Exhibition ‘ROBOTS and the ARTS’ Opened

On July 10, the exhibition titled ‘ROBOTS and the ARTS: Visual Images in the 20^th Century Japan’ opened at the Aomori Museum of Art (until August 29). It traced the relationship between humanoid robots and art. The exhibition consisted of four chapters: Prologue ‘Robotto izen: ugoku “hitogata” no yume (Before Robots: Dreams of Moving “Human Forms”)’; Chapter 1 ‘Senzen: Robotto no tanjō to dōjidai bunka (Pre-War: The Birth of the Robots and Contemporary Culture)’; Chapter 2 ‘Sengo I: Taishū bunka no kōryū to sengo āto no dōkō (Post-War 1: The Rise of Popular Culture and Post-War Art Trends)’; and Chapter 3 ‘Sengo II: Robotto imēji no genzai – robothikkusu kara āto made (Post-War II: The Robot Image Today – From Robotics to Art)’. The prologue introduced documentary predating the birth of the word ‘robot’ and its concept, followed by three chapters that ambitiously presented actual robots alongside a display of robot imagery spanning paintings, manga, animation, and even toys. The exhibition subsequently toured to the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (September 18 – November 17) and the Iwami Art Museum, Shimane Prefecture (November 20 – January 10, 2011). (Japanese)