In the middle of the hall, a huge baby robot spreads its body slowly with electronic sounds. The so-called "largest robot on earth" was created by the Japanese cartoonist Urasawa Naoki. In the neighboring five exhibition halls, amusing Japanese sounds, videos and photography are on display. [Beautiful New World: Contemporary Japanese Visual Arts]
The huge baby robot
34 artists bring many attractions
On December 25, this exhibition of contemporary Japanese visual culture was launched at the Guangdong Museum of Art. The artists are so versatile that their exhibits include: paintings, photography, sculpture, costume, cartoons and installations.
The works "Untitled"
The exhibits are from artists working in a variety of fields, media art, architecture, fashion, manga and anime (cartoons) as well as contemporary art. The overall theme is divided into three parts: Beautiful Real World, New Media World, and End of the World and Future World.
The exhibition is being held to celebrate the 35th anniversary of normalized relations between Japan and China, and it is a part of a larger project to promote cultural exchange between the two countries.
Viewers can be part of the exhibition
In a corner of the hall, everyone was excited as they selected toys and drew them on paper. The toy corner designed by the artist Fuji Hiroshi offers you a toy if you can draw its image and hang it on the wall.
Interactivity is one of the features of the exhibition. Other fantastic experiences are also provided for participants. Here, you can watch movies in the kid's cinema, or read cartoon books from the huge bookcase.
The kid's cinema
Cartoon corner
Beautiful New World
Japan which rapidly developed economically after WWII has been anxious about impending decline since the 1970s. After the collapse of the bubble economy and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the anxiety has deepened.
The works
The curator Ms. Kataoka Mami said, "What kind of world is beautiful and new? This is what we would like to consider." The artists were mainly born in the 1960s and 1970s. In their works, you can see crisis focused on urban destruction and even death. However, a beautiful new world can also been seen. "It is better to face human problems than to be scared of the future."
(Reported and photographied by Jessie Hwang, Alan Devey)
