Welcome, Stranger, to this place

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Client:  Tokyo University of the Arts

           Graduate School of Global Arts 

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For the last few decades, within the flourishing biennial culture, the art world was praising artists as sort of wandering nomads who question the sense of belonging as an essential element for self-determination. Yet, with new travel restrictions, the current health crisis forces us to revise the "virtue" of being uprooted. In the new circumstances, while Governments throughout the world promote the benefits of local tourism, artists revise their strategies, try to understand if there are any new ways to respond to global issues without leaving your home. The world is rearranging along its central lines and it feels like there is no need anymore to go far to gain a new perspective on things since the global pandemic is changing people's perception of used-to-be common issues. We feel displaced from our familiar environment, and quite sensitive to the new one. We are all new to this, all strangers to the place. However uncomfortable it may be, this defamiliarization helps us to see what was obscured by daily routine. So, welcome...

This exhibition is planned and organized by the students of the Department of Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices, Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, as a part of the class of Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices Seminar: Curation I, under the supervision of Professor Yuko Hasegawa.