103rd metaPhorest Seminar
Friday, December 13th, 2024, 19:00-21:00
103rd metaPhorest Seminar: Ryota Matsunaga (+ AKI INOMATA)
This event will be primarily in Japanese, but questions and comments in English are also welcome.
For the 103rd metaPhorest Seminar on December 20, metaPhorest member AKI INOMATA will host conservator Ryota Matsunaga.
Date and Time/Location
Friday, December 6th, 2024, 19:00-21:00
Waseda University Research Facility for Advanced Biomedical Sciences (TWIns), 3rd Floor, Seminar Room 3
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wy23SqPPMo3P7V8JA
ONLINE
This seminar can also be held online. Zoom Link
Conserving Contemporary Art: Can One Step into the Same River Twice?
Conservation is generally understood as the practice of protecting works of art from damage and deterioration, and, when necessary, repairing them so that they may be passed on to future generations. In contemporary art, however, where virtually any form of expression is possible, determining what constitutes damage and what exactly should be preserved is far from straightforward.
For example, is it possible to preserve bio-media artworks that never take the same form twice? What does it mean to “preserve a work” in a world that is constantly changing?
Drawing on a range of examples, this talk will explore the fundamental nature of conservation and examine how preservation can be understood in relation to artworks that evolve, transform, or resist material stability.
Ryota Matsunaga
Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1992, Ryota Matsunaga is a conservator, Lecturer in the Department of Media Expression at Konan Women's University, and Curator of the Hasegawa Saburo Memorial Gallery at Konan Gakuen.
He received his M.A. from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, specializing in Oil Painting Conservation within the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Properties. After initially training as an oil painter, he shifted his focus to conservation and restoration, working at institutions including the University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, and the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art.
His current research focuses on the conservation of contemporary artworks that incorporate change, process, or immaterial elements, combining both practical conservation work and theoretical inquiry.
AKI INOMATA
Born in Tokyo in 1983, AKI INOMATA is an artist and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Digital Hollywood University.
Her work explores relationships between humans and non-human living beings, as well as the forms and meanings that emerge from those interactions. Recent major exhibitions include Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming and Going (Mori Art Museum, 2022–2023), Aichi Triennale 2022 (2022), Broken Nature (MoMA, 2020–2021), AKI INOMATA: Significant Otherness (Towada Art Center, 2019), and the 22nd Milan Triennale (2019).
Her works are held in the collections of institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Art Gallery of South Australia; the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; and the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art.