Sharing experience

More than forty Newcastle University Fine Art students and graduates are exhibiting their artwork at Art Spot Korin, Kyoto, Japan as part of a cultural exchange.  Students from Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto Seiko University and Doshisha University are exhibiting concurrently in Newcastle University’s Ex-Libris Gallery in the King Edward VII building.

The project has been organised by Chris Jones, Professor of Fine Art Practice at Newcastle University and Masa Kawanaka, Director of Art Spot Korin.  Professor Jones said: “Cultural exchange in a post-pandemic and climate emergency context prompts us to consider the potential of other ways of holding conversations and sharing experience, ones that are not always dependant on face-to-face encounter. These exhibitions provide just such an occasion.”

A spectrum of interests

The title of the project, With & Without You, reflects the duality of creative practice – the sense of working with independence but also in dialogue with others: curators, supporters, fellow artists and the audience.

The exhibtion reflects the diversity of creative practice from the two regions. It includes examples of painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and time-based media and many kinds of hybrid practice. Thematically, the work explores a spectrum of interests reflective of concerns with the contemporary condition: identity, gender, ecology, narrative, value, materiality.

The 44 Newcastle students will exhibit at Art Spot Korin, Kyoto, Japan, from 12 November to 8 December, while 14 Kyoto students will exhibit in Newcastle University’s XL Gallery, King Edward VII Building, from 6 to 18 November.