“Bubbles/Debris: Art of the Heisei Period 1989–2019”

Elsewhere, conceptual collective TECHNOCRAT’s installation Dutch Special: I’m a Cute Raccoon, Too (1993), comprising a collection of low-fidelity videos that follow lone children with a Dutch tilt shot, eerily calls to mind pedophilic stalkers, irritating viewers with the creatives’ perceived amorality. Created after Japan’s 1992 asset price bubble burst, which has caused economic stagnation since, the work encapsulates the period’s sense of disorientation while also referencing the moral decadence and fin-de-siècle sentiments of the ensuing years, when forceful transformations clashed with existing values as the country experienced other tragedies like the 1995 Hanshin earthquake and the cult Aum Shinrikyo Tokyo subway sarin attack of the same year.

Through a narrow corridor, a spacious hall presented post-2000 community-based projects. On the wall at one end were three large-scale acrylic paintings from the Tohoku University of Art and Design’s student-led project “Is Tohoku-ga Possible?” (2009– ). Overlapped Tohoku Mountainscape (2010), Ark Plan (2011), and Tohoku Moutain and Waterscapes (2011) show a unified concern for Tohoku’s mountainous terrains, often overlooked for their cultural significance relative to mega cities like Tokyo and Osaka. In Ark Plan, the Earth’s crust is uplifted into a bow shape against crashing waves, while a small humanlike figure sits at the bow’s tip. The figure gazes at damaged settlements below him, revealing the painters’ affections for their homeland amid the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

At the center of the same space, Suddenly, the view spreads out before us. (2015) was reconstructed by students from Korean University Tokyo and Musashino Art University as a two-meter-long wooden bridge. The original construction made by the two universities was erected between the two institutions for ten days, connecting the mostly North Korean students populated university with the prestigious private art school. Japan’s institutional discrimination against ethnic Koreans is a longstanding issue as Japan does not recognize the current regime of North Korea; these people’s nationality in Japan remains Joseon, the non-existent, undivided Korea. Japan’s complex bureaucracy of naturalization and its forceful assimilation to maintain its cultural unity perpetuates the unresolved Zainichi (Korean residents in Japan with pre-1945 roots) problem, which manifests into discriminations that range from difficulties in finding jobs and residences due to their special resident statuses to recurring hate movements mobilized by the far right. The bridge signifies a hopeful future of coexistence and multiculturalism, a much-needed progression for a country facing possible influx of immigrants as its birth rate continues to decline.

“Bubbles/Debris: Art of the Heisei Period 1989–2019” accommodated a wide array of artistic responses to the period’s shared fear of the unknown, and enabled viewers to revisit historical events from the artists’ perspectives. For those unfamiliar with the context, the overall experience may seem fragmentary as there is no apparent connection between the collectives. Despite this, viewing the exhibition amid a pandemic accentuates a sense of solidarity, as we are once again collectively confronted with another catastrophe.

“Bubbles/Debris: Art of the Heisei Period 1989–2019” was on view at Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art from January 23 to April 11, 2021.

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