Asia NOW, launched in 2015 as part of the Paris Art Week, serves as a platform for showcasing contemporary art from the increasingly diverse Asia. In recent years, it has gained significant attention for special exhibitions curated by leading guest curators and invited organizations from across Asia’s evolving art scene. In 2024, marking its 10th anniversary, Go for Kogei participated in Asia NOW for the first time. Featured in the exhibition was an installation, The Mingei Spirit: Minimalist by Nature, created by the artist collective Collective Action, comprised of artist Yoshida Shinichiro and curator Akimoto Yuji. The installation shed light on the beauty of austerity through symbolic textiles, traditionally worn by Japanese laborers and woven from natural plant fibers.


［Theme］The Mingei Spirit: Minimalist by Nature
The beauty of mingei (Japanese folk craft) is the beauty of austerity. Austerity is minimalist. Art produced in austerity is what remains when everything else has been stripped away. It is a life of self-discipline, gratitude, and restraint, and textiles woven from plant fibers were a key part of this lifestyle in Japan in the past. The beauty these textiles express is the opposite of the beauty of wealth and excess. The exhibition reexamines the mingei spirit by exploring plant-fiber textiles worn by laborers between the Edo and Meiji period (1603-1912), reframing them as art for today. The clothing is displayed under the concept of “austerity” as a vehicle for their reevaluation.

Traditional attire for laborers was woven from fibers sourced from wild plants. Examples of the plant species that were used include: Japanese linden, wisteria, arrowroot, banana trees (Musa balbisiana), hemp, and paper mulberry. Clothing was also woven from fine strips of paper made from fiber crops. These textiles were made entirely from natural materials that were harvested from nature or cultivated in fields. Bast and grass fibers were broken down and spun into thread in an extremely time-consuming process before being woven, and such fabrics came to be used in a variety of everyday essentials, like farming clothes, pleated trousers (hakama), wrapping cloths (furoshiki), and bags.

The mingei spirit behind these textiles is built on:
1) The beauty of everyday life and ordinary people,
2) Manufacturing processes that do not harm the environment—eco-friendly and recyclable,
3) Natural materials that are easy to acquire, and
4) Group labor, often family-based.

Additional reference: The characteristics of mingei are described in the Japan Folk Craft Association’s Concepts of “Mingei”—Love for Handcrafted Objects as follows.
1. Practical: Made for practical purposes rather than aesthetic appreciation.
2. Anonymous: Made by nameless craftspeople rather than a specific artist.
3. Numerous: Made in large quantities to accommodate popular demand.
4. Affordable: Inexpensive enough that anyone can purchase them.
5. Skilled labor: Requiring skills honed by repeatedly engaging in demanding processes.
6. Regionality: Expressing region-specific qualities, including distinct colors and forms rooted in regional lifestyles.
7. Divided labor: Requiring collaboration between multiple craftspeople to produce large quantities.
8. Traditional: Carrying on traditions, namely the collective skills and knowledge of predecessors.
9. Dependent on outside forces: Largely dependent on invisible external factors like climate, natural resources, and traditions, rather than the power or intent of the individual.


［Exhibition］The Historical Importance of the Hemp Textiles Displayed and the Significance of the Color White
Hemp textiles were introduced to Japan from mainland Asia over 10,000 years ago. They soon became a fixture of everyday life, from sacred Shinto robes to clothing worn by farmers working their fields. Later, however, hemp textiles nearly died out in the Industrial Revolution’s shift to machine production. Its existence was further endangered by the promulgation of the Cannabis Control Act in the postwar period, which prohibited the domestic manufacture of hemp textiles. Despite these setbacks, hemp is now attracting renewed interest worldwide for its low environmental impact and ability to grow well even under poor soil conditions.

This exhibition showcases 19th-century Japanese textiles together with majotae, a machine-woven 100% hemp textile produced through the wonders of modern technology. Textiles born out of traditions spanning 10,000 years of history are displayed side-by-side with those representing the latest innovations. The exhibition further focuses on the color white. Like a blank page or canvas, the color white is imbued with a sense of new horizons and endless possibilities.

In Japanese culture, white signifies diverse concepts, including sanctity, purity, cleanliness, and, at times, death and rebirth. It is perceived as an original state, marking something’s essence or untainted beginning. Hemp textiles represented these qualities symbolically, winning them many admirers throughout Japanese history. The softness and brightness of hemp increases each time it is washed and dried in the sun, turning it a starker and starker shade of white that conjures images of an empty void. As it loses its color through repeated exposures to sunlight, the textile comes closer and closer to embodying a state of nothingness.

Yoshida uses hemp textiles to explore the subtle deviations inherent to the color white. He touches on the richness of different whites produced through manual labor and time, explaining, “When seen simply as white textiles, they all look the same. But in reality, none of them share the same expression of white.” By focusing on the sensations caused by these subtle differences, his art leads us to reconsider how we perceive the world, raising philosophical questions that extend beyond the textiles themselves.

Collective Action
Collective Action is an art collective formed by Yoshida Shinichiro, a prominent artist, collector, and scholar of plant-based textiles, and the curator Akimoto Yuji. Yoshida formerly produced paintings that sought new expressions of the color white, but shifted to studying plant-based textiles after first encountering them over 40 years ago and starting his own collection of ramie and hemp textiles. Akimoto is an art critic and curator. He first became involved in art projects as a curator on the island of Naoshima in 1991. After serving as the director of the Chichu Art Museum and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, he taught as a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts while serving as the director of the University Art Museum, and the director of Nerima Art Museum. He has served as the executive director and curator of Go for Kogei since 2021.

In collaboration with Majotae
Majotae is the first Japanese textile brand to successfully harness modern technology to replicate the superior smoothness and softness of traditional hemp textiles. Research into pre-19th-century techniques enabled the company to replace handspun and handwoven processes with the latest innovations and industrial methods. The result is a revolutionary machine-woven textile that is 100% hemp—a feat once thought to be impossible—that has now been patented worldwide.

• Dates October 17- October 20, 2024
• Venues Monnaie de Paris
• Organizer NPO Syuto Kanazawa
• Support The Agency for Cultural Affairs; The Government of Japan; Japan Arts Council; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG)

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