Presented by NPO Syuto Kanazawa, GO FOR KOGEI 2025 will be held for thirty-seven days, from September 13 to October 19, 2025.
GO FOR KOGEI is a project dedicated to promoting new perspectives on craft from Hokuriku, a region with a long history of craftsmanship. 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. 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.
For the sixth iteration, under the theme, “The Attributes of Kogei: How Can We Reframe Craft?” Go for Kogei 2025 explores the diverse ways of living shaped by the various practices of artists and craftspeople as they engage with materials and techniques. As a prelude to the opening, the GO FOR KOGEI 2025 Symposium, “Crafting a New Tradition Through Subversion: Contemporary artists breaking barriers in Japan and beyond” will be held in July at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The symposium will focus on the vibrant creativity of contemporary artists breaking down gender barriers and crossing boundaries in crafts. A panel of presenters including artists, curators, and academics will hold an intersectional discussion on the position of crafts from the perspectives of gender, territory, regional culture value, and contemporary visual culture.

About this year’s theme:
Under the theme “The Attributes of Kogei: How Can We Reframe Craft?,” Go for Kogei 2025 explores the diverse ways of living shaped by the various practices of artists and craftspeople as they engage with materials and techniques.
Yanagi Muneyoshi (Soetsu) (1889–1961), the founder of the Mingei movement, described in his essay Kogeiteki naru mono (Craft-like Attributes)* how the intonation of train announcements or a barber’s scissor work could be seen as craft-like attributes, recognizing craftsmanship in even human actions and disposition. For Yanagi, “craft-like attributes” were not about personal artistic expression but rather something rooted in an aesthetic or style shared by society as a whole—where beauty and value are imbued. If we can perceive things as craft-like, whether tangible or intangible, then “craft” reveals itself as something far more integrated into society and broader in scope than we might imagine today.
On the other hand, if society as a whole were to lose what it once shared, would Yanagi’s concept of “craft-like attributes” still be relevant? In some respects, modernism has taken a path quite different from Yanagi’s views. Revisiting his concept in the present day, considered the late stage of modernism, as a lens to examine the relationship between craft and society may hold significant insight.
Starting from the craft-driven mindset of artists and craftspeople, Go for Kogei 2025 will go beyond the work themselves to explore the social interaction that emerges in the production process, the connections and dialogues sparked through the work, and the social dynamics that include moments of daily life. Additionally, the diverse application of the same materials will be highlighted—sometimes supporting daily life, sometimes shaping it, and other times enriching it. By framing “craftsmanship” within this broadening context, valuable insights into the roles of craft and art, both now and in the future, may be found.
Akimoto Yuji, Artistic Director

GO FOR KOGEI 2025 Symposium Overview:
Theme: Crafting a New Tradition Through Subversion: Contemporary artists breaking barriers in Japan
and beyond
Date: 24 July 2025, 10:00 a.m.–17:30 p.m
Venue: Hochhauser Auditorium, V&A South Kensington
Admission: £5
URL: https://goforkogei.com/en/news/1768/
Organizers: V&A and NPO Syuto Kanazawa,
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Arts Council

Presenters and Panelists:
Joanna Norman (Director, V&A Research Institute, National Art Library and Archives, V&A)
Glenn Adamson (Curator at large, Vitra Design Museum)
Yamada Masami (Curator, Asian Department, V&A)
Kikuchi Yuko (Head of Academic Programmes, VARI NALA, V&A)
Sasaki Rui (Artist, glass)
Suzanne Ross (Artist, lacquer)
Yoca Muta (Artist, ceramic)
Hosono Hitomi (Artist, ceramic)
Iwamura En (Artist, ceramic)
Kawai Kazuhito (Artist, ceramic)
Fujishiro Shige (Artist, glass)
Alberto Cavalli (Executive Director, Michelangelo Foundation)

Moderators:
Tanya Harrod (Craft historian and writer, Co-editor of Journal of Modern Craft)
Akimoto Yuji (Artistic director, GO FOR KOGEI)


Notes for Editors
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 dichotomousstructure 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.
The theme for the sixth iteration, “The Attributes of Kogei” comes from the words of Yanagi Soetsu, founder of the Mingei movement approximately 100 years ago. The term mingei, short for minshuteki kogei (“folk crafts” or “crafts of the people”), was coined by the visionary Japanese philosopher Yanagi Soetsu. It refers to everyday objects made by anonymous craftspeople for use by ordinary people. Through many practical applications, artists and craftspeople have drawn from their approaches to materials and techniques to produce a range of proposals for diverse lifestyles.

About Yuji Akimoto, Artistic Director (Professor Emeritus of Tokyo University of the Arts)
Akimoto is an art critic, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of the Arts, special director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and a distinguished professor at Tainan National University of the Arts. Born in 1955 in Tokyo, he holds a BA in fine art from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (now Tokyo University of the Arts). Akimoto first became involved in the art projects on Naoshima in 1991. After serving as the director of the Chichu Art Museum (2004–2006) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2007–2017), he taught as a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts while serving as the director of the University Art Museum (2015–2021). From 2017 through 2023, he acted as the director of Nerima Art Museum. He has served as the executive director and special curator of Go for Kogei since 2021.
His past projects and exhibitions include The Standard (Naoshima, 2001); Naoshima Standard 2 (Naoshima, 2006–2007); the first three iterations of the International Triennale of Kogei in Kanazawa (Kanazawa and Caotun, Taiwan; 2010–2017); Art Crafting Towards the Future (Kanazawa, 2012); Japanese Kogei: Future Forward (New York, 2015); Yu-ichi Inoue 1916–1985—La calligraphie libérée at Japonismes 2018 (Paris and Albi, France); and Art as It Is: Expressions from the Obscure (Tokyo, 2020). His publications include Art thinking (Aato shiko, Tokyo: PRESIDENT Inc., 2019).