THEMATIC ACTIVITIES | Who Are We? A Journey into the Contradictions of Contemporary Life

Focus areas

An interdisciplinary activity that may cut across a range of different subjects, such as literature, history, geography, civics, science, and art history.

Activities

For over forty years, Yukinori Yanagi (b. 1959, Fukuoka, Japan; lives and works in Momoshima, Japan), one of the most influential Japanese artists on the contemporary scene, has explored pressing and now highly topical themes such as nationalism, identity, and the increasingly delicate relationship between humanity and the environment.

Drawing on the title ICARUS, which prompts reflection on our overreliance on technology and its uses, and on the global consequences of human actions, Yanagi looks into the contradictions of modernity in his monumental, thought-provoking installations. These works merge elements of Japanese popular culture—such as Godzilla—with events of immense impact on history, such as the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

The students will be divided into groups and invited to explore the exhibition space on their own, guided by a selection of key images. These visual cues will help them piece together the historical and cultural context of Japan from the post-war period to the present day, the key role of atomic energy in international relations, the instability of universal symbols such as national flags, and the personal significance of crossing geographical borders in the search for one’s own identity. These and other issues will be at the centre of the thematic activities that will allow the students to share their reflections and start up peer-to-peer exchanges of ideas and thoughts.