KAWAGUCHI YukiyaKAWAGUCHI Yukiya
Department of Cultural Research・Associate Professor

Research Specialization

Individual Research Projects

• Research on the Representation of African Contemporary Art
• Research on Display and the Museum: How Diverse Can They Be?

Personal website

Academic Qualifications:

• B.A. Tokyo University (History of Art) 1981
• M.A. Tokyo University (Historyof Art) 1984

Research Topics:

African contemporary art, cultural representation through display

Recent Research Interests:

One of my main interests is African Contemporary Art, particularly how it is produced, represented and consumed both inside and outside of Africa. In this context, even the notion of art is not necessarily self-evident in terms of its universality and neutrality. In addition, political and power structures of representing African history and cultures through the narrative of art will be put to the question together with those of the media supporting this system of narrative.

Another interest is display as the medium of flaunting power and properties. When I say display I mean not only that of museums but various types of displays; wares display in department stores and supermarkets, buildings themselves, appearance of cities, ceremonies and rituals, military power, fashion etc. What do they intend to show? And what are we, the viewers, forced to see?

I think today it is the time for us to have a general reinspection on display , a style of representation, which has been systematically developped in the modern Europe. Museums should be radically reviewed in this aspect, too.

Geographical Areas of Interest:

Sub-Sahara Africa and others

Discipline:

Art history

Publications:

2011

“A Fateful Journey: A Curator’s Perspective”, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, 28, pp.106-112.

2006

The Introduction of African Art in Postwar Japan: A Historical Overview. Africa Remix, pp.3–12. Tokyo: Mori Art Museum.

2005

Y. Kawaguchi and K. Yoshida (eds.) SYMPOSIUM AFRICA 2001, Representing African Art and Cultures (Senri Ethnological Reports 54), National Museum of Ethnology.

2004

The Reception of African Art in Japan after the Second World War: Its Historical Overview. Afrika Remix: Zeitgenössische Kunst Eines Kontinents, pp.282–295. Düsseldorf: Museum Kunst Palast.

2000

A History Inside or Outside?: African Contemporary Art after 1989. In C.C. Aniakor and C.K. Ikwuemesi (eds.) Crossroads:Africa in the Twilight, The National Gallery of Art, Nigeria, pp.117–121. Nigeria: Pan-African Circle of Artists.