An exquisite kesa (Buddhist ritual mantle) next to a minimal kimono made of knotted rope; imposing samurai armour next to videos of the performances Umbrella dance and In the garden; nineteenth-century woodcut prints in dialogue with photographs of kabuki actors: in the new setup of MAO’s Japanese Gallery, which pairs objects from the permanent collection with works by the Japanese artist Kazuko Miyamoto (Tokyo, 1942), different periods and languages co-exist, offering distant but kindred points of view on recurrent and stratified themes and symbols.
Contemporary Monogatari: new japanese narratives, which opens to the public on 13 December, is curated by the museum’s director, Davide Quadrio, and the MAO staff and was realised in close collaboration with the director of the Museo Madre, Naples, Eva Fabbris. The exhibition explores the artistic practice of Kazuko Miyamoto in dialogue with the spaces and works on view on the second floor of MAO’s Japanese Gallery.In this exhibition, the present infiltrates a constellation made up of objects from the past that, thanks to this cross-influence, find new life and new possible meanings.
MAO would like to thank Eva Fabbris and the Museo Madre, Naples.We thank the Estate of the Artist, Cuomo Collection, Marilena Bonomo Collection, Alessandra Bonomo Gallery, EXILE Gallery and all collectors who wish to remain anonymous for their generous loans.
Contemporary Monogatari is included in the permanent collection ticket, buy it online.
