Latest news with #exposition
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
Okamoto Tarō: Creating New Human Values for a Troubled Age
The artist Okamoto Tarō (1911–96) is best known for Tower of the Sun , a 70-meter structure at the heart of the 1970 Osaka Expo site. Both sculpture and building, complete with interior space, the tower was an almost mystical presence, looming over the exposition like a great masked figure or sacred idol. Tower of the Sun , symbol of the 1970 Osaka Expo. (© Jiji) The tower's interior depicted the evolution of life from ancient times in ways that resist narrow categorization. Following multiple rounds of restoration, it is open today to the public. Widely recognized to this day as a symbol of the age in which the 1970 Expo was held, the tower remains significant for a variety of reasons. The Osaka Prefectural Government, which manages the tower, released a comprehensive assessment of the structure in November 2024, hoping to secure its recognition as an Important Cultural Property. The gigantic Face of the Sun , which was attached to the front of Tower of the Sun . Okamoto Tarō is seen working in the center. (© Jiji) Myth of Tomorrow , another legendary work by Okamoto, was painted in 1969 for a hotel lobby in Mexico but went missing after the hotel's bankruptcy. Rediscovered in 2003, it was installed in Tokyo's Shibuya Station in 2008. Some 5.5 meters high and 30 meters long, the work transcends classification as a painting with its sheer, overpowering scale. Myth of Tomorrow is displayed in the walkway connecting the JR and Keiō Inokashira lines at Shibuya Station. (© Jiji) Myth of Tomorrow is a mysterious work. It addresses grave themes, showing the Japanese tuna fishing boat that was contaminated by nuclear fallout from a thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll in 1954 beset by skeletal shapes symbolizing invisible, powerful energies of human creation. But its style has a manga-like lightness, and the work's overall perspective seems to airily rise above reality. Okamoto Tarō was never tied to one space or time. He transcends the now—and challenges us to join him. Following the 1970 Osaka Expo, he appeared in television commercials and on variety programs and was featured in news magazines and other media, constantly remolding existing values and reiterating his popular catchphrase: 'Art is an explosion.' These words were often understood as referring to uncomplicated art that ruptures the world with visceral directness, but in fact they were a broader call to arms reflecting Okamoto's belief that only art can change reality. Despite passing away in 1996 at the age of 84, Okamoto still attracts legions of fans. Why is this? Capturing the Antithetical in Artistic 1930s Paris Okamoto Tarō was born in 1911 to the successful cartoonist Okamoto Ippei and poet and author Okamoto Kanoko. Novelist and Nobel laureate Kawabata Yasunari once referred to this unusually artistic household as the 'Holy Family.' At school, Tarō argued with teachers as an adult might, causing friction that forced him to change schools multiple times. After graduating from Keiō Futsūbu School in 1929, he entered the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts). He left the school later that year, however, after the Asahi Shimbun newspaper assigned his father to cover the London Naval Treaty of 1930. The Okamoto family set out from Kobe together, but while his parents went on to London, Tarō disembarked at Paris, resolving to live like a local to realize his artistic goals. Instead of joining the Japanese expat artistic community in Paris, Okamoto studied at a suburban lycée, learning the French language, culture, and way of life. He frequented local art galleries and eventually studied philosophy and art at the Sorbonne. During his time in France, Okamoto would mingle with avant-garde artists like Picasso, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Ernst, Giacometti, and Man Ray, as well as thinkers like André Breton, prophet of surrealism, and Georges Bataille, who contemplated human existence through the lenses of death, violence, and eroticism. He experienced the cutting edge of abstract art and surrealism, concepts at the core of twentieth century art, in a milieu where debate raged over how to truly live, deeply influencing the subsequent course of modern French philosophy. As an artist, Okamoto endeavored to produce paintings where real and abstract elements coexisted in contradiction. After World War II, he became a proponent of 'Polarism,' a movement that sought to express rationality and irrationality in antithesis on a single canvas. Many of his works from this period place extremes in opposition, defying rational dissection much as human beings do. Ethnology as a Handle on Human Existence Visiting the Musée de l'Homme, opened at the former site of the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, 26-year-old Okamoto was deeply moved by the masks and idols on display, which had a vivid sense of presence rooted in the fundamentals of human life and belief. He began studying under the anthropologist Marcel Mauss at the Sorbonne to deepen his understanding of ethnography. Decades later, at the 1970 Osaka Expo, Okamoto created and used a subterranean exhibition space beneath Tower of the Sun to display his work Underground Sun , surrounded by countless statues and masks collected by scholars from around the world under Okamoto's