The Aichi Triennale Had a Lot of Problems. A New Government Report Reflects on What Went Wrong

A government-appointed review board has harshly criticized the
organizers of the 2019 Aichi Triennale, which made headlines around
the world for temporarily closing an exhibition that was itself themed
around the issue of censorship. The closure came after an outcry
regarding a sculpture in the show by Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung
that spotlighted the history of “comfort women” in Japan during
WWII.

A six-person review panel, led by Toshio Yamanashi, director of
the National Museum of Art, in Osaka, found that while the removal
of the sculpture was the right way to deal with threats over the
artwork, there were numerous faults with the way the exhibition was
organized, reports the Japan Times. The exhibition was ultimately reopened after a legal challenge
and a pledge by some artists to remove or alter their works in
protest. The Triennale took place August 1 to October 14 in Nagoya
and nearby cities.

The authors of the report have called for a thorough examination
and revision of procedures for organizing the Triennale. Aichi’s
governor, Hideaki Omura, who headed the Triennale’s steering
committee, said, as quoted in the Japan Times, that “we will
sincerely accept the proposals, and work toward the next triennale
by gaining local residents’ understanding.” The panel also found
fault in the curation of the censorship-themed exhibition, pointing
out that while the concept initially was to show works that had
been censored in public museums, it also included new works that
had never fallen victim to suppression.

Artistic director and journalist Daisuke Tsuda, says the report,
was given considerable power, but, the authors maintain, there was
no system of checks and balances in place. The report also saw
insufficient communication between Tsuda and the curators and other
administrators.

The report did not, on the other hand, find fault with the
handling of the highly controversial artwork.

Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung’s Statue of Peace (2011),
a life-size sculpture of a seated woman, depicts the so-called
“comfort women,” who were in fact forced into sexual slavery to the
occupying Japanese military before and during World War II. The
curators said in a statement at the time that the work’s removal would
constitute “the worst censorship incident in Japan’s postwar
period.”

The sculpture was included in the show “After ‘Freedom of
Expression?’” which was part of the Triennale and took place at the
Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art in the city of Nagoya. The
exhibition was closed in the wake of menacing messages, including
one that promised to burn the museum down. The review panel deemed
the closure of the show “unavoidable.” In the panel’s view, this
“did not comprise an unwarranted restriction on freedom of
expression.”

Artnet reached out to Toshio Yamanashi and Daisuke Tsuda but did
not receive an immediate reply.

The issue of sexual slavery has been a flash point for years.
The government has in the past issued apologies, but in 2007, prime
minister Shinzo Abe denied that there was any evidence that the
Japanese had enslaved women, only to later say he would not
reconsider previous apologies by previous officials. Nagoya Mayor
Takashi Kawamura has objected to the presence of the artwork in the
Triennale, since it constitutes an ackowledgement that Japan had
indeed forced the women into sexual slavery.

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Government Report Reflects on What Went Wrong appeared first on
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