Limits of Polyphonic Representations
Trajectory of/Perspective from the Exhibition “Self and Other: Portraits from Asia and Europe”

Speaker: Kenji YOSHIDA (Director, Research Center for Cultural Resources, National Museum of Ethnology)
Chair: Marie YASUNAGA (UTCP)

17:00–19:00, Tuesday, February 24, 2010
Collaboration Room 1, 4th Floor, Bldg 18, The University of Tokyo, Komaba
Language: Japanese (English available in Q & A)
Preregistration not required | Admission free

[Summary]
The international traveling exhibition, “Self and Other: Portraits from Asia and Europe,” organized by the ASEMUS (Asia-Europe Museum Network, an association of museum curators from 18 countries) with mutual perceptions of Asia and Europe as its theme, included approximately 570 portraits from various ages and regions in both the East and West. Considering “portraits” as the most fundamental representation of self and the other, the exhibition was conceived and realized entirely through a close collaboration between Asian and European curators. Inaugurated in Osaka, the show traveled to Fukuoka and Kanagawa, and is currently on view at the Brunei Gallery in London, under the new title “Posing Questions: Being and Image in Asia and Europe.” While its Japanese incarnation featured original artworks and objects, the London version takes the experimental approach of composing the entire exhibit with reproductions. In this lecture, YOSHIDA Kenji, the Asian project leader of “Self and Other,” will discuss the trajectory of, and perspectives opened up by, this thought-provoking exhibition: How can an exhibition cross boundaries, between Art/Ethnological Museums, Asia/Europe, Art History/Ethnology, and Original/Reproduction?

Download flyter (PDF/538KB=>click here)