Mediarena: contemporary art from Japan, at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, New Zealand, 13 March - 7 June 2004, focuses on the high level of digital animation and interactive work being produced in Japan today and its relationship to developments in Japanese art of the last 30 years. Mediarena takes the practice of senior Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama, Tatsuo Miyajima, and Noboru Tsubaki as its starting point and explores the increasing relevance of their work for a new generation of Japanese artists whose practice slips between hi-end technology, traditional motif, and strategies common to performance and video making from the 1960s. As such, the exhibition attempts to move beyond a reading of superflat or pop tendencies in contemporary Japanese art and develop a layered analysis of an expanding field of concerns. 

Mediarena includes work by Makoto Aida, Kyoko Ebata, Exonemo, Gorgerous, Naoya Hatakeyama, Tomoko Kaneko, Mika Kato, Meiro Koizumi, Yayoi Kusama, Kyupi Kyupi, Hiroyuki Matsukage, Tatsuo Miyajima, Numb, Motohiko Odani, Saki Satom, Tomoko Sawada, Kyoko Sawanobori, Tabaimo, Tadasu Takamine, Noboru Tsubaki, Masato Wakabayashi, Akira Yamaguchi, and Miwa Yanagi.

Mediarena is curated by Gregory Burke (Director, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery), Fumio Nanjo (Deputy Director, Mori Art Museum), and Roger McDonald (Deputy Director, Arts Initiative Tokyo).

To reflect the importance within the contemporary Japanese art scene of time-based experimental practices — including performance, environmental work and media and sound art — the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is presenting two multi-media events Mediarena: LIVE and Mediarena: LOUNGE and the environmental social sculpture Radikal Carbon by Noboru Tsubaki. The programme REPLAY: Mediarena on screen will present recent developments in artist's video.

Mediarena: LIVE features acclaimed media artists and VJs Exonemo and leading electronic producer and sound artist Numb. Mediarena: LOUNGE is a multi-disciplinary event featuring the glam-rock performance duo Gorgerous, and multi-media presentations by artists Hiroyuki Matsukage, Noboru Tsubaki, and Tadasu Takamine. Roger McDonald, who hosts and plays at a regular experimental DJ event at club Minglius in Tokyo, will also speak and perform.

REPLAY: Mediarena on screen is an eight-artist programme that explores links between recent Japanese video and concepts of the temporal, performative and the imaginative, keying into performance and video art dating from the 1960s.

The Govett-Brewster is also presenting a comprehensive lecture series to accompany the show. Keynote speakers are Mediarena curators Roger McDonald and Fumio Nanjo, artist and lecturer Noboru Tsubaki, and Japanese art critic and writer Kentaro Ichihara.

The Mediarena catalogue is a 128-page full colour publication that documents the show and contextualises the curatorial premise of the show against contemporary Japanese art history and social change. Gregory Burke has written the curatorial overview of Mediarena, Fumio Nanjo's essay provides a historical frame for recent developments in contemporary Japanese art, Roger McDonald writes about art, performance, and the emerging gallery scene in Tokyo, and Hisako Hara tackles the art scene in the Osaka/Kansai region. Tomoko Kuroiwa focuses on new developments in artist video and the moving image in relation to the histories of video and performance art. The catalogue will be an important sourcebook for research on contemporary Japanese art.

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a museum that fosters the development and interpretation of contemporary art. Established in 1970, the Gallery's founding policy emphasises exhibiting and collecting contemporary art from the countries of the Pacific Rim. The Gallery has been exhibiting and collecting art from Japan since that time.

Mediarena is supported by Asia 2000, the Chartwell Trust, Creative New Zealand, the Govett-Brewster Foundation, the Japan Foundation, New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme, the Japan World Exposition Commemorative Fund, the New Zealand Community Trust, Shiseido Tokyo, Toshiba Foundation Tokyo, and the TSB Community Trust.

Mediarena: contemporary art from Japan 13 March  — 7 June 2004.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS:

The Japan Foundation; Shiseido Tokyo; Toshiba Foundation Tokyo; TSB Community Trust; Govett-Brewster Foundation; Chartwell Trust.

EVENT SPONSORS:

ASIA 2000; Creative New Zealand; New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme; New Zealand Community Trust; Japan World Exposition Commemorative Fund.