One year after The National Art Center, Tokyo, and the Mori Art Museum presented the expansive "Sunshower: Contemporary Art From Southeast Asia 1980s to Now," The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, (MOMAT) has unveiled "Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia 1960s-1990s."
Both projects were years in the making and together can perhaps be considered an indication that Japanese art institutions are acknowledging the growing importance of Asian art hubs and the fact that China now boasts the world's second-largest market for art.
Although there is some overlap between this current MOMAT show and last year's "Sunshower" exhibitions, the tone and intent of the two surveys is quite different. In contrast to the usual formats of large exhibitions, which attempt to make their content more easily digestible either by arranging it chronologically or by theme, "Awakenings" is described by its organizers as being split into three "propositions": "Questioning Structures," "Artists and the City" and "Solidarities." These are further subdivided into groupings such as "Gender and Society" and "Body as Media."