Curated by Kataoka Mami (Director, Mori Art Museum), Kumakura Haruko (Assistant Curator), Tokuyama Hirokazu (Associate Curator, Mori Art Museum)

”The Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, is pleased to present an exhibition entitled Listen to the Sound of the Earth Turning: Our Wellbeing since the Pandemic, from Wednesday, June 29 to Sunday, November 6, 2022. Since 2020, an invisible virus has stolen away our everyday, and wrought havoc on our way of life and state of mind. Under these circumstances much artistic expression, including contemporary art, resonates more keenly than ever.

”Listen to the Sound of the Earth Turning” explores ways to live this new life as the pandemic persists, and the nature of “wellbeing” that is the holistic health of both body and mind, from multiple perspectives found in contemporary art. Works on subjects with a connection to life and existence – nature and humans, the individual and society, family, the repetitious nature of daily living, the spiritual world, life and death – will encourage us to consider what it means to “live well.”

Emphasizing the type of experience only accessible in the real-life space of the museum, this exhibition will showcase approximately 140 works by sixteen artists from both home and abroad – including installations, sculptures, video, photography, paintings and more. Honing the senses and engaging with art by experiencing first-hand the materials and scale of works will prompt viewers to consider what “wellbeing” means for themselves, rather than what is suggested by others or wider society.

The title of the exhibition is a quote from a piece of instruction art* by Yoko Ono and invites us to expand our consciousness to encompass all the majesty of the cosmos, reminding us that we are no more than a tiny part of its workings, and guiding us toward new ways of thinking. As we address questions of human life in the world at an essential level now that the pandemic has struck us, perhaps it is this very imagination that will present to us possibilities for the future.”

Featured Artists

1. Ellen Altfest  – Born 1970 in New York; lives in New York and Kent, CT
2. Aono Fumiaki – Born 1968 in Miyagi, Japan; lives in Miyagi
3. Montien Boonma – Born 1953 in Bangkok; died