Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei, a solo exhibition by an enthralling black artist in Japan, with epic installation imagining a new hybrid of Black and Japanese cultures through ceramics, architecture, and music will be held at Mori Art Museum from April 24th to September 1st, 2014.

ADVERTISEMENT

Based on the South Side of Chicago, IL, Theaster Gates (b. 1973 in Chicago) has earned international acclaim for a practice that traverses multiple media and genres, primarily focusing on sculpture and ceramics but also encompassing architecture, music, performance, fashion and design. Trained as a sculptor and urban planner, Gates has been influenced by Japanese craft and culture over the past 20 years. He first traveled to Japan in 2004 to study ceramics in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture. His deep encounters in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific, coupled with his experiences as an African-American man with roots in Mississippi and Chicago have been the keystones of his creative process. Gates, who has explored cultural hybridity over the course of his practice, coined the term “Afro-Mingei,” his unique conceptual framework fusing the philosophies of the Japanese Mingei movement and the aesthetics of the “Black Is Beautiful” cultural movement that played a significant part in the American civil rights movement (1954-1968).

Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei is Gates’ first solo exhibition in Japan and largest-ever in Asia, made up of following sections: Shrine; Black Library & Black Space; Blackness; Timelines; and Afro-Mingei. This exhibition showcases major bodies of existing and never-before-seen work that demonstrate the influence of Japanese culture on his practice.

Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei
Date: April 24th – September 1st, 2024
Hours: 10:00 – 22:00 (Tuesday till 17:00)
Place: Mori Art Museum
Address: 53F Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)47 316 2772 (Hello Dial)
https://www.mori.art.museum