Exhibitions and Events

Period	November 23, 2019 (Sat) -  November 23, 2019 (Sat)
Place	Auditorium, Heiseikan, Tokyo National Museum
Time	Starts at 1:00 p.m. (Venue opens at 12:30 p.m.)
Fee	Free (Note that an admission ticket, etc. for the same day is required.)
Registration	Prior registration is required (first come, first served). Applications are accepted via the registration form or by fax. The registration form can be found here. *If the venue has not yet reached capacity, attendees will be able to register on the day.

　

This event has ended. Thank you to the many attendees.

Central government policies related to cultural properties are said to have reached a major turning point in recent years, as exemplified by the amendment of the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties from the perspective of the preservation and utilization of cultural properties, as well as the positioning of the role of cultural properties in promoting policies for a tourism-oriented country. It is under these circumstances that the National Center for the Promotion of Cultural Properties (CPCP) was established within the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage in 2018.

The CPCP defines the utilization of cultural properties as giving many people opportunities to become familiar with cultural properties and has focused on reproductions of cultural properties as one effective method of achieving this.
Most Japanese cultural properties are made of fragile materials, and although there are expectations for their active utilization in exhibitions, this is currently difficult from the standpoint of preservation. However, reproductions enable exhibition without any restrictions on duration or venue, as well as methods of use not feasible with the original cultural properties. Furthermore, it might be suggested that dramatic advances in digital technology nowadays are drawing more information and appeal than ever out of cultural properties in the process of creating reproductions and changing the experience of viewing reproductions both qualitatively and semantically.

By reaching a wide audience through unprecedented methods of use, can sophisticated reproductions made using advanced technology even further convey the appeal of the original cultural properties? In this symposium, key figures in various positions will give presentations about “reproductions of cultural properties” and discuss the possibilities and future unlocked by their “utilization.”

Program

Masato Matsushima　Head of Planning, National Center for the Promotion of Cultural Properties

At the Tokyo National Museum, he is involved in exhibitions of the permanent collection and special exhibition projects based on research and studies on the history of Japanese painting. He has worked on interactive exhibits, reproductions of cultural properties, and high-definition video projects, including the creation of reproduced paintings beginning with fifty paintings on the interior walls and sliding doors of the Tokyo National Museum’s Okyokan teahouse (DNP’s “Denshobi” project) in 2007 and the National Treasure Pine Forest (Canon Inc. and the Kyoto Culture Association) in 2008; the VR programs “Scenes in and around Kyoto (Funaki Version) and Iwasa Matabei” (2013) and “Secrets of Screen Paintings: Wind God and Thunder God and Flowering Plants of Summer and Autumn” (2019) shown at the TNM & TOPPAN Museum Theater; the 3D projection-mapped work “KARAKURI Scenes in and around Kyoto” (NAKED, INC., 2013); and the exhibitions “Family Gallery: Diving into Screen Paintings: A New Way to Experience Japanese Art” (2017) and “Family Gallery: TNM and Art Tunes! Present: Becoming Japanese Art” (2018).

Tomoyuki Okouchi　Chief Curator, Wakayama Prefectural Museum

A researcher of Japanese art history specializing in sculptures such as Buddhist and Shinto statues. At the Wakayama Prefectural Museum, he has organized exhibitions with a focus on local spiritual traditions, including “History and Culture of Nachisan, Kumano” (2006), “Moving Images of Buddhas” (2010), “At the Base of Koyasan: Forms of Prayer” (2012), “A Journey to Sacred Kumano” (2014), and “Perspectives on Buddhist and Shinto Statues” (2019). Through activities such as creating reproductions of cultural properties using 3D printers, which he began with students at Wakayama Technical High School in 2010, as well as implementing universal design in museum exhibits through touchable replicas of cultural properties and creating “substitute Buddha statues” to be installed in temples and shrines in depopulated areas as a measure against theft and disasters, he continues to experiment with ways to expand the framework of museum activities. He has a Ph.D. in literature and also hosts the website “Kanbutsu Zanmai” (www.kanbutuzanmai.com), which publishes information about exhibitions and public showings of Buddhist images.

Eitsugu Osugi　President, Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Born in 1955. From Shiga Prefecture. He graduated from the Faculty of Business Administration at Kyoto Sangyo University in 1978. In 1979, he joined Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co., Ltd. After being appointed as an Executive Officer in 2006 and as Director/MEO/Head of Sales in 2011, he assumed the office of President in 2012. In recent years, the company has become involved in creating reproductions of cultural properties, etc. using ceramics, with achievements including reproductions of murals from the Kitora Tomb (Agency for Cultural Affairs) in 2010 and of the National Treasure Vessel with a Flame-Like Rim (Tokamachi City) in 2018. The Otsuka Museum of Art (Naruto City), which displays over 1,000 full-sized replicas of Western paintings on ceramic panels, will celebrate its twenty-first anniversary in 2019. The company received the Prime Minister’s Award at the Seventh Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Awards in 2018.

Akira Yamaguchi　Artist

Born in 1969 in Tokyo, he grew up in Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture. In 1996, he received an M.F.A. in oil painting from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (now Tokyo University of the Arts). His work is characterized by his combination of a traditional Japanese painting style with oil painting techniques, working across a wide range of media including paintings, sculptures, comics, and installations. His recent exhibitions include “TOKIORE (I)MIX” (Ginza Maison Hermès, 2012), “YAMAGUCHI Akira: Stepping Back to Seek the Underneath” (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, 2015), and “Resonating Surfaces” (Daiwa Foundation Japan House Gallery, London, UK, 2018). In 2013, he won the Hideo Kobayashi award for his book A History of Strange Japanese Art (Shodensha Publishing Co., Ltd.). He painted the background used for the opening credits of the 2019 NHK historical drama series IDATEN: The Epic Marathon to Tokyo. He currently draws the comic Shuto serialized in the monthly magazine Morning Two.