ORGANIZER

I am very pleased that Kyoto City can host artKYOTO 2020—History in Action Festival—with such great splendor.

Last year, the first artKYOTO was held in coordination with ICOM Kyoto 2019, the 25th General Conference of the International Council of Museums. This year, the second artKYOTO features not only an art fair at the Kyoto National Museum but also the staging of a live performance drama, an art history experience tour and other events at Nijo-jo Castle, a component of the World Heritage site “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.” With the adoption of thorough COVID-19 control measures, this year’s festival with a further evolved program will add artistic colors to the winter of Kyoto. I hope that you will fully enjoy an exciting combination of art and the cultural properties of Kyoto, a city that aims for synergy between culture and the economy.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to artKYOTO 2020: History in Action Festival.

As we face the issues of population decline and economic shrinkage in regions across the country, it is now vitally important to engage with the task of refining the appeals of regional Japan and creating nonresident populations in order to secure growth for the future.

Kyoto has a long and rich history of traditional crafts, culture, and arts. This fair is a large-scale art event held at the Former Imperial Villa Nijo-jo Castle, a truly historical building in Kyoto and a UNESCO World Heritage site, and at the Kyoto National Museum, a designated Important Cultural Property. It will surely be an opportunity for more people to sense the unique appeal of Kyoto as well as create connections with local people and invigorate the region.

I would like to close by expressing my respect for everyone who has made such efforts to organize artKYOTO 2020 while ensuring countermeasures against coronavirus infection are in place, and by offering my wishes for its success this year and in those to come.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to artKYOTO 2020〜History in Action Festival〜.

While cross-border travel is currently restricted due to the global spread of the novel coronavirus disease, it is my hope that international exchange can continue to evolve through the common language of art, here at Nijo-jo Castle and the Kyoto National Museum, which are sources of pride for Kyoto, Japan’s historically rich former capital.

I have been informed that the theme of artKYOTO 2020, “history in action,” seeks to shed new light on history by viewing it as something that has shaped our identity that has been handed down across the generations to the present. I hope this event will provide people around the world with an opportunity to appreciate Japan’s proud arts and crafts and incorporate them into their daily lives, and that the event will further promote mutual understanding and human exchange through culture.

In closing, I wish artKYOTO a splendid success and further growth and express my sincere respect to all those involved in organizing the exhibition.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to artKYOTO 2020.

This year, the art fair takes place at the Kyoto National Museum, which was built in 1895 by Tokuma Katayama, the famed architect who designed the Akasaka Palace, the first post-Meiji site in Japan to be designated a National Treasure. In the midst of the immense transformations experienced during that time, when a wave of Western culture entered Japan and previous systems and habits profoundly changed, this museum adopted Western architecture for its exterior, inside which it brought together a collection of ancient Japanese cultural properties. In this way, it was one of the fruits of the new approaches to culture and art that the Japanese people of the Meiji period searched so earnestly for.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on our lives at present, and what was once normal has ceased to be so. Culture and the arts are no exception. But no matter how much the circumstances around us change, our adoration for arts and culture remains constant. And so, much like the Japanese people during the Meiji period, we must seek out new approaches for culture and the arts feasible while we continue to live with the coronavirus and after it has gone. In that sense, holding this event now possesses even greater importance.

The program of dance performances streamed online during the fair, for instance, is a fine example of a new way to present culture publicly both during and after the pandemic. Moreover, this art fair offers an incredibly rare opportunity for visitors to buy works of art at a museum that has ordinarily functioned as a place for viewing exhibits.

For everyone involved with artKYOTO, it is my hope that this kind of new endeavor produces a positive cycle of culture and economics.

In closing, I would like to offer my wishes for the fair’s every success this year as well as its continued growth in the future.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to artKYOTO 2020: History in Action Festival.

Held at Nijo-jo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the Kyoto National Museum, a designated Important Cultural Property, artKYOTO 2020 features an art fair, traditional dance, support for younger artists, and an art history tour, in this way offers various experiences for visitors while conveying to present-day audiences the arts and culture that our forebears cultivated.

The coronavirus pandemic has placed great restrictions on activities and forced many arts and culture events to cancel or postpone. The role of arts and culture, though, is a very important one, since they have the power to move and bring people joy as well as trigger effects that impact the whole of society.

It is my hope that holding such an initiative as this in Kyoto, a vital center for Japanese art and where the Agency for Cultural Affairs will relocate its headquarters to, will further increase the value of Japanese art internationally, while the arts and culture featured will enrich people and society.

I would like to close by expressing my respect for everyone who has made such efforts to organize artKYOTO 2020 and search for ways to present arts and culture publicly in this era of the coronavirus, and by offering my wishes for its success.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to artKYOTO 2020: History in Action Festival, held at the Former Imperial Villa of Nijo-jo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and at the Kyoto National Museum.

Featuring around twenty galleries in Japan and beyond, artKYOTO 2020 is intended to offer an opportunity for visitors to come into contact with art from a wide range of eras, and also to share the wonders of Japan with the world.

In this second edition, the exhibits of artwork will be accompanied by traditional dance against the historical backdrop of Nijo-jo Castle, a tour that allows participants to experience the history of National Treasures, and exhibits of the work of younger artists. In this way, the 2020 festival promises to offer even more to visitors than last year’s.

Today in the age of the coronavirus, we find ourselves in very difficult circumstances, especially for the tourism industry as well as exhibition venues such as museums. However, art is one of the most important tourism resources for conveying what is remarkable about Japan to the rest of the globe.

Through this festival, it is my hope that more people will take an interest in Japan’s attractions and values, visit regions around our country, and come into contact with artworks that incorporate the cultures of various nations, thereby serving to inspire interest in each country.

In closing, I would like to express my respect for everyone who has worked so tirelessly to organize artKYOTO 2020, as well as offer my wishes for its success this year and in those to come.