The exhibition Haori. Men’s Clothing from the Early Twentieth Century Tells the Story of Japan opens on 12 April, offering a unique window onto Japanese material culture through about 50 haori and juban (the garments worn over and under men’s kimonos, respectively), as well as a few pieces of traditional children’s clothing, from the Manavello collection, in dialogue with installations by contemporary artists.
The exhibition is unprecedented in Italy and indeed Europe, and is therefore an absolute first amongst exhibitions devoted to the art of the Far East.
The imagery that decorates the garments on view is not only an example of fine workmanship, but also a document and attestation that provides insight into Japan in the early twentieth century, a critical period of social, cultural and political transformation, between accelerated modernisation and imperialist tensions. Works by contemporary artists are presented within the exhibition to stimulate analysis and reflection, encouraging visitors to orient themselves within a historical period of complex relationships between Japan, China and Korea that is still little-known in Italy.
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The new exhibition Hanauri. The Japan of the Flower Sellers, part of the project for the refresh of the Japanese gallery, is devoted to the practice of artist Linda Fregni Nagler, who was also at MAO last November, when she performed Things that Death Cannot Destroy.
In conjunction with Artissima, MAO is opening the second edition of Contemporary Expressions / Declinazioni Contemporanee. This programme of artist residencies and site-specific commissions uses contemporary art as a means for interpreting, re-reading and showcasing the museum’s collection, descending on the present to discover new meanings and connections between different periods and cultures.
The works by Marzia Migliora, Kengo Kuma, Lee Mingwei and Francesco Simeti presented in 2023 will be joined this year by installations by Qiu Zhijie and Charwei Tsai, and Patrick Tuttofuoco’s Ultraworld, a light project made for MAO’s facade that will be part of Costellazione, a fringe section of Luci d’Artista.
