Mission

Go for Kogei is a project dedicated to promoting new perspectives on craft from Hokuriku, a region with a long history of craftsmanship. Since its inception in 2020, the project has held exhibitions and events at shrines, temples, and in areas that embody the region’s history and climate, as well as conferences to enrich the discourse on today’s issues and possibilities surrounding craft.

The term kogei (pronounced ko-gay), which could be translated as “craft” or “applied arts,” was coined in Japan in the late nineteenth century during its Westernization. Before that period, Japanese culture had no concept of a division between “fine art” and “craft.” Rather, aesthetic objects and their manufacture constituted a broader category.

In using the term kogei (craft), we do not intend to create a new category within the creative field. Instead, we aim to propose an alternative evaluation criterion that runs through historically defined categories.

The dichotomy of bijutsu (fine art) and kogei (craft) was created during modernization, where the former emerged as a discipline while the latter was separated from “fine art” to form its counterpart; the dynamics of such a dichotomy are still pervasive and define the ways we perceive things. Furthermore, the introduction of standardized criteria for materials, techniques, and uses has strengthened the dichotomous structure of the two categories. To reconsider this framework, we have reexamined elements that have been deemed “typical of craft” and explored what might be the underlying themes shared across fine art and craft.

While providing a definitive answer to this question is challenging, we believe that clues can be found in the artist’s approaches to objects through their engagement with materials and techniques, rather than solely focusing on the materials and techniques of the finished work. In addition to concept-driven production, there are also times when creative expressions develop from within the hands, guided by materials and techniques. If we were to call the latter a “craft-based approach,” then looking at various forms of creation from this perspective may unveil a completely different outlook. Such a shift in the evaluation criterion can be a means of gently unraveling existing disciplines rather than dismantling them.

Go for Kogei will continue to create ideal “places” for future crafts through various practices, introducing rich and expansive forms of craft that break away from preconceived ideas.