<essays> Chisai in 2024 (1)
Long time no see, everyone! Chisai spaced Substack! Last update Feb?! Wow! Let's catch up: Feb to spring exhibition story starts now!
Hi, it's Chisai here! You ask "How are you?" You know, the standard answer is "I'm fine, thank you," like in an English textbook, right? But lately, I've been feeling... different. Maybe even a little strange. Like someone you've never quite met before. Monster? Hahaha, YES! Just kidding... mostly!!
So, one day, back in February or March, I got a message from a curator in Kitakyushu, Japan. She wrote, "I'd like to schedule something during Golden Week". Golden Week in Japan is this amazing ten-day holiday around the end of April and beginning of May. At first, I thought, "Wait, is this message to the wrong person?" But no, it was for me! Then I remembered, last fall when I met her, I had mentioned, "It's been ten years since the artist Osamu Kokufu passed away".
About Osamu Kokufu
And just like that, it was decided I'd be doing a research presentation! Let me back up a bit. Around the end of 2022, I tuned into the "Public History" symposium on Zoom. After asking a question to a Japanese researcher in England, she invited me to join the Public History Study Group in Japan. This group was celebrating its fifth anniversary with a conference in Tokyo and was looking for speakers. I applied, got accepted, and (lucky me😉?) I ended up being the very last presenter on the program.
What is “Public History”? History is changing, you know? It's not just about "X happened in year Y" anymore. "Public History" has a couple of cool meanings. First, it's history for everyone. Think about that old wooden station that got rebuilt recently. If I say, "Hey, it used to be wooden, right?", and you say, "Yeah, it was such a nice wooden building!" – we’re both sharing a bit of public history there. It's history we both know and can talk about. Second, it's about history being accessible to everyone, not just specialists. So, if I say "It was wooden," and you're not a historian, you can still add, "Yeah, probably because it was built way back in the 18th century..." History becomes something everyone can engage with. That's the "public" in Public History.
But here's the thing – for ten years, I couldn't really grasp art from Taiwan. You see, some Taiwanese artists explore the Japanese colonial era in their work. And honestly, many Japanese people, including me, don't know much about that period of history. So, when we look at Taiwanese art, we often just say, "Wow, colorful!" or "Oh, kawaii (cute)!" No offense, but I wanted to go deeper! During the Covid years, I really dove into studying languages, history, geography, and culture in Taiwan. But then, people would say, "This artwork is about the Japanese colonial era – you are Japanese, you must know all about it, right?" That’s when I realized my presentation concept at the Public History Study Group fifth anniversary with a conference: "What is public history, anyway?" And the title became: "Re-acknowledgement of “Japanese Colonial Era” – Looking at three artworks by Taiwanese artist Ting Chaong-Wen".
I think of "public" as having three parts: (1) things, (2) places, and (3) people. And Ting Chaong-Wen uses/based on all of them in his art! My presentation turned out really great!! Because honestly, most researchers aren't experts on Asia or Taiwan. So, the idea of "public" was kind of new to them. If you’re curious about my presentation, I’m happy to send you a summary in English, Chinese, or Japanese!
After it, I started to help the exhibition “Reminiscences about ‘Car Tower’ - Ten Years After The Loss of Osamu Kokufu”. I sent many messages to curator, but she didn’t reply to them. While I waited for her, I contacted Kokufu’s family and told them what artworks I could borrow. Kokufu is a sculptor, but Most of his sculptures were not now. If it were, it is very heavy and large, so it is difficult to show in this exhibition. One day, the curator replied, “drawings are best!!”. Yes, it is rare to see his drawings.
In April, the curator, Kokufu's family, and I hammered out the exhibition title and all the other details. This whole exhibition prep came together really suddenly for me, but it ended up being truly wonderful. Besides the exhibition itself, Kenji Yanobe, a famous Japanese artist and Kokufu’s senior from university, gave a talk about his memories of Kokufu. It was right around the anniversary of Kokufu's passing, so it was a really moving moment.
Website of the Exhibition "Reminiscences about ‘Car Tower’ - Ten Years After The Loss of Osamu Kokufu”
And guess what else? I even applied for another paper while all this exhibition stuff was going on! But that's a story for next time😉! See you soon!