J–>POP<–G

The exhibition project J-Pop/G-Pop organized by Sasaoka Takashi (CAS/Osaka) and Reinhild Kuhn (Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund) investigated questions on everyday's culture in Japan and Germany. Five Japanese and six German artists were invited to present their work in a common group show that was first presented at the Künstlerhaus in Dortmund and subsequently at the CAS in Osaka.

The parallel presentation of the Japanese and the German artistic positions on the subject created an internal tension. This was already revealed when the project was entitled: In Germany the term Pop is easily associated with Pop-Art and everyday's life is considered as a social phenomenon, whereas in Japan it is rather seen as opposed to sacral life and investigating everyday's life focuses on reveiling the beauty that can be found in our immediate surroundings.This rises questions as: To what extent is everyday's life and culture influenced by tradition? And is the consciousness of our own culture a pre-condition for the development of a contemporary artistic attitude? Or are cultural diversities and peculiarities diminishing in our globalized world? Is it still possible to determine the origin of an artwork by looking at the subjects and contents or the style and form? And is the knowldge of the origin a piece of art essential for our perception of it? Or is art nowadays governed by a universal artistic language anyway?The presented works reflect the artists' explorations of everyday affairs of their respective home country thereby reveiling that pop culture is a term comprising a wide range of phenomena of different relevance that are moreover subject to continuous modification. Language: English/German/Japanese