{"id":23154,"date":"2024-07-10T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/parodos\/arunas-gelunas-japanese-pop-culture-invites-to-enter-the-realm-of-dreams\/"},"modified":"2024-07-10T10:00:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T07:00:50","slug":"arunas-gelunas-japanese-pop-culture-invites-to-enter-the-realm-of-dreams","status":"publish","type":"paroda","link":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/national-gallery-of-art\/exhibitions\/arunas-gelunas-japanese-pop-culture-invites-to-enter-the-realm-of-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas: Japanese pop culture invites to enter the realm of dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting 19 July, the National Gallery of Art of the LNMA will invite to see the exhibition of Japanese popular culture <\/span>Beauties, Ghosts, and Samurai, <\/span><\/i>curated by Dr Ar\u016bnas Gel<\/span>\u016b<\/span>nas, director general of the LNMA. The exhibition will introduce a popular culture which emerged in 17th – century Japan and its influence on contemporary mass culture. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to see <\/span>ukiyo-e graphic art from <\/span>the Edo period (17th \u2013 19th c.), the early and contemporary manga, excerpts from animation films, and the artwork by contemporary Japanese artists. The exhibition will be on until 13 October.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis historic-panoramic exhibition is of the few attempts (the first in Lithuania) to reveal the interconnectedness of things which traditionally were not and still aren\u2019t showcased together in a museum space: <\/span>ukiyo-e prints, historic <\/span>giga <\/span><\/i>caricatures, the <\/span>shunga<\/span><\/i> erotic books, the <\/span>hikifunda<\/span><\/i> commercial posters, pre-war (<\/span>1928, 1937)<\/span> and post-war- (1950-1970) manga, selections of the famous anime films, and other.\u00a0 The exhibition captures the aesthetic inspiration of the Edo pop culture on the imagination of contemporary Japanese creatives,\u201d Dr Gel\u016bnas, the head of the museum and the exhibition curator puts the event into context.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Katsushika Hokusai (1760\u20131849), From the series “53 Stations of the Tokaido Road”, 1804, Colour woodblock print on paper, 12,5×17,5; 11,8×16,5, The Lithuanian National Museum of Art.<\/p><\/div>\n

A formula for pop culture sustained for five centuries: to seduce, to terrify, and to captivate with courage\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 17th – century Edo (present-day Tokyo), the largest city of the world at the time, its rigidly hierarchic society was among the first in the world to create a leisure and entertainment space for the common Edo citizens \u2013 the Yoshiwara district of merriment. There came to be different forms of popular culture \u2013 Kabuki theatre, ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, <\/span>haikai<\/span><\/i> poetry and color woodblock prints <\/span>ukiyo-e, which<\/span> sprawled with massive success far beyond the bounds of the Yoshiwara district.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s popular art is presented to the exhibition\u2019s visitors in three thematic sections, as the themes of beauties, ghosts, and samurai: \u201cThese themes seem to have naturally presented themselves, emerging in the process of analysis of several hundred years of Japanese popular culture, from the 17th century to the present day. The theme of beauties or <\/span>bijin<\/span><\/i> is most prominent. Notably, <\/span>bijin<\/span><\/i> in Japanese means a beautiful person, and was used to refer to men and women alike. In <\/span>the Yoshiwara district, geishas and courtesans, handsome Kabuki actors, sometimes also sumo wrestlers or samurai, were referred to as \u201cbeauties\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Japanese mythology and its mundane culture rest on three pillars: beauty, the mysteriously ominous, and courage. According to Prof. Tetsuya Ozaki, the exhibition\u2019s senior consultant, <\/span>if the theme of beauties develops in romance movies, of the ghosts, in horror movies, and the theme of samurai \u2013 in fighting movies, we can claim that these themes and the genres have remained relevant and are an essential part of contemporary popular culture. In other words, popular culture is there to seduce the viewers, to frighten them, to amuse and to enchant with stories of courage and strength. All this indicates that humans in the course centuries want things very similar\u201d, the curator of the exhibition Dr Gel\u016bnas shares his observations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797\u20131861), \u2018Ushiwakamaru Learns the Art of Fencing from the Tengu, Watched Over by Their Master Sojobo\u2019. 1847\u20131852, Colour woodblock print on paper 36×76 cm (3 x 36×25), The Lithuanian National Museum of Art.<\/p><\/div>\n

The integrating and empowering pop culture\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibition <\/span>Beauties, Ghosts, and Samurai<\/span><\/i> besides presenting Japanese popular culture, will invite its viewers to revisit the phenomenon of pop culture in general. \u201cCulture becomes popular when it leaves the territory of the privileged class to acquire a mass appeal. In the 21st century, we tend to perceive mass appeal with negative connotations and attribute that culture a lesser value, but let us go back to 17th-century Japan, when peace was finally reached after the disastrous period of warring between the feudal states. Common people then started rising to prosperity, gaining time to spare and looking for entertainment activities: such was a slow shaping of a popular culture, which is in the focus of the exhibition. Wondrous are its early emergence and the abundance of forms which continue into our days. For instance, <\/span>ukiyo<\/span>–<\/span><\/i>e<\/span>, the color woodblock prints, performed the function now taken over by magazines and posters. They cost little in 17th-century Edo, same money could buy a meal at an eatery or a color print to enjoy. I hope that the exhibition will challenge the visitors to revisit their idea of pop culture and to see humans empowered by it,\u201d Gel\u016bnas says, adding that these days a PC game trailer, an animation film or manga comics look pretty commonplace, yet the visitors will be surprised by the strong links between them and the exhibits that mark popular culture\u2019s 17th-century beginnings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kawanabe Kyosai (1831\u20131889), Old manga (giga) book, Ca 1880, The Lithuanian National Museum of Art<\/p><\/div>\n

