A World in Flow. Movement and Impermanence in Japanese Art

Weathered, centuries-old wooden sculptures. A broken tea bowl, repaired with gold lacquer. Hokusai’s Great Wave: an archetypal expression of beauty and mortal danger. Wind as draughtsperson. All these elements encapsulate A Floating World as presented in this exhibition. Priceless items held by the museum are complemented by the works of contemporary artists, portraying Japan as a nation which has created a unique aesthetic language of the ephemeral. In a place where earthquakes, tsunamis, and human-made catastrophes can snatch away life at any moment, an art flourishes that is in constant awareness of the precious fragility of our existence – in a breathtakingly beautiful, quiet, and fascinating celebration of transience.

The exhibition demonstrates how Japanese art aesthetically permeates and comments on the changes and uncertainties of existence in a variety of ways. The show ranges from two weathered wooden sculptures from the 14th century, paintings and woodcuts from ancient Japan representing a life in motion, water depictions of various kinds and tea ceramics and lacquer works that ‘celebrate’ decay, to striking positions in contemporary Japanese art.