‘We Can Make Another Future’
Sep 2014 -
Sep 2015

‘We Can Make Another Future: Japanese Art After 1989’ surveys the art of Heisei, the current era in the Japanese imperial calendar, through 100 works by over 40 contemporary Japanese artists.
Increasingly cosmopolitan in character and operating with an unprecedented level of international mobility, the art of this period offers a sophisticated reflection on the social conditions behind art’s production in Japan.
Beginning in 1989, Heisei has seen significant challenges for Japan, but it has also been the period of ‘Cool Japan’, with widespread international interest in Japan’s contemporary cultural production. As well as 25 years of Heisei, this also marks 25 years of the Gallery’s public engagement with the contemporary art of Japan.
‘We Can Make Another Future’ profiles several overlapping themes for this fascinating period in Japanese art. The exhibition explores the emergence of the digital sublime; responses to the rich field of consumer culture and new technologies of representation and communication; and critiques of national and sexual identity through figuration and performance.
‘We Can Make Another Future: Japanese Art After 1989’ was on display in GOMA’s Gallery 3.1 and 3.2 from 6 September 2014 to 20 September 2015. The exhibition catalogue is available at the QAGOMA Store.
Feature image: Works by (l–r) Yasumasa Morimura, Masami Teraoka (© The artists) and Takashi Murakami (© Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki) installed for ‘We Can Make Another Future’, GOMA, December 2014 / Collection: QAGOMA / Photograph: M Sherwood, QAGOMA
Collection artworks featured in ‘We Can Make Another Future’

69YK 2009
- ARAKI, Nobuyoshi - Creator

30 no news 1994
- AY-O - Creator

KI-AI 100 2011
- Chim↑Pom - Creator

I am a rock 2012
- KASHIKI, Tomoko - Creator

Self portrait #3 1989
- KON, Michiko - Creator

Soul under the moon 2002
- KUSAMA, Yayoi - Creator

With Winds 1990
- LEE Ufan - Creator

In Milano 2 1992
- LEE Ufan - Creator

In Milano 5 1992
- LEE Ufan - Creator

Relatum 2002
- LEE Ufan - Creator

Blinded by the light 1991
- MORIMURA, Yasumasa - Creator

Shinjuku 2004, printed 2014
- MORIYAMA, Daido - Creator

DOB Wall Painting Plan 1996
- MURAKAMI, Takashi - Creator

Project KO2 1998
- MURAKAMI, Takashi - Creator

namenlos/Licht 1998
- NAITO, Rei - Creator

Onogami village, Gunma 1994
- SHIBATA, Toshio - Creator

Notice - Forest 2006
- TERUYA, Yuken - Creator

Protoplasm #0926 1992
- YANAI, Tsuguo - Creator

Y.N.G.M.S. (Y.N.G.'s Mobile Studio) 2009
- YNG (Yoshitomo Nara and graf) - Collaborative group
- NARA, Yoshitomo - Artist
- graf - Design firm

1-5 1988
- YOSHIZAWA, Mika - Creator

Untitled - (In)different 1994
- KASAHARA, Emiko - Creator

Nonhuman crossing 2013
- KAZAMA, Sachiko - Creator

Pumpkin 1992
- KUSAMA, Yayoi - Creator

In Milano 1 1992
- LEE Ufan - Creator

In Milano 4 1992
- LEE Ufan - Creator

Stopped on the way #2 2001
- LEE Ufan - Creator

Doublonnage (Marcel) 1988
- MORIMURA, Yasumasa - Creator

pillow for the dead 1998
- NAITO, Rei - Creator

O 2009
- SAWA, Hiraki - Creator

Woods III 1991-92
- TOYA, Shigeo - Creator

Passage (series) 2011
- ASAKAI, Yoko - Creator

Eating grass 2011
- KASHIKI, Tomoko - Creator

Infinity nets 2000
- KUSAMA, Yayoi - Creator

Kikochi (A port of call) no. 4 1991
- LEE Ufan - Creator

In Milano 3 1992
- LEE Ufan - Creator

Correspondance 2001
- LEE Ufan - Creator

Time landscape 1993
- MIYAJIMA, Tatsuo - Creator

S.M.PKO2 [Second Mission Project KO2] 1999
- MURAKAMI, Takashi - Artist
- AOSHIMA, Chiho - Collaborating artist

Girl on a boat 1996
- NARA, Yoshitomo - Creator

PixCell-Double Deer#4 2010
- NAWA, Kohei - Creator

Fluxus balance (portfolio) 1993
- SHIOMI, Mieko - Creator

Landscape in silence 1996
- TSUCHIYA, Kimio - Creator

Moon 1996
- TSUCHIYA, Kimio - Creator

Protoplasm #0935 1993
- YANAI, Tsuguo - Creator
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