Artwork by over seventy artists featured by the exhibition\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The ingeniously conceived exhibition architecture, its sound and light design evocative of the atmosphere of an urban Japanese space will contribute to the perception of the artwork by over seventy artists on display. According to the curator, though the main event\u2019s focus is on popular culture, the exhibition also offers the artwork to viewers who uphold classic concepts of art: \u201cJapanese culture is so diverse, that one statement about it can be refuted by a different one. Alongside with the popular culture, there exists the high culture of the nobility and of the clergy, with such its forms as refined ink painting, calligraphy, and ceramics closely linked with the Japanese tea ceremony. This exhibition will feature subtle color woodcuts by <\/span>Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Kunisada (Utagawa Toyokuni III), Utagawa Kunisada II, Utagawa Kuniyoshio<\/span> and other classical masters of <\/span>ukiyo<\/span>–<\/span><\/i>e<\/span>. They all enjoyed great popularity in their day and left behind thousands of prints and the series of prints. Initially taken as a low value advertising material, occasionally even used to wrap china or ebony artefacts, eventually these prints gained world-wide recognition and rose to the status of \u201cmuseum art\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside with traditional objects, on display are <\/span>hikifunda <\/span><\/i>posters, at least partially in the style of <\/span>ukiyo<\/span>–<\/span><\/i>e<\/span>, advertising goods and services, also the classical <\/span>giga<\/span><\/i> comics which gradually evolved into contemporary manga. We will present the legendary godfather of <\/span>manga and anime, Osamu Tezuka, active in the 50s \u2013 60s, and Shigeru Mizuki with his character-hero Kitaro, a one-eyed monster-boy fighting for the rights of the <\/span>monsters<\/span> in the world of humans, Kazuo Kamimura and his manga about the Lady Snowblood. This work inspired the American director Quentin Tarantino\u2019s two-volume movie <\/span>Kill Bill<\/span><\/i> starring Uma Thurman as the main protagonist. Finally, the visitors will see excerpts of several films, key to the development of Japanese anime, also film screenings at the NGA Auditorium and the celebrated congregation of contemporary Japanese artists <\/span>Takashi Murakami, Makoto Aida, Aya Takano, Akino Kondoh, to name just a few.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Toyohara Kunichika (1835\u20131900), Flowering Mirror of Humanity, 1878, Colour woodblock print on paper, 35×23, The Lithuanian National Museum of Art<\/p><\/div>\n

The territory of dreams created by Japanese culture\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The interest in Japanese culture has been growing in Lithuanian in recent years. It attracts, according to the exhibition curator Dr Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas, director general of the LNMA, by offering a dream. \u201eIn the contemporary society living its routine life, in the hierarchic society of the 17th century, Japanese popular culture invites to step into the realm of dreams, fostered for several hundred years with a great aesthetic finesse and using some highly resourceful means. By the way, this world of dreams is offered in ways accessible to everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Manga, The Lithuanian National Museum of Art<\/p><\/div>\n

Curator:<\/strong>\u00a0Dr. Ar\u016bnas Gel\u016bnas
\nChief Consultant:<\/strong>\u00a0Professor Tetsuya Ozaki
\nArchitects:<\/strong>\u00a0Petras I\u0161ora-Lozuraitis, Ona Lozuraityt\u0117-I\u0161or\u0117
\nSound:<\/strong>\u00a0Arturas Bum\u0161teinas
\nLighting:<\/strong>\u00a0Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
\nDesigner:<\/strong>\u00a0Laura Grigali\u016bnait\u0117
\nCoordinator of the exhibition:<\/strong>\u00a0Egla Mikalaj\u016bn\u0117
\nProducing architect:<\/strong>\u00a0Mindaugas Reklaitis
\nCoordinator of the events programme:<\/strong>\u00a0Goda Aksamitauskait\u0117
\nCoordinator of the educational programme:<\/strong>\u00a0Egl\u0117 Nedzinskait\u0117
\n<\/span>English translator<\/strong>\u00a0Emilija Ferdmanait\u0117\u00a0
\nEnglish editor<\/strong>\u00a0Emma Stirling
\nEditor<\/strong>\u00a0Ilona \u010ciu\u017eauskait\u0117\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Project is funded by<\/strong>\u00a0Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania<\/p>\n

Partners:<\/strong>\u00a0Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts, CASHI, M. K. \u010ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, UAB \u201eGrinda\u201c, Kaunas Photography Gallery, KuroNeko, Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Mizuma Art Gallery, Nanzuka Art Gallery, Perrotin gallery, Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University & TOPPAN INC., Yukiko Kode Presents, Caffeine<\/p>\n

Sponsors:<\/strong> AAS “BTA Baltic Insurance Company” Lithuanian branch, Exterus, Fundermax, Narutis, UAB \u201eVMGcorp\u201c<\/p>\n

Media sponsors:<\/strong>\u00a0JCDecaux, LRT<\/p>\n

Thanks:<\/strong>\u00a0Cultural Attach\u00e9 Gabija \u010cepulionyt\u0117 and Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Japan, Antoine Fr\u00e9rot, Carmen and Daniel Klein, Darius Lebedzinskas,\u00a0Vilius Jagminas, Gabrielius Dovyd\u0117nas, Keiko Okamura, Kyoto International Manga Museum, Japan National Diet Library.<\/p>\n

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