guidance. These were later transferred to the National Museum of Ethnology, established seven years after the Expo. Okamoto Tarō on September 4, 1969, surrounded by masks and other folk art gathered for display at the 1970 Osaka Expo. (© Kyōdō) The interior of Tower of the Sun , symbol of Expo '70, has been open to the public again since 2018. Also on display is a re-creation of Underground Sun , which has been missing since the Expo. (© Jiji) After leaving for Paris at the age of 19, Okamoto made the occasional brief visit home and was conscripted into military service during the war, but did not permanently resettle in Japan until 1946, when he was 35. An un-Japanese life—a childhood in a home environment that celebrated artistic excellence and years lived amid the flourishing art scene of Paris in the 1930s—set him on a unique postwar path to transcend reality in Japan. The Meaning of the Avant-Garde in Japan Okamoto's philosophical and ethnographic pursuit of the meaning of human existence eventually led him to conclude that he would always be a foreigner in Europe, and would never produce art of substance unless he accepted Japan, where his roots lay, as his battleground. In 1940, as the war approached Paris, he boarded a ship for Japan for the last time. After arriving in Japan, Okamoto won awards for works produced in Europe, some shown at the 1941 Nika Exhibition and others exhibited independently. But the following year, at 31, he was drafted into the army and sent to China, where he spent over four years on the battlefield. When Okamoto finally returned to Japan in June 1946, he learned that his entire oeuvre to date had been destroyed, along with his family home, in the firebombing of Tokyo. He was thus free to reinvent himself as a fiercely independent Japanese artist, and he began charting a postwar course that sought to connect art with society and life amid the complex contradictions faced by modern Japan. Okamoto challenged Japan's conservative art establishment. He formed an avant-garde artistic movement called the Yoru no Kai (Night Society) with literary scholar Hanada Kiyoteru and others in 1948. Eventually, however, Okamoto shifted his focus from searching for a new art to developing a new art within society. In 1954, he established the Gendai Geijutsu Kenkyūjo (Institute of Esthetic Research) at his home and studio (now the Tarō Okamoto Memorial Museum), inviting artists, designers, architects, and others there to collaborate. The same year, he published the book Konnichi no geijutsu (Art Today), in which he asserted the need for artists to create new values relevant to people facing the many issues of modern society, including pollution, the Cold War, and the contempt for humanity accompanying economic growth. He expanded his activities to include public art, design, architecture, film, performance, and criticism, eventually coming to describe his occupation simply as 'Human.' New Traditions Linking Ethnology and Art The pursuit of Japanese tradition was Okamoto's driving force in the postwar period. In his 'Essay on Jōmon Earthenware: A Dialogue with a Fourth Dimension,' published in 1952, he reconsidered earthenware from the Jōmon period (ca. 10,000 BC–300 BC) discovered across the Japanese archipelago, claiming it had a beauty with no counterpart elsewhere in the world. Conventional accounts of Japanese art saw value in elements introduced alongside Buddhism, such as wabi-sabi and an emphasis on harmony, or modern Western aesthetics. But Okamoto believed that Japanese art was founded on dynamic Jōmon beauty, which destroyed balance with its fourth-dimensional irrationality. It was a startling discovery in the deep past of innovation that overturned old values, just as the art of prewar Paris did. Okamoto believed that Jōmon tendencies could still be seen in Japanese areas such as Tōhoku, Hokkaidō, and Okinawa. Armed with his knowledge of ethnology, he traveled the country studying, photographing, and writing about folk customs from his artist's perspective. For many years, he continued to publish his findings to share these 'new traditions' with wider society. He believed that the power of creativity is omnipresent in our lives: anyone can lead a more fulfilling life by adopting an artist's perspective or behavior into their everyday routines and resolving to express themselves and champion their personal values. 'Art is an Explosion' and 'Eyes Flying Through Space' This is the line of thought that led Okamoto to create Tower of the Sun and Myth of Tomorrow . In describing the essence of art, he used the phrase 'eyes flying through space'—in short, a perspective outside the reality-defining frameworks of human beings and our world that escapes into space. Artists work with an 'other,' be it paint and canvas, stone, or clay. But as they become absorbed in creation, they irrationally become one with that other. This is the true sense in which 'Art is an explosion!' When a work is completed, however, it rationally becomes an other again. Through art, comprising self and other, we have the potential to move beyond humanity and the world, shatter those frameworks, and change values at their foundations. Here is revealed the enduring, universal postmortem appeal, in our cramped and claustrophobic modern age, of Okamoto Tarō's art. Tower of the Sun . (© Jiji) (Originally written in Japanese and published on April 8, 2025. Banner image: Portrait of Okamoto Tarō. © Jiji.)
