply refers to the time to come. As part of the title of this exhibition, however, there seems to be something more to it. Here it possibly hints at an utopian kind of \u201cfuture\u201d as a result of capitalist progressivism and its credo of happiness achieved through technical development. In other words, it is the dream \u2013 or the order \u2013 of manmade technologies leading the way into the future and carving out a new age. Slogans like \u201cProgress and Harmony for Mankind\u201d at the Osaka Expo in 1970 give hope, move capital, and drive people. But when going back to the concept of tenses, the past is over, the present is happening now, and the future is yet to come.<\/p>\n
It is also for this reason that there always exist also worries about the future. These uncertainties subliminally contain the desire that the time to come may be a bright and hopeful one, which, according to widely accepted belief, can be achieved through technology. Since the 20th century, even as worn-out as it sounds today, the formula of \u201ca future built by technology\u201d that drives technological progressivism, continues to stand as an accomplice of capitalism and its imposed mission of perpetual expansion, and at the same time, as a vanguard of the times. Nonetheless, when discussing the future from the standpoint of art, I believe that the project should at least have started with tearing down such visions that have been informed by political and economic goals.<\/p>\n
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Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group \u00a0Edo’s Eden\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Hinoki wood, 3D-printed resin, optical fiber \u00a0200 x 400 x 400cm \u00a0Collection: Mori Building Co., Ltd.\u00a0Installation view: Future and the Arts: AI, Robotic, Cities, Life \u2013 How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2019-2020\u00a0Photo: Kioku Keizo\u00a0Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo<\/p>\n Most items included in this exhibition belonged to one of two main categories of works, either expressing ironical criticism of society as shaped by technology, or exploring the potential of new types of technology for the creation of an entirely new kind of future. Both are based on the idea of a \u201cfuture created through manmade technologies.\u201d But as a matter of fact, there also exists a future in the deeper layers of nature that are unaffected by technology. One may go even further and say that the future will come anyway, even without any technological development. Quite ironically, it was the premature closure of this exhibition due to COVID-19, that has made us understand how many of us haven\u2019t even been aware of this possibility.<\/p>\n The virus forced us to suspend economic activities, and conceal ourselves, and ultimately confronted us humans, who self-confidently live in the \u201cAnthropocene\u201d \u2013 a period of history centered on the human being \u2013 with the fact that we are just one of the myriad lifeforms that inhabit the planet. What additionally magnified this unprecedented situation were the locomotion technologies that man has so excitedly developed. The function of technology as a catalyst for the spread is another thing that has become obvious.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nissan Intelligent Mobility x Art Project\u00a0<\/span>Invisible to Visible – Automated Driving System for the Future\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Installation\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Dimensions variable\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Installation view: Future and the Arts: AI, Robotic, Cities, Life \u2013 How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2019-2020\u00a0Photo: Kioku Keizo\u00a0Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo<\/p>\n Furthermore, we are now realizing that the restrictions of everyday life have led to a decline of environmental pollution. While the virus, carried by manmade technologies, picked up speed and slowed down economic activity, nature has begun to regain its original shape, and this almost makes it all look like an admonishment from planet Earth itself. However, capitalism as forged by mankind in the process of modernization, has created new products out of debts, and continued to reap financial harvests larger than the initial funds. In other words, capitalism is all about flying kites and collecting the gains, and it has been operating with the disposition of a machine that has gotten out of control and keeps running without knowing how to stop. The fact that technology has been the driving force behind this makes clear how inseparably capitalism is tied to technological progress. However, \u201ctechnology\u201d does not equal \u201cfuture,\u201d and capitalism as we know it is not absolute. On the other side, art has nurtured aesthetic views and philosophical ideas that deviate from economic rationalism. For explorations of a possible future from the field of art, wouldn\u2019t some ideas of the future that are not fueled by capitalism and technological progressivism, have been necessary?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ouchhh\u00a0<\/span>DATAMONOLITH\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>2018\/2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>High-definition video \u00a0installation\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Dimensions variable, 12 min. 30 sec.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Installation view: Future and the Arts: AI, Robotic, Cities, Life \u2013 How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2019-2020\u00a0Photo: Kioku Keizo\u00a0Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo<\/p>\n At a point where reality has presented us with something that no-one would have ever expected, it is not fair to talk like this about past concepts. However it is no longer possible to talk about the future without referring to the current situation.<\/p>\n Never before have there been so many doubts raised about the modern city that has backed up its authority by attracting people and creating situations of congestion. The centralization of power has been questioned frequently with slogans like postmodernism and decentralism in the past, but many of those concerned by the coronavirus and the turning point it has created are now certainly feeling the need for a new guideline to follow into the future. In this sense, it seems that a liberation from concepts of the past has become an essential premise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Translated by Andreas Stuhlmann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXPO 2025 OSAKA, KANSAI, JAPAN venue design for bidding\u00a0\u00a02019 \u00a0Installation \u00a0530 x 380 x 360 cm \u00a0Data Provisio […]","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":5017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4923"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5042,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923\/revisions\/5042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/_sys2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/3_1_NissanI2V_72dpi-1024x683.jpg\")
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