The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, has opened its "The Contemporary" exhibition series, which reexamines the concept of "contemporary." Following on from the previous exhibition, "Our Time: Art in the Post-Industrial Era," the exhibition "Who Translates the World?", which begins on September 19, features 11 contemporary artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, exploring how they perceive and communicate the state of the world surrounding their communities. The diverse media and techniques, including textiles, printmaking, sculpture, installation, and video, allow visitors to appreciate the diverse appeal of contemporary art. The exhibition will also feature new works by El Anatsui, a Ghanaian-born, Nigeria-based artist who won the 2015 Venice Biennale's Golden Lion Award. The exhibition also features works by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, including Polish-born Artur Żmiewski, Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie, and Argentine-born relational artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. In today's society, where moving between and traversing different cultures is the norm, all relationships are fluid, and the histories and values depicted up until now take on various meanings depending on who is communicating them.

If artworks are the words and behaviors of their creators and an expression of how they perceive the world around them, how should we approach expressions that emerge from different cultural backgrounds in this post-colonial age?

In December, featured artist Pedro Reyes will be holding a two-day workshop titled "The People's United Nations General Assembly." By attending this exhibition and workshop, experiencing it, and participating in the artist's endeavors, we hope you will create relationships with the expressions of artists from various countries and experience for yourself this attempt to translate the world.
[Event Information]
The Contemporary 2: Who Translates the World?
Dates: September 19th - December 13th, 2015
Opening Hours: 10:00-18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays)
Closed: Mondays (except 9/21, 10/12, 11/23), 9/24, 10/13, 11/24
Venue: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Admission: Adults 1,000 yen, University students 800 yen, Elementary, junior high and high school students 400 yen, Over 65s 800 yen