Berlin - Tokyo - Berlin? A short note on the asymmetry of the relationship of Japanese and German arts in the 20th century
Did anybody see the exhibition Berlin - Tokyo / Tokyo - Berlin at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo last year? I wasn’t neither able to see the exhibition in Tokyo nor at the second venue in Berlin afterwards. The reviews in the German press were very positive (except on the contemporary part of the show) while the main English review of the exhibition in a Japanese newspaper was quite crushing: “Berlin/Tokyo: Invitation to a car wreck”.
Some better examples
While I cannot say anything about the exhibition, I found the catalogue to the exhibition very weak compared to previous exhibition catalogues about the relationship between the West and Japan. Just take for example the early publication “Japan und Europa 1543-1929″ (Berlin, 1993) which contains many elaborate essays as well as detailed descriptions of/ explanations to every piece exhibited; or take the more recent exhibition catalogue “Encounters: The Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500 - 1800” (Victoria &Albert Museum, London 2004) which contains very insightful essays on the early encounters between the West and Japan. I have seen the show and I kept it in my mind as a very important contribution to our knowledge about the cultural exchange in the early stage of the contact between the Far East and Europe.
