In addition to the Iwase Area (Toyama) from the previous year’s venue, Go for Kogei 2024 introduced a new venue in the Higashiyama Area (Kanazawa), featuring a total of 37 artists across both locations. Both areas are known for their preserved traditional townscapes and lifestyles deeply rooted in craft. Building on the site-specific works that juxtapose the townscape and landscape, a variety of programs were also held to explore the role of craft and art in contemporary life. Performances by exhibiting artists, gatherings that reinterpreted the history of tea, and hands-on workshops were among the events, all seeking to discover new expressions of beauty through expanding the practical potential of craft. This year’s edition of Go for Kogei further crystallized the project’s efforts to transcend long-standing dualities in craft, such as those between art and craft, aesthetic and practicality, and artist and audience.


[Theme]
Craft and Art: Philosophies for Life
Go for Kogei 2024 features works by an exciting cast of craftspeople, designers, and artists. This year’s exhibition presents visitors with a nuanced view of the adjacent fields of contemporary craft and art, placing a renewed emphasis on material, technique, utility, and expression—the defining characteristics of modern crafts. The exhibition consists of multiple venues in two areas: the Iwase Area (Toyama), which was featured in last year’s exhibition, and the Higashiyama Area (Kanazawa), which is a new addition. Unlike a neutral museum environment, both areas are defined by traditional cityscapes that reflect the daily lives of residents. By inserting contemporary craft and art into this milieu, the exhibition transforms the familiar landscapes of each district.
The Iwase Area offers visitors a chance to enjoy local sake and food alongside site-specific installations that play off the district’s unique architecture and scenery. Meanwhile, the Higashiyama Area plumbs the depths of this year’s theme of “Craft and Art: Philosophies for Life,” featuring event programs that build off of Go for Kogei’s 2021 project Craft and Design: Kogei in Daily Life. Visitors can witness how works of craft, which usually exist in the miscellaneous spaces of daily life—mingling with light, weather, scent, and sound—can transcend ornamentation to meld with the life of the city, appearing as social objects with new value and meaning.

Akagi Akito & Otani Momoko, Ino Ichizo, Ishiwata Yui, Isoya Hirofumi, Iwamura En, Iwasaki Tsutomu, Kakinuma Koji, Kawai Masaru & Tsukamoto Yoshiki, Matsuyama Tomokazu, Miura Shiro & En-Kai Project, Sareena Sattapon, Sawada Kensho, Shakunaga Gaku, Sotome Haruka, Takemata Yuichi & Oniki Koichiro, Tatehana Noritaka, Toyama Kazuhiro, Yagi Takahiro, Yasuda Taizo

• Exhibition Dates September 14–October 20, 2024
• Venues Iwase Area (Toyama, Toyama Prefecture) & Higashiyama Area (Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture)
• Organizer NPO Syuto Kanazawa; Japan Arts Council; Agency for Cultural Affairs
• Co-organizers Toyama Prefecture; Toyama City
• Support Ishikawa Prefecture; Kanazawa City; West Japan Railway Company
• 2024 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.)
• Creative Direction Ueda Motoharu (Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd.)
• Design Nakamura Ryoichi (Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd.)
• Editing Takai Yasumitsu (Noetica, Inc.), Sakamoto Aya, Nagano Kaori (Arika, Inc.)
• Publicity Hoshino Yuka (Noetica, Inc.), Yanagida Wakana
• Photo Watanabe Osamu, Ohako Studio
• Movie Oyachi Masato
• Translation Rebekah Harmon, Zackary Kaplan
• Project Management Noetica, Inc.

https://2024.goforkogei.com/en/