2021 exhibition schedule

The Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art is celebrating its 1st anniversary in 2021, following a three year renovation project. Through the joint design and supervision of architects Jun Aoki and Tezzo Nishizawa, the original building, familiar for over 80 years, has been conserved and put to full use, implementing repairs for wear and tear over long years of use and updating to meet the needs of today. The building has been lauded in art and architecture journals and in Japanese and international travel magazines, and has won a number of architecture and design awards. The building has also become a popular film backdrop.  Moreover, the building’s increased light-filled public spaces are attractive to visitors and have contributed to the building becoming a popular destination.

An advance reservation system initiated in response to COVID-19 remains in place as of this writing (November 2020). Additionally, changes in the opening year line-up included postponement of a planned Andy Warhol exhibition that was to be one of the highlights of the 2020 schedule. Things got off to a good start, however, with the Hiroshi Sugimoto − Post Vitam inaugural exhibition installed at the Higashiyama Cube, the new wing for contemporary art. 

Art critic Noi Sawaragi, known for his incisive analysis of contemporary art, has been invited as curatorial supervisor for the exhibition Bubbles/Debris: Art of the Heisei Period 1989–2019 at Higashiyama Cube early next year. The exhibition focuses on art of the Heisei Period (1989–2019), a time of repeated unprecedented disasters and economic stagnation in Japan. In order to explore Japanese artist and art groups’ response to the circumstances of the Heisei Period, Sawaragi carefully selected 14 artists and art groups to include in the exhibition. The exhibition keywords are “bubbles” and “debris.” This exhibition displays rare works, including documents and materials of Chim↑Pom, Geisai, AI and others. Takashi Murakami‘s Kaikai Kiki sponsors Geisai, an annual Japanese Pop Art fair that attracts over ten thousand participant artists. The Artificial Intelligence Art and Aesthetics Research Group that explores AI (artificial intelligence) aesthetics and AI’s ability to create its own art, is also participating. For more information and artist details.  

In 2021, in commemoration of its 1st anniversary, the Museum is presenting, for the first time in half a century, a retrospective exhibition of master Kyoto female artist Shoen Uemura (1875-1949). The comprehensive Kyoto Modern Architecture exhibition (provisional title), with a plan for a walking tour of Kyoto architecture will also be presented. Also planned is a solo exhibition of paintings by appropriation artist Yasumasa Morimura (1951-), active for more than 35 years as an artist visualizing the intersection of personal identity and world history through diverse portraits of himself impersonating figures of different gender and race. THE Doraemon Exhibition KYOTO 2021, previously postponed because of COVID-19, will be presented in the summer of 2021. It features works by contemporary artists on the theme of the iconic character Doraemon that has delighted children worldwide for over 50 years. Exhibitions featuring Ana Miyaki, Shunsuke Kano, and Aya Kawato are planned for The Triangle, a space dedicated to exhibiting works by emerging contemporary Kyoto artists. Click here for the 2021 schedule and details. 

In 2021, the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art will continue to envision the evolving intersection of tradition and innovation in Kyoto culture by introducing modern and contemporary fine art, anime, architecture, and many other genres.