Bloomberg
02-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
France Scraps Bank Capital Rule for Indebted Firms as Risks Ease
France will ease some capital requirements for its largest banks on exposure to highly-indebted companies, after regulators said lenders face lower risk than they did two years ago. The French High Council for Financial Stability said in a statement that it would scrap the measure, which had required banks to implement a buffer equivalent to 3% of the relevant exposures if those assets surpassed 5% of their equity.
The Citizen
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
48 hours in pictures, 1 June 2025
48 hours in pictures, 1 June 2025 Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world. Visitors in costume take part in the TwitchCon Europe gaming and livestreaming event at Rotterdam Ahoy arena, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 31 May 2025. TwitchCon will gather thousands of streamers, gaming fans, and industry professionals worldwide in Rotterdam from 31 May to 01 June. Picture: EPA-EFE/ROBIN UTRECHT Ukrainian army amputee veteran Andrii dances with his partner Monika during the 'Brave Hearts' charity ball near Kyiv, Ukraine, 31 May 2025, amid the Russian invasion. The 'Brave Hearts' charity ball, an initiative of the U+ System prosthetics and rehabilitation center aimed at supporting Ukrainian military personnel with life-altering injuries from the war, plans to raise funds for prosthetics and the rehabilitation of veterans and servicemen currently awaiting assistance at the center. Picture: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO Ineeleng Kavindama from Botswana enjoys the moment at the Africa Fest SA 2025 on May 31, 2025 in Kempton Park, South Africa. The annual one-day cultural exposition brings together representatives from diverse African nations to showcase, celebrate, and share their respective cultural heritage through cuisine, clothing, art, music, and traditional practices. (Photo by Gallo Images/Antony Kaminju) A motorcyclist performs during the Day of Moscow Sports Festival in Moscow, Russia, 31 May 2025. The festival, organized by Moscow authorities, aims to promote a healthy lifestyle. Picture: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV People search a flooded area after heavy rainfall in the town of Mokwa, Niger State, Nigeria, 31 May 2025. More than 100 bodies have been recovered as search and rescue operations continue following a devastating flood that struck the Kpege area of Mokwa in the early hours of 29 May 2025, Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said. Picture: EPA-EFE/AFOLABI SOTUNDE A Greek Leopard 2A6 tank operates during the Immediate Response 25 military exercise at a military training center, near the town of Negotino, Republic of North Macedonia, 31 May 2025. The exercise, part of the DEFENDER 25 series, involves the armed forces of seven NATO member countries and two partner countries, and runs from 26 May until 09 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI Check dams set up on the water from the Lonza river after the formation of a lake on the last houses of the village of Blatten, Switzerland, 31 May 2025. A large part of the Blatten village, located in the Loetschental Valley in the canton of Valais, was buried under masses of ice, mud, and rock on 28 May after several million cubic meters of rock fell from the Kleines Nesthorn mountain above the village, resulting in the collapse of the Birch Glacier. Picture: EPA-EFE/CYRIL ZINGARO A model presents a creation by Indonesian designer Ivan Yogi Susanto during the Indonesia Fashion Week 2025, in Jakarta, Indonesia, 31 May 2025. The IFW event runs from 28 May to 01 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/BAGUS INDAHONO People carry their belongings through floodwater in Nagaon, Assam, India, 31 May 2025. At least five people died due to landslides in Assam in the previous 24 hours, as continuous heavy rainfall has caused flooding in six districts, affecting over 10,000 people, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority. Picture: EPA-EFE/ANUWAR ALI HAZARIKA French equestrian artist Lorenzo performs during the 24th edition of the Hassan II Trophy of 'Tbourida', Morocco's Championship of Traditional Equestrian Arts, in Rabat, Morocco, 31 May 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/JALAL