With the opening of the Tokyo Biennale 2023, RELATIONS: A Project for Criticism and Media Practices, launched as part of Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021, is being relaunched. The project aims to consider the possibilities of art criticism and media practices in the age of digitization and globalization—particularly in the space of web and social media—and to propose new practices for criticism and media.

RELATIONS was launched as one of the projects of the previous Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021. Its purpose was to explore new forms of “critique” in the midst of the great transformation of contemporary art. In particular, held during the COVID-19 pandemic, this web project introduced multilingual (Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean) critiques focusing on art and the city diversifying in the face of globalization.

The RELATIONS 2023 continues the RELATIONS 2020/2021, but with the following major issues in mind.

1. The increasing importance in the arts of social issues such as environmental problems, declining birthrates, aging populations, and poverty, as well as issues surrounding diversity such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
2. Since the ‘social turn’ in contemporary art, new forms of art have been expanding, including workshops, participatory art, research-based art, relational aesthetics, and socially engaged art and so on.
3. The development of media technology, the evolution of computers and other terminal devices, and the development of new art infrastructures such as AI, virtual reality, blockchain, and NFT are all progressing at once.

In response to this recognition, RELATIONS intends to propose a new form and language of critique appropriate for the new era of art. Specifically, in addition to traditional text-based critique, we plan to utilize video and audio as important media and incorporate more dialogue and conversation into the critique process. Rather than confining criticism to the realm of art, we will actively seek dialogue with other fields that were previously considered not part of the art world. We also plan to further collaborate with the Tokyo Biennale 2023, and will also organize workshops, symposiums, and educational programs related to criticism.

Related Information

• RELATIONS: A Project for Criticism and Media Practices | Tokyo Biennake 2020/2021

Yoshitaka Mouri (RELATIONS Project Director) and others