Summary
“Reinterpretation” is an act of disobedience, a reversal of the established symbolic order and, like acts of decolonisation, an expression of opposition to the universalist language imposed by the centre, an attempt to incorporate areas of the colonial periphery into its territories. Reinterpretation can, in the end, serve as a restoration of a voice to the hitherto excluded, deictimised spheres. And following the words of Egyptian writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi, today “what we require is not a formal return to tradition and religion, but a rereading, a reinterpretation, of our history that can illuminate the present and pave the way to a better future”.
In order to emphasise this possibility of reinterpreting the multiplicity and subjectivity of those outside the privileged centre and to move away from the common Westsplaining, we invited artists primarily from outside the so-called ‘Anglosphere’.
The artists invited to the exhibition reread these acts of disobedience to pragmatic unitarianism in favour of multiplicity, poetic tenderness and communal solidarity, rooted in both Romantic ideas and postcolonial critique. In their reinterpretation activities, they show new possible readings of issues related to contemporary historical revisionism, the ever-recurring imperial terror, questions of individual and national identity, the nature of regime propaganda or the post-colonial history of the history of the ‘colonised colonisers’.
An identical perspective can also be found in 19th century Romantic thought, its experience of alienation of the individual, trauma, failure, exposing the value of lack and constructing a vision of culture based on a spiritual and moral order, differentiated, open to what is different, a dimension of the formation of humanity, and a radical critique of modern culture.
The artists give voice – literally and figuratively – to groups and communities excluded from the social order, as when they invite them to participate in collective karaoke projects, collect and share transformative and polysemic folk tales, or when they symbolically include former monuments in the debate on the rights of female domestic workers.
Through these expressions, they re-read history, gender, anarchism, mysticism and romanticism, inviting ‘new interpretations (re-interpretations)’ that go beyond existing frameworks and interpretations.
Cooperation: Tatsuno Corporation
Associated organization: the Semba Art Site Project.
Event
Sunflower Solidarity Community Center 《Emergency Kiosk》 Performance
Discover the truth and start decolonisation on Malanka Day with Ukrainian food and fortune-telling.
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 17.30-19.00
Performers: Sunflower Solidarity Community Center (（Yulia Krivich, Taras Gembik）, Marta Romankiv , Taras Gembik)
Venue: 5F Senba Excel Building
Artists & Curators Talk ‘Re Interpretation’ exhibition
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 13.00-15.00
Venue: Semba Excel Building
‘Sing karaoke with Kolektyw Łaski!’
Songs in Japanese, English, Ukrainian and Polish! Let’s start a revolution with our singing voices!
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 16.00-18.00, 1/29 Sun. 16.00-19.00
Performers: Kolektyw Łaski (Julia Golachowska, Jagoda Kwiatkowska, Anna Shimomura)
Venue: Semba Excel Building 4F
Aung Myat Htay workshop
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 16.30-18.30
Facilitator: Aung Myat Htay
Venue: 3F Semba Excel Building
https://peatix.com/event/3478243
Study: 2023 Curators talk
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 19.00-20.00
Speakers: NANJO Fumio (Curator/Art Critic/Special Advisor for Mori Art Museum), KASUYA Akiko, KUTSUNA Miwa, TANBARA Kensho, Paweł Pawchalek (a curator of this art festival), YABUMOTO Yuto (Production Zomia), SUZUKI Daisuke (CEO, ARTLOGUE Inc.)
*Speakers are subject to change.
Venue: 2F Semba Excel Building
Kamagasaki University of the Arts 2022
Art and Kamagei(Kamagasaki University of the Arts), Unravel the Artistry of Kamagei
Dates： 1/29 Sun. 14.00-16.30
1: Asylum and Marginal Art
Speakers: FUKUZUMI Ren (art critic), UEDA Kanayo (poet)
Moderator: AKITA Kouki (Deputy Chief Priest, Dairenji Temple)
2: Anarchism and Marginal Art
Speakers: UEDA Kanayo (poet), 1 guest speaker Moderator: YABUMOTO Yuto (President, Aura Contemporary Art Foundation)
Co-organised by: Akita University of Art, Composite Arts Conference Programme
Venue Semba Excel Building 6F
reserve: https://peatix.com/event/3472824/view?k=e6459a335390064ac1b4617de79c405b8519052d
Artist Talk, KOMATSU Kazumichi
Dates: 2/13 Sun. 19.00-20.00
Speaker: KOMATSU Kazumichi
Venue: 5F Semba Excel Building
Curator
KASUYA Akiko, PACHCIAREK Paweł, Production Zomia
Artists
AKIYAMA Yui, Aung Myat Htay, Aung Myint, Bogna Burska, Daniel Koniusz, Kolektyw Łaski, KOMATSU Kazumichi, MAEDA Kohei, Marta Romankiv, Mikołaj Sobczak, Taras Gembik, Tuan Mami, Yulia Krivich
Venue