MORCHIDI An Indian Hindu devotee walks barefoot on hot charcoal, a practice called firewalking, during a Hindu festival in honor of the goddess Mariyamma or Maha Shakti in Bangalore, India, 30 May 2025. Devotees perform the religious practice of walking on fire as an exchange for a wish or blessing granted by the Hindu goddess Parvathy. Picture: EPA-EFE/JAGADEESH NV A young participant paints a wooden cat figure during the annual Hermitage Cat Day celebration in the courtyard of the Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, 31 May 2025. The day is dedicated to the 60 Hermitage cats residing in the museum's basement, which has been hosting cats since the 18th century. Picture: EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV Visitors slide down a 50-meter-long, two-track foam slide during the Pink Soup Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania, 31 May 2025. The festival, in its third consecutive year, celebrates Lithuania's iconic summer dish, 'saltibarsciai,' a cold beet soup. Picture: EPA-EFE/VALDA KALNINA Firefighters and civil defense members carry out a mock drill to train civilians and security personnel to respond in case of an attack during Operation Shield, a large-scale civil defense exercise in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 31 May 2025. The drills are part of the preparations following the uncertainty in the region after the recent India-Pakistan conflagration, following which a ceasefire was announced. Picture: EPA-EFE/FAROOQ KHAN A man stands next to a bull at the Roskilde Agricultural Show, in Roskilde, Denmark, 30 May 2025, on the opening day. The agricultural fair runs from 30 May to 01 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/IDA MARIE ODGAARD MORE: 24 hours in pictures, 30 May 2025
Boston Globe
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘North of North' invites you to travel, well, pretty far north
Soon, Siaja and her young daughter have moved in with her troubled, charming mother Neevee (Maika Harper), who runs a supply store, while Siaja dives into the process of convincing Helen ( The show is awfully cute; it has a needle to thread between showing off the charms of its unusual setting and making clear that these are also people just living their lives like anyone else, even if they use a Ski-Doo to get from place to place. There are moments when 'North of North' can feel both a little overproduced and a little underbaked. There's an unfortunate overreliance on peppy music cues to close out scenes, and the writers sometimes resolve conflicts far too swiftly. You might find yourself wishing the show could just relax more into its storytelling and let its subplots unfurl with more jagged edges, and more zingers. Advertisement (L to R) Maika Harper as Neevee, Nutaaq Doreen Simmonds as Elisapee in "North of North." Jasper Savage/Netflix/JASPER SAVAGE/NETFLIX The show's more jagged parts are often the most compelling, thanks to especially strong work from Harper as Neevee. Siaja may still be working out who she wants to be as an adult, despite being a parent, but she's a reasonably open person. Neevee is a recovering alcoholic whose difficulties forced Siaja to take care of herself as a child, and she's none too thrilled when Alistair reappears. She's mercurial, the type of woman who responds to her granddaughter's behavior troubles in school by impulsively letting her skip a day and go play. She's hot and cold with both Siaja and Alistair, but Harper makes those choices feel true to a person working through some inner conflict. Siaja is our protagonist, but Neevee can be something of a fascinating antihero. The show's setting also lets it dig into conversations about Inuk culture. Siaja and the other younger folks of her generation can often understand some Inuktitut but not speak it, while older generations may not speak much English. Canada's history of residential schools, which took Native children from their families, looms in the background, a gruesome reality that the show manages deftly as a present but not forefronted trauma. In other words, 'North of North' is just plain interesting. The first season may be overburdened with exposition establishing how these characters live their lives, but it shows promise as a place to visit. Advertisement Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at
