CSULB and Gabriel Ritter Host "Out of Doubt: Japanese Art Post 3/11"

February 18, 2014

CSULB and JAG MRG host Gabriel Ritter are proud to host a CLA Scholarly Intersections Event titled “Out of Doubt: Japanese Art Post 3/11” on March 13.

Screen Shot 2014-02-18 at 1.09.33 PMThree years after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, many coastal communities in the Tōhoku area still remain completely destroyed. While cleanup efforts have removed the vast amounts of debris, and rebuilding has begun in earnest, many cities remain abandoned with over 300,000 people displaced nationwide. However, it is the ongoing crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that poses the biggest challenge to Japan going forward. With a 20km evacuation zone still in effect, constant news reports of radioactive leaks, and monitoring food for radioactive contamination now commonplace, the realities of post 3/11 Japan are quite sobering. With the nuclear plant’s effects likely to last for decades to come, artists have taken it upon themselves to address the complex socioeconomic and political issues surrounding the disaster, the chaos of its immediate aftermath, and the uncertain future that awaits the nation. For many young artists, the nuclear disaster weighs heavily on their minds, finding its way into their work in provocative ways. This presentation will touch on the diverse practices of artists including Chiba Masaya, ChimPom, Endo Ichiro, Kazama Sachiko, Niwa Yoshinori, Tanaka Koki, and others.

Gabriel Ritter is the Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. This talk builds on his work co-curating the exhibition Roppongi Crossing 2013: OUT OF DOUBT at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. For questions, please email Dr. Jordan Smith at Jordan.Smith@csulb.edu