Mori Art Museum (MAM, Tokyo), Exhibition schedule for 2009

Exhibition schedule for 2009
Exciting exhibitions will be held at the Mori Art Museum this year.
Please see website for details on each exhibition.

The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemizsa Art Contemporary Collection
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), founded in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg, is committed to supporting the production of contemporary art and is actively engaged in commissioning unconventional projects that break traditional boundaries. The foundation’s collection of contemporary art has a strong international orientation. The Mori Art Museum is joining forces with T-B A21 to present an exhibition of specially selected works from the foundation’s collection. Many of the artworks are dynamic installations and sculptures that stimulate viewers not only visually, but also by means of sound, touch, and spatial presence. The experience uproots our sense of what is normal and immutable, jolting our notions of reality. In this exhibition we take in the sensory pleasures of art, while seeking answers to the question, “How do we decide what’s real?”
Date: 4 April - 5 July, 2009


Ai Weiwei
25 July - 8 November, 2009
MORI ART MUSEUM

Ai Weiwei is active in creative fields from art and architecture to design and publishing. He is one of the most important Chinese artists of his generation, with his Fairytale project at “Documenta 12” in 2007 and his collaboration with Herzog and de Meuron on the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, propelling him to international stardom over the last few years. After spending the Cultural Revolution in the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region, Ai lived in the United States for 12 years until he returns to China in 1993. Since then, he has observed China’s development and transformation from his base in the Caochangdi district of Beijing, which has become the city’s newest art zone. With a focus on his art and architectural projects, this exhibition presents over 20 years of his unfailingly original activities, allowing their concepts, forms and their incorporation and adaptation of history and tradition to become clear.

MAM PROJECT 009:
Koizumi Meiro
25 July - 8 November, 2009
MORI ART MUSEUM

Koizumi Meiro (born in 1976) produces unique video works. They are records of his own performance incorporating extraordinary use of natural voice and his conversations with others, developing into comical and absurd situations. Depicting violent passions, intoxication and anger, his works explore the genuine nature of human psychology and emotion. Koizumi made his debut while a student at an art college in London. This is his first solo show in a museum.

The Body as universe: Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art (title to be confirmed)
28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010
MORI ART MUSEUM
Nothing is so close and yet so little known to us as the human body. From ancient times, we have sought to elucidate its mechanisms and through developments in medical technologies, prolong our own deaths. At the same time, the body has always been the artist’s subject and inspiration - one that is often used as a metaphor for the whole world. The theme of this exhibition is the body as the meeting place of art and science. With the help of the British Wellcome Trust - the world’s largest independent charity funding research in medicine and pharmacology - we bring precious historical documents on medicine together with contemporary and classical Japanese art, exploring a fascinating union that continues from times long gone through to futuristic explorations such as in biotechnology. This unique exhibition finds connections between the mortal human life and the eternity of art.

Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art (tbc)

MAM PROJECT 010:
Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen
28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010
MORI ART MUSEUM

Based in Helsinki, this two-artist unit has been active since 2005. In their “Complaints Choir” series they ask people in various locations around the world about their biggest gripes and complaints. The complaints are arranged as songs which the locals are then asked to sing. The works bring the sometimes strained relationship between the homogenizing forces of globalization and the uniqueness of local cultures into relief. The artists plan to make a “Complaints Choir” in Tokyo.