wamono art proudly presents a visual project to preserve a record of the historic exhibition Japon des Avant Gardes 1910-1970, held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from December 1986 to March 1987, together with Aomi Okabe, a renowned art critic and curator from Japan. This project delves deeply into the exhibition through interviews with Aomi, who was the only Japanese commissioner (curator) of the Centre Pompidou side of this show, alongside valuable documentary footage she captured.

In France in the 1980s, interest in contemporary Japan was growing due to the impact of the Comme des Garçons fashion show held in Paris in 1981. To understand contemporary Japan, there was a need to comprehensively unravel the events that shaped modern Japan. Therefore, this exhibition dynamically explored the period from 1910 to 1970 in Japan from an interdisciplinary perspective, covering creative activities including art, architecture, design, literature, and music. 

Portions of this recorded footage have previously been shown in lectures at the Mori Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. However, this time, wamono art will present a newly edited version, featuring commentary by Aomi Okabe.

Aomi Okabe

Art critic, curator, artistic director of exhibitions at Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris until 2020, and director of the International Department of the Committee for ‘Ueno, a Global Capital of Culture’ until 2021. Aomi Okabe was a professor at Musashino Art University for 12 years and a visiting researcher at New York University. Her curatorial achievements include co-commissioner of le Japon des avant-gardes 1910-1970 at Centre Pompidou (1986); curator of Georges Rousse, Hanshin Art Project (1995) and Georges Rousse in Miyagi (2013); Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi; Rei Naito; Tomoko Yoneda; Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Paris – Oscar Oiwa; Makiko Tanaka; Camille Fontaine; contact Gonzo; and José María Sicilia and Metal Silence – Cristina Lucas and Fernando Sánchez Castillo. Her publications include Art, Women and Images – Glocal Women.

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