An Intersection of Art and Ordinary Objects

Speakers: Nicolas Trembley, Ishizuka Genta, Sugaya Tomio

After rapid globalization resulted in increased personal connections, followed by fragmentation through COVID-19, there is now renewed interest in the familiar, and in ordinary daily life. A focus on the beauty of crafts in everyday life, a rethinking of contemporary art and craft through folk crafts that strongly reflect local culture, and promotion of a renewed awareness of beauty will surely help to cross borders and overlook the value differences between cultures and fields.
This talk presents two curators with international perspectives on exhibition planning for folk art and contemporary art: Nicolas Trembley, in conversation with Kyoto-based lacquerware artist and Loewe Craft Prize 2019 Grand Prize winner Ishizuka Genta and Sugaya Tomio, Director of Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka. They will talk about the potential of crafts and folk crafts that connect us with art in our everyday lives.

Speakers:
Nicolas Trembley (Curator/Art Critic/Adviser)
Ishizuka Genta (Artist)
Sugaya Tomio (Director, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)

Speaker’s Profiles
　

Nicolas Trembley

Nicolas Trembley is an art critic, curator and advisor based between Paris and Geneva. He is currently the Syz collection director for contemporary art. He collaborated with various institutions, Mamco, Geneva, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Le Consortium, Dijon or Musée Guimet, Paris and writes for different magazine like Numero. He is interested in the interactions between craft and contemporary art as well as exhibition displays.

Trembley organized a series of exhibitions related to the japanese Mingei movement, particularly calling into question its legacy in contemporary art. “Mingei: Are You Here?” in 2013/14 at Pace gallery London and New York, “Mingei Now” at Sokyo Gallery, Kyoto, 2019, “The Mingei” at Taka Ishii Gallery, Hong Kong, 2020 and “Mingei Asia Now” at la Monnaie de Paris in 2022.
He recently curated “Ceramics by Wifredo Lam” in 2022 at the Musée Guimet, the National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris and the group show ‘CRAFT’ in 2023 at Galerie Francesca Pia.

He has been appointed as the Craft curator for Art Paris fair 2024.
His book “Keramikos” published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, was awarded the most beautiful Swiss book in 2021. He is currently working on a book on his craft related practice.

Ishizuka Genta

Born in Kyoto in1982, he went to London to study as an exchange student at Royal College of Arts in 2006. He gained a masterʼs degree in Urushi Lacquering from Kyoto City University of Arts in 2008. He has contributed to exhibition including ʼVisionaries: Making Another Perspectiveʼ at Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art (2023), ʻthe 4th Triennale of KOGEI in Kanazawa (KOGEI as Contemporary Craft: Transcending Boundaries)ʼ at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2019), ʻHard Bodiesʼ at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, America (2017). In 2019 He became winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize and awarded the Best Young Award from the City of Kyoto.

Web: Ishizuka Genta

Sugaya Tomio

Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1958. Served as curator at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park and at the Osaka City Museum of Modern Art Planning Office before being appointed deputy director of the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka Planning Office in 2017. Has held his current position since 2019. In charge of supervising the establishment of the new museum, as well as the fields of modern design, photography, and contemporary art. Also actively engaged in criticism and commentary in these fields. Has organized major exhibitions, including Discovering Osaka, City of Art (1997) and The Age of Hayakawa Yoshio (2002). Co-authored books include Approaches to Urban Design (1998) and Critical Words for Design History (2006).

Web: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka

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Talk’s archive
https://youtu.be/b8JMnKPZFa0