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VisArt_03


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One thousand visions of self. Kusama Yayoi through art and literature 
Convenor:
Daniela Moro (University of Turin (Italy))
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Discussant:
Hannah Osborne (University of East Anglia)
Format:
Panel
Section:
Visual Arts
:
Auditorium 1 Jan Broeckx
Sessions:
Sunday 20 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels

Short Abstract:

Kusama Yayoi is globally renowned as one of the most important artists from Japan of the past century. The three papers in this panel, ranging from visual art to literature, aim to provide different perspectives on how the artist used images of the self in her variegated work.

Long Abstract:

Kusama Yayoi 草間彌生 (b. 1929) is globally renowned as one of the most important artists from Japan of the past century. Her style has undergone many transformations during her prolific career, following her international repositioning as well as her artistic experimentations, which ranged from painting on paper and canvas, to performance, literature, and all-encompassing and immersive installations.

The panel proposed for the 2023 EAJS Conference is composed of three papers that will explore different areas of Kusama’s practice. The first talk focuses on the impact of her art and her exhibitions on the European artistic milieu. In particular, it will inspect the pivotal shows that took place in Italy in the 1960s, which were crucial in defining the artist’s presence and identity on the international sphere and generated great attention towards her work. The second paper inspects the deep connection between the artist’s body and her works that became particularly evident during the decade 1958-1968, when Kusama was based in New York City. Finally, the third panel focuses on the literary side of Kusama’s career, often overlooked: this final talk moves from Kusama’s years in New York to the artist’s relocation in Tokyo at the end of the 1970s, seeing it through her fictional work "Manhattan Suicide Addict", a pseudo-autobiographical piece of writing that she produced in this period.

The three papers aim to provide different perspectives on the images of the self in the multi-faceted works of the artist, and to shed light on how Kusama’s representation of her own identity varied during this extremely prolific period of her career. Positioning the artist is also crucial in order to inspect how the experimentations of those years have laid the foundation for Kusama’s production of the latest decades.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Sunday 20 August, 2023, -
Panel Video visible to paid-up delegates