Ambient, Environment, Circumstances -The Topography of Contemporary Art-

This exhibition, Ambient, Environment, Circumstances – The Topography of Contemporary Art –, was conceived as an invitation to reconsider where contemporary art stands today. Working through three lenses—the renewed appraisal of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the relationship between matter and narrative in the wake of Speculative Realism, and an East Asian “Third World” viewpoint that re-reads an art history long centered on Europe and North America—the exhibition proposes new ways of framing artistic practice in the present.

Simose Art Museum faces the Seto Inland Sea, in Otake City, Hiroshima Prefecture, close to Miyajima. It is a distinctive site that holds the memories of postwar East Asia while also suggesting possibilities that open toward the future. Here, emerging artists born between 1980 and 2000 offer new perspectives. I would like to express my renewed gratitude for the generous support of Simose Art Museum and Marui Sangyo Corporation, whose commitment made this ambitious project possible.

My longstanding interest lies in the layered nature of the concept of “environment.” With the ideas of architect Shigeru Ban in mind, as well as the period’s intersection with the Osaka Expo, this exhibition begins by tracing the reception history of “environment” as a concept in Japan and East Asia. During the curatorial process, exchanges with artists and curators across East Asia deepened, and the project evolved into a collaborative curatorship with three co-curators: Li Jingwen (SEIBUN), Takanori Matsuyama, and Yoko Negami. Through sustained dialogue with nine artists from five countries—active across Japan, Korea, China/Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Indonesia—the exhibition has come to fruition in presentations that include newly commissioned works.

Through this exhibition, we hope visitors will once again sense the power of art to generate dialogue—and the universal value of that capacity. At this turning point in 2025, we hope many will witness the contemporary realities of art in East Asia.

Chief Curator: Saito Keita