Cultural Cargo

As the name suggests, the Kobe Biennale is an art exhibition that takes places every other year. Autumn is a time where Japan takes particular mention to culture, especially that of international acclaim. Kobe, as it is historically known to do, opens its ports to manifest a sense of global culture and absorbs the creativity of its own local artists.

Taking place in three separate venues: Meridien Park, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art and the Port of Kobe, there lies a convergence of artistic vision and inspiration to a city that, only a decade ago, was devastated by the destruction of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. In the presence of an endless blossom of new art and culture, it stimulates the community to feel a revival of cosmopolitan living and a celebration of the "wa".

"Wa" means peace and is often adopted into all facets of Japanese society. There is an underlying understanding and respect of peace that I often feel Americans should have a better understanding of. However, to another extreme, Japanese "wa" may sometimes limit individual creative potential for the fear of being perceived as too autonomous.

Without the comfort of this higher power "wa", Japanese might feel in constant fear of an individual's unpredictable actions which compromise this balance and distort life into dissent.

For this reason, "wa" was somewhat of a lackluster theme, which didn't really permeate any of the installations. Displayed in separate cargo holds scattered around the seaside park, a sundry of artistic works were distinctively enticing and exhibited a variety of modern art.

As a foreigner, it is difficult to obtain any sort of written intentions of the artist. Of course, the placards next to the display provide a certain insight that would be more than helpful to understand. However, there is a dignified sense of true artistic freedom in accepting the work completely for the work alone.

In the 1950's a group called the New Critics piqued interest of the masses by their unique literary criticism that evaluated a work of art void of any extra-textual information, including the biography of the writer or artist themselves. While difficult to survey art in this sense, it provides a depth of understanding, complexity and even mystery. By default, foreigners with the disadvantage of illiteracy are somewhat stuck with this method of criticism, but nonetheless, it is a bold attempt to understand the willful artistic gesture of another culture unknown.

Some highlights of the exhibit:

An Escher-esque oragami room.

Fun with 'fetti and fans
An ode to otaku or those bemused by a Japanese sub-culture that pays homage to anime, manga and strange, sexual fetish.

Galaxy quest and a 3-D silhouette.

Bang for your buck bonus is that your 1,200 yen ticket is valid for two non-consecutive days so that you can visit other portions of the Biennale exhibit depending on your artistic curiosity and thirst for some good, creative cargo.