Now Reports

The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum

Ten years ago, on March 6, 1999, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum opened in the Hakata Riverain Center Building, next to the Hakata-za playhouse. It is the first art museum in the world to systematically collect and display modern Asian art. The collection includes nearly 2,300 pieces in various styles from 21 countries and territories in Asia, and the quality of its collection makes the museum a world-class institution.

Asian art is currently attracting the world’s attention, but there has been interest in the genre in Fukuoka City for some time. This interest dates back to 1979, when the Fukuoka Art Museum in Ohori Park opened. An exhibition of Asian art commemorated the museum’s opening, and they have held similar exhibitions every five years since then. The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum has collected modern works of art from Asia, and invited contemporary artists to create works, and then purchased them. They have also placed in their collection objects created by artisans and technicians who cannot be called artists.

For example, they display rickshaw art from Bangladesh, in which people draw portraits of film stars, animals, flowers, and other scenes on the vehicles. The rickshaw itself has become an art object, and of course people in Bangladesh use them for transportation. This display can be seen in the sculpture lounge at the seventh floor café.

In addition to the commemoration when the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum was opened, the Asia Exhibition is conducted on a large scale every three years under the name of the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial. This year, the fourth exhibit will be held from September 5 to November 23 to commemorate the museum’s 10th anniversary. Full details are not yet available, but the museum is sparing no effort to make it a success.

The museum has another unmissable attraction that will run until July 21: a retrospective of the museum’s 10 years entitled Playback 1999-2009. It will include a chronology, which will look at past exhibits and the works of artists who have lived in Fukuoka with a slide show.

Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
7 & 8 F, Riverain Center Bld., 3-1 Shimokawabata-machi, Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City
Tel. : 092-263-1100 http://faam.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/]

Originally published in Fukuoka Now magazine (fn124, Apr. 2009)

 

Category
Art & Culture
Fukuoka City
Published: Apr 1, 2009 / Last Updated: Jun 13, 2017

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