Culture Gate to Japan A Digital Art Exhibition Running at Airports Across Japan for Over 6 Months

• Multimedia art exhibition offering new perspectives on the diversity of Japanese culture opens online and at seven airports across Japan and Tokyo International Cruise Terminal

• The exhibition website provides a rich variety of information, videos and images so that people around the world can learn about Japan from home and plan trips for the future.

• CULTURE GATE from JAPAN runs from February 2021 until at least September 2021.

Beginning in February of 2021, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, launches a new cultural promotion project called "CULTURE GATE to JAPAN." Held at seven airports across Japan, Tokyo International Cruise Terminal and online, artists and creators active in the field of media arts will exhibit artworks based on the unique history and charms of each area with the goal of communicating the diversity of Japanese culture.

From the mysterious soundscapes of Hokkaido's indigenous Ainu people to the vibrant history of Okinawa's ancient Ryukyu Kingdom, diverse cultures can be found throughout Japan. Through this project, artists and creators seek to reinterpret and convey the appeal of these rich cultural resources, each molded by the particular regional climate in which they developed. As the gateways to these unique regions, airports are the ideal location at which to exhibit these works, inviting visitors to discover new aspects of Japanese culture.

■ Period: February 2021 ~ at least September 2021 (Please check the website for each location's up-to-date opening times)

■ Locations and Content:

○1 Chubu Centrair International Airport, Central Japan

Theme: MOTION
For this exhibition, two artists have created works evoking the movement of the region's mighty Samurai Warriors and ninjas during Japan's tumultuous Warring States period.
Artists & opening dates: Yusuke Shigeta - opened 9 Feb 2021 / EUPHRATES - opened 27 Feb 2021

○2 Fukuoka Airport, Kyushu

Theme: PATTERN
Fukuoka Airport is the gateway to the island of Kyushu, home to many traditional crafts such as Arita-yaki and Satsuma-yaki ceramics, Hakata-ori textiles, Satsuma kiriko cut- glass and Baramon kites elaborately hand-painted with ogres and warriors. Two artists will exhibit their works, drawing inspiration from the patterns found on these crafts.
Artists & opening dates: Mirai Mizue opened 10 February 2021 /Macoto Murayama opened 27 February 2021

○3 Naha Airport, Okinawa

Theme: MEMORY

Two artists have crafted stunning visual works that connect the memories of the island's historic Ryukyu Kingdom, drenched in sunlight and colour, with the modern world.
Artists& opening dates: nuQ / Satoru Higa – both opened 13 February 2021

○4 New Chitose Airport, Hokkaido

Theme: INVISIBLE
Creative company NAKED, INC. has infused empty space with various media to create an all new, immersive experience. Through unwritten, unspoken auditory transmissions, the exhibition features works that allow visitors to feel the language and spirit of the Ainu culture through sound.
Artists & opening dates: NAKED, INC. – part I opened 22 February & part II (AR) on 19 March 2021.

○5 ○6 Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) & Narita International Airport
Theme: VISION GATE Under the supervision of Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture & Design at MoMA, this exhibit seeks to explore the concept of “vision” from past to future, and its role as the foundation of Japanese culture.
At Tokyo's gateway airports of Haneda and Narita six videos by six different artists usher travellers into Japan's extraordinarily rich and eclectic culture. Broadcast in synchronized sequence along the path leading from each arrival GATE into a new world, they each highlight a different aspect of Japan's creativity and reality, arranging distinct styles and contexts in surprising juxtapositions.

Also, not to be missed at Haneda airport is an installation by sound artist and designer Yuri Suzuki and musical artist and composer Miyu Hosoi. Keeping the human voice at the core of their proposal, Hosoi and Suzuki distilled the sounds of the Japanese language –– hiragana sounds – and created a unique composition in which the sound emanates from a choir of dozens of standing horns, that are conversing with each other like people waiting for friends and relatives in the Arrival Hall of an airport.

Artists& opening dates: The six artists who have created videos are acky bright / Jun Inoue / Sachiko Kodama / Mariko Mori / Monika Mogi / PARTY (creative group).

Sound installation at Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport is by Miyu Hosoi and Yuri Suzuki. Open 15 Feb – 5 Sept 2021.

○7 Kansai International Airport, Gateway to Osaka, Kyoto and wider Kansai region

Theme: LIFE
The Kansai region is divided into eight distinct areas. In this exhibit, eight manga artists have created murals showing the unique cultures of each of these areas and their harmonious coexistence with the nature in which they developed.

Artists: Opened 20 March 2021.

○8 Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, Tokyo

Theme: Back TOKYO Forth
In addition to the artwork itself, there will also be a video detailing the creative process, from conception to completion.
Artists: Asako Fujikura / Kota Iguchi / Synesthesia Lab feat. Evala / Michiko Tsuda / Senzo Ueno / Hideki Umezawa + Kōichi Satō. Opens late March. More on the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal exhibition will be available in late March.

Visit the official website at culture-GATE.jp for images, video and detailed information about the artworks and the destinations that inspired them. The website will be regularly updated with new imagery and videos as each exhibition opens.