First Steps Emerging Artists from Japan at P.S. 1

First Steps Emerging Artists from Japan at P.S. 1

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents First Steps: Emerging Artists from Japan, a biennial exhibition established in 1995 by Philip Morris K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Philip Morris International Inc., as a vehicle for discovering and supporting emerging Japanese artists and introducing them to the international art world. The work of ten prize-winning artists will be on view at P.S.1, a Museum of Modern Art affiliate.

Open to Japanese residents aged 20-40, the call-for-submissions attracted more than 1,000 artists working in a range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, animation, video, and film. An exhibition of the work of 57 finalists was presented at the Tokyo International Forum in Spring 2002. Of these finalists, jurors selected ten recipients of the Philip Morris K.K. Art Award in May 2002, seven of whom received a grant of two million yen (approximately $16,000) and all of whom received an invitation for an international debut of their work at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.

"Philip Morris K.K. is committed to creating opportunities for emerging artists living and working in Japan to contribute to a vibrant cultural life in their own country and gain recognition in the international art community," said Paolo Degola, President of Philip Morris K.K. "Supporting P.S.1 in the development and presentation of First Steps advances this effort to encourage aesthetic dialogue and the exchange of ideas across cultural divides."

The artists featured in First Steps were selected by a distinguished international jury of art curators and critics, including Alanna Heiss, Director of P.S.1/MoMA; Gary Garrels, Chief Curator of Drawings, MoMA; Klaus Biesenbach, P.S.1 Chief Curator and Artistic Director of KW, Kunst-Werke Berlin, and Susan Sontag, Writer and Critic. Members of the jury also include David Thorp, Curator of Contemporary Projects, Henry Moore Foundation, London; Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art; Christiane Germain, modern art, design, and architecture critic, France; Hou Hanru, independent curator and critic, China; and Akira Tatehata, Professor at Tama Art University, Japan. Kazue Kobata, Professor at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and adjunct curator for P.S.1, moderated the

selection process.

"Exploring truly diverse crosscurrents of art being created in Japan, this exhibition counters the assumption that Japanese art is preoccupied with technology and pop culture," said Alanna Heiss, Founding Director of P.S.1. "In First Steps, artists reject or reconsider the globalized world by infusing a deep sense of the personal, naturally employing a wide range of media but ultimately allowing content to dictate form."

– P.S. 1 Exhibition Press Release