Conversations | Tokyo as Studio: Takashi Murakami and Shinro Ohtake

Organized in collaboration with Art Week Tokyo

Takashi Murakami, artist
Shinro Ohtake, artist

Moderated by Andrew Maerkle, Editorial Director, Art Week Tokyo

Japan's shapeshifting capital city, which has always been a fertile ground for homegrown and international artistic movements, nurtures an exciting array of visual cultures. This talk brings together two of the most significant artists in recent Japanese contemporary art, Takashi Murakami and Shinro Ohtake, to discuss how Tokyo has inspired their practices.

Takashi Murakami graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1993. In 2000, he proposed “Superflat", a concept/theory of contemporary visual culture that connects traditional Japanese art with the flatness of anime and manga while also referring to the state of Japanese society. In 2005, Little Boy, the exhibition he curated at the Japan Society, New York, was awarded the Best Thematic Show by AICA-USA. In February 2024, he opens Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto, his first solo exhibition in Japan in eight years, at Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, where around 170 of his new works will be presented.

Shinro Ohtake was born in Tokyo in 1955. His wide-ranging practice encompasses drawing, painting, collage, assemblage, moving image, multimedia installation, sound, architecture, and writing. The engine for his practice is his ongoing Scrapbooks project, begun in 1977, which now totals some 72 works. Ohtake has held monographic exhibitions at institutions including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2022); Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito (2019); and Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2012). His work has featured in international exhibitions including the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); documenta 13, Kassel (2012); and the 1st Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane (1993). He is a recipient of this year’s 65th Mainichi Art Award.

Andrew Maerkle is a writer, editor, and translator based in Tokyo. He is currently Editorial Director of Art Week Tokyo and, since 2010, Deputy Editor of the bilingual online publication ART iT. From 2006 to 2008 he was Deputy Editor of ArtAsiaPacific in New York, where he helped create the annual Almanac edition. Maerkle is a contributor to international journals including Aperture, Art & Australia, Artforum, and frieze. His book of translations Kishio Suga: Writings, vol. 1, 1969–1979 was published by Skira in 2021. From 2018 to 2023 he taught in the Graduate School of Global Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts.

The Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 Conversations program is curated by Stephanie Bailey.