Reply from Mori Art Museum
We refer to your communication dated 25 January. The Mori Art Museum responds to your communication as below.
Since its opening, the Mori Art Museum has endeavored to introduce contemporary artists from Japan and abroad to local audiences, as well as audiences around the world. It is often the case that contemporary artists respond to various problems of modern society through experimenting, criticising, and provoking them in their work. Within the confines of the law, the Mori Art Museum seeks to introduce these new artistic responses to as wide an audience as possible.
When the Mori Art Museum decided to exhibit the works of Makoto Aida, as one of Japan’s preeminent contemporary artists, we were mindful of the need to introduce the diversity of his works with as little interference as possible, and to exhibit them as comprehensively as possible. Aida’s works address topics spanning war, statehood, love, desire, and art, and he frequently displays an approach to these topics that is unique and unconventional. To fully appreciate the humour and prescience of Aida’s approach, we thought it crucial to introduce the full range of his works.
Art galleries are places where a range of expression and ideas are presented through the medium of art, and they are therefore places that spark opportunity for debate and discussion. In relation to the Aida exhibition, too, we value the exchange of many different opinions about the works. You would agree that the ability of individuals to express and present freely a range of opinions is a positive aspect of Japanese society. The Mori Art Museum has a continuing commitment to exhibiting contemporary works that present a range of opinions to a broad public audience, and continuing to be a hub of public debate and discussion in Japan.