21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

Special Issue: Biotechnology and Art (Co-edited by TAKAHASHI Yohsuke, NONAKA Yumiko, WASHIDA Meruro)
The feature of this issue of Я is “Biotechnology and Art.” Today, in the twenty-first century, biotechnology is changing our values and ways of living with even greater momentum than the revolutionary development of Information Technology (IT). Biotechnology’s influence is reaching beyond the fields of medicine and agriculture into the territory of art. Despite the development of wide-ranging theories and practices in the West, bio-art receives little attention here in Japan. We therefore include translations of three representative essays on the subject, along with one essay pointing out issues and possibilities concerning bio-art and its handling in art museums. We hope they will serve as aids to discussion in this country.

Forum (Co-edited by NONAKA Yumiko, WASHIDA Meruro)
The forum section presents one interview and two research theses by curators at this museum concerning collected works. The first research essay examines MIYAZAKI Toyoharu’s The Garden Below with reference to the concept of “boundary,” while the second considers FUJI Hiroshi’s Happy Paradies from the perspective of extending the concept of what an artwork is. The interview with Fuji, who works in two roles—as an artist and an art museum director—focuses on how museums engage with their region.

Special Issue: Biotechnology and Art

• In the Century of Biotechnology: In Place of a Preface（PDF：690.2KB）
  
• Life Transformation — Art Mutation / Eduardo KAC（PDF：1.1MB）
  
• Cases for Genetic Art / Joe DAVIS（PDF：968.7KB）
  
• Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up / Nick BOSTROM（PDF：810.1KB）
  
• On Changes in Art Brought On by Transgenic Media / TAKAHASHI Yohsuke（PDF：973.8KB）
  




Forum

• MIYAZAKI Toyoharu’s The Garden Below — Mediator Connecting the Self and Others — / YONEDA Seiko（PDF：960.2KB）
  
• FUJI Hiroshi’s Happy Paradies — The Notion of an Art Piece to Expand / NONAKA Yumiko（PDF：1.0MB）
  
• Interview with FUJI Hiroshi　On Museum and Locality: From Artist’s and Director’s Viewpoint/ Interviewer KIMURA Takeshi, After the Interview 　Future Image of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and the Community Viewed through Presentday FUJI Hiroshi / KIMURA Takeshi（PDF：918.7KB）