Visual Arts ProgramFrom Here to There |
Enter Exhibition |
From Here to There is Japan Society's first online, commissioned project initiated as a testing ground for artistic practice, discussion, and production. This dynamic online programming reflects upon the current moment and responds to our collective resilience and desire for meaningful connections. Striving to deepen understanding and encourage public engagement in the Japan-U.S. relationship has been at the heart of Japan Society’s mission for over a century.
The ongoing pandemic has exposed our vulnerability but also our resiliency. It has demanded isolation even as opportunities to make connections continue to evolve. Given the current flux of culture and life, From Here to There introduces the work of Nobutaka Aozaki, Hanako Murakami, and Aki Sasamoto, three visual artists whose new projects reckon with time, place, and context.
Each project takes its own direction and interpretation on the theme through its respective medium and attempts to collapse the distinctions that are particularly resonant today: isolation/community; physical/digital; illusions of control/agency. A dossier-style website for each project serves as an experimental testing site and reveals behind-the-scenes videos, photographs, research notes, related texts, and more—providing living documentation for each in-progress project with regular updates of new material throughout the duration of the show.
Through new and reframed projects, including commissioned works, performances, and digital programs, the exhibition aims to blur boundaries and create meaningful connections that bridge physical sites of artistic production and display, such as artist studios and spaces for exhibition, with online sites to explore creative processes and to cultivate a dialogue around the visual arts today.
Download PDF
Past Exhibition Events
 |
Virtual Opening: Artists' Presentations & Discussion Thursday, September 24, 2020 | Archive Nobutaka Aozaki, Hanako Murakami, and Aki Sasamoto introduce their newly developed projects in discussion with Tiffany Lambert and Yukie Kamiya. |
 |
Nobutaka Aozaki: Retail on Broadway Reading Thursday, October 8, 6—8 PM EDT | Archive Performative reading of the names of all retail businesses currently located along Broadway, brought to life by a collection of invited artists and special guests and choreographed by Nobutaka Aozaki. |
 |
Aki Sasamoto: Performance Attempt #1 + Q&A with Daisy Nam Thursday, October 22, 6—7 PM EDT | Archive Artist Aki Sasamoto and collaborators at Yale School of Art participate in an improvisational performance followed by a conversation with Daisy Nam (Ballroom Marfa, Texas). |
 |
Hanako Murakami: Making Imaginary Landscapes Thursday, November 5, 2—3 PM EST | Archive Artist Hanako Murakami shows how she processes her work in her personal darkroom. |
 |
Aki Sasamoto: Performance Attempt #2 + Q&A with Felipe Arturo Thursday, November 19, 6—7 PM EST | Archive Artist Aki Sasamoto and collaborators at Yale School of Art participate in an improvisational performance followed by a conversation with Felipe Arturo (Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Bogotá). |
 |
Aki Sasamoto: Performance Attempt #3 + Q&A with Kyle Dancewicz Thursday, December 3, 6—7 PM EST | Archive Artist Aki Sasamoto and collaborators at Yale School of Art participate in an improvisational performance followed by a conversation with Kyle Dancewicz (SculptureCenter, New York). |
 |
Nobutaka Aozaki: Artist Talk and Gallery Walkthrough Thursday, December 3, 6—7 PM EST | Archive Artist Nobutaka Aozaki discusses the development of his commission, followed by a tour of his intervention on view in the Japan Society Gallery. |
 |
Dialogue: Hanako Murakami x Simon Baker Thursday, January 14, 6—7 PM EST | Archive This conversation traverses the processes, histories, and strategies of influence from the field of film and photography, exploring how artist Hanako Murakami adapts these techniques in her work. With Simon Baker, Director of Maison Européenne de la Photographie. |
Exhibition Trailer
From Here to There is supported, in part, by The New York Community Trust.
Exhibitions and Arts & Culture Lecture Programs at Japan Society are made possible, in part, by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund, the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, Raphael and Jane Bernstein, Friends of Gallery, and anonymous donors. Support for Arts & Culture Lecture Programs is provided, in part, by the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund.
Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the exclusive Japanese airline sponsor of Gallery.
Images: Hanako Murakami Imaginary Landscapes, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist, © Hanako Murakami; Nobutaka Aozaki Grocery Portraits #3 (Dekalb Ave & Wyckoff Ave, Ridgewood, Queens, NY), 2019 Archival pigment print and found shopping list, Photography by Reggie Shiobara, Image courtesy of the artist, © Nobutaka Aozaki; Aki Sasamoto Phase Transition, January 2020, Performance/installation, Danspace Project, NYC, Photography by Ian Douglas, © Aki Sasamoto. Photography by Andrew Kist. Image courtesy of the Whitney Museum © Nobutaka Aozaki; Photography by Tomoya Miura. Image courtesy of Minatomachi Art Table, Nagoya [MAT, Nagoya]; Hanako Murakami, Imaginary Landscapes, 2020 © Hanako Murakami; © Hanako Murakami; Aki Sasamoto, Phase Transition, January 2020, Danspace Project, NYC. Photography by Ian Douglas © Aki Sasamoto.
 |
Exhibitions and Arts & Culture Lecture Programs at Japan Society are made possible, in part, by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund, the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, Raphael and Jane Bernstein, Friends of Gallery, and anonymous donors. Support for Arts & Culture Lecture Programs is provided, in part, by the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund.
Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the exclusive Japanese airline sponsor of Gallery.
 |