News
The 74th Art Encouragement Prize 2023
2024/02/29
Cai Guo-Qiang and Shinji Ohmaki have been awarded the Art Encouragement Prize for Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Art Encouragement Prize for New Artist respectively for the fiscal year Reiwa 5 (74th) Art Encouragement Prizes. Please look forward to their further achievements.
Cai Guo-Qiang: Recipient of the Art Encouragement Prize for Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Reason for Award:
For the exhibition " Cai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos―From Primeval Fireball Onward" Internationally acclaimed artist Cai Guo-Qiang has positioned his 1991 solo exhibition Primordial Fireball, where he presented works drawn with gunpowder on folding screens, as a pivotal starting point for his subsequent projects. This exhibition showcased works ranging from these pieces created 30 years ago to recent kinetic LED installations, all within the same venue, demonstrating the trajectory of his activities and his vision for the future. The special exhibition "Cai Guo-Qiang and Iwaki" conveyed his feelings towards Japan, where he spent his formative years as an artist.
Cai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos― From Primeval Fireball Onward at The National Art Center, Tokyo (June 29 - August 21, 2023).
Shinji Ohmaki: Recipient of the Art Encouragement Prize for New Artist
Reason for Award:
For the results of the exhibition Shinji Ohmaki: Interface of Being among others. Shinji Ohmaki’s large-scale installations engage the bodily senses of viewers, transforming the exhibition space into an extraordinary environment. Along with the latest version of "Gravity and Grace" presented this time, "Liminal Air Space-Time: Fluctuations of the Vacuum" presented in a pitch-dark room, overwhelms the viewer with the ever-changing appearance of the fabric, which moves and changes with the wind. It also shows the possibility of a new sculpture with a continuously changing sense of volume. Including recent works that incorporate language and video, we look forward to the future of this sculptor who questions human existence itself.
Shinji Ohmaki: Interface of Being at The National Art Center, Tokyo (November 1 - December 25, 2023).
About the Art Encouragement Prizes:
Hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, these prizes are awarded to individuals who have made outstanding achievements in 12 categories: theater, film, music, dance, literature, fine arts A, fine arts B, media arts, broadcasting, popular entertainment, arts promotion, and criticism..