石原慎太郎が現代美術を侮辱 2

Cartier opens major modern art exhibition in Tokyo
Fri Apr 21, 9:46 AM ET
AFP

The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art on Saturday will kick off in Tokyo its biggest exhibition overseas with works by 32 artists including France's Raymond Depardon and American Nan Goldin.

The Paris-based foundation has amassed a major collection since it was set up by the luxury goods maker in 1984, boasting 1,500 works by 350 artists, some of which will be on show until July 2 at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art.

But Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, a former novelist known for his blunt and nationalist remarks, took the opportunity to denigrate modern art.

Speaking at an inaugural function Thursday evening, Ishihara told the crowd of 2,000 people that contemporary art was "crap" and praised Japanese culture as better than that of the West, according to several witnesses.

Among the prominent works on display include Ron Mueck's "In Bed," a seven-meter (23-foot) long sculpture representing a woman lying down and fellow Australian Marc Newson's airplane made of aluminum and composite materials.

After Tokyo, the exhibition goes on to Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.

"This is the first time in our history that we are showing such a vast exhibition from our collection" overseas, curator Helene Kelmachter told reporters. "The most outstanding works have been selected."

Depardon will show silent three- to five-minute films in which he walks alone through the world's great cities with a 16-millimeter camera rolling.

The 63-year-old former photojournalist said Tokyo remained at the top of his list of subjects.

"Tokyo is the world's most photogenic city as there are always new things," he said.

"It's an immensely rich city, one of the only ones where residents could just loaf about but nonetheless they don't," he said.

Depardon said it was also one of the easiest cities to work in.

"When Japanese women see me filming they would love to know why, but they seem to be held back by their customs from talking to a stranger on the street," he said.

In contrast, New York has become a much more difficult place to film.

"Cities change. New York used to be a very liberal city but it's been getting paranoid since the September 11, 2001 attacks," Depardon said.

"Twenty years ago, I was used to taking photos from a taxi," he said of New York. "Now it's hard. You can't even photograph bridges."

♪　太字は引用者

Tokios Bürgermeister: Moderne Kunst ist "Mist"
Freitag 21. April 2006, 17:41 Uhr

Tokio (AFP) - Tokios Bürgermeister Shintaro Ishihara hat moderne Kunst pauschal als "Mist" bezeichnet. Der 73-Jährige pries bei einem Empfang vor 2000 Gästen zur Eröffnung einer Kunstausstellung der Cartier-Stiftung gleichzeitig die japanische Kultur als überlegen im Vergleich zu der des Westens, wie mehrere Teilnehmer berichteten. Erst im vergangenen Juli hatte Ishihara bei der Einweihung eines Universitätsgebäudes Französisch als misslungene Sprache bezeichnet, "die nicht einmal zählen kann".

Die Cartier-Stiftung mit Sitz in Paris stellt in Tokio ab Samstag 1500 Werke von 350 modernen Künstlern aus, darunter Ron Muecks Sieben-Meter-Skulptur "In Bed", die eine überdimensionale, liegende Frau zeigt. Im Tokioter Museum für moderne Kunst ist die Ausstellung bis zum 2. Juli zu sehen. Danach geht sie nach Sao Paulo und Buenos Aires.



石原慎太郎が現代美術を侮辱 - リベラシオン紙