Go for Kogei 2023 merged its previously dispersed venues across the three Hokuriku prefectures into one city, further articulating the connections between the exhibited works, their spatial context, and the intrinsic link between craftsmanship and place. The exhibition unfolded along a 5 km stretch of the Fugan Canal, encompassing three areas extending from the city center of the “City of Water” Toyama to the bay, which visitors could navigate by boat while viewing the works. This year’s theme drew inspiration from Water and Dreams: An Essay on the Imagination of Matter by the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962). The event introduced 26 artists whose works responded to the concepts of “material imagination” and “water” discussed in the book. It also featured an international symposium, Talking about Art and Kogei Supported by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which brought together internationally acclaimed scholars and curators. With topics including history and the vernacular, personal identity, and the transnational, the symposium offered in-depth discussions on recent developments in the worlds of art and kogei.


[Exhibition]
Material Imagination and Etiological Narrative —Material, Data, Fantasy
The term “material imagination,” seen in the title of this year’s exhibition, refers to Water and Dreams: An Essay on the Imagination of Matter by Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962), a French philosopher of science. In the essay, Bachelard uses the concept of the “material imagination” to theorize about a poetics of material. He explores the symbolic meaning of water in human culture and psychology, delving into fantasy and individuality within subjective awareness. By picking up common unconscious images, Bachelard paints a picture of the imagination as it stems from matter. Taking the “material imagination” as a key word, this exhibition explores the poetics of art and the nature of individual expression.

Applying such a perspective to art requires that we approach each work as a reflection of the creator’s life, an act that tells their unique narrative. The term “etiology,” also seen in the exhibition title, refers to the origin or cause of a thing, which we can understand here as the motivation driving each artist. These driving forces are of an ineffable nature, both utterly individual and yet somehow universal.

This exhibition takes place along a five-kilometer stretch of the Fugan Canal, encompassing three areas extending from downtown Toyama to the bay. Visitors can travel by boat to view works by twenty-six artists spanning the genres of craft, contemporary art, and art brut. Exhibition spaces include the Fugan Canal Kansui Park, museum galleries, the Nakajima Lock, and Toyama’s historic cityscape.

In cultures throughout the world, water is a symbol of life, purity, creativity, transformation, and the unconscious. Guided by concepts such as the material imagination and water, the exhibition invites visitors to engage in an interplay of self and the external world while experiencing the rich field of symbolic meaning born of fantasy and reality. We are confident that the exhibition will unlock the door to the world of dreams.

Cho Megumu, Furukawa Haruo, Audrey Gambier, Hayama Yuki, Hirako Yuichi, Itagaki Hohzan, Iwasaki Takahiro, Jomura Yoko, Kawabe Jusei, Kawai Kazuhito, Kawakami Kenji, Kim Riyoo, Komuro Takahiro, Kondo Takahiro, Kubo Hiroko, Kuwata Takuro, Masuda Sebastian, Murayama Goro, Nomura Yuka, Ou Sansan (O33), Sakurai Akira, Sasaki Natsumi, Tsujimura Kai, Ueda Baron, Watanabe Yoshihiro, Yokono Asuka

• Dates September 15th–October 29rd, 2023
• Venues Multiple venues along the Fugan Canal in Toyama, Toyama Prefecture (Kansui Park Area; Nakajima Lock Area; Iwase Area)
• Organizer NPO Syuto Kanazawa; Japan Arts Council; Agency for Cultural Affairs
• Co-organizers Toyama Prefecture; Toyama City; Toyama Cultural Foundation
• Cooperation Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design; Toyama Kotsu Co., Ltd.; Sakasho Tajiri Honten; Hokuriku Bank Iwase Branch; Rakusuitei Museum of Art; Masuda Shuzo Co., Ltd.
• PR Cooperation Takaoka Craft Ichibamachi; Kogei Art Fair Kanazawa; Toyama Glass Festa; Kutanism; Millennium Future Arts and Crafts Festival; Toyama Glass Art Museum; Boulevard Area Management Toyama; Renew (Fukui)
• Support West Japan Railway Company; Toyama Association of Corporate Executives; Toyama Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• 2023 Japan Cultural Expo 2.0 Program (Commission)

• Executive Director & Curator Akimoto Yuji (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of the Arts)
• Producer Ura Jun (Chair, NPO Syuto Kanazawa)
• Co-curator Takayama Kentaro (Artness Inc.)
• Site Design Suo Takashi (Suo, Licensed First-Class Architects)
• Art Coordination Kanaya Ayumi (Kanazawa Art Gummi)
• Project Direction Usui Hiroshi (Noetica, Inc.)
• Design Haneda Jun (Role, Inc.)
• Publicity Hoshino Yuka (Noetica, Inc.)
• Photo Katano Masahiro (October Octopus, Inc.), Nik van der Giesen, Watanabe Osamu
• Movie Oyachi Masato
• Translation Zackary Kaplan
• Project Management Noetica, Inc.

https://2023.goforkogei.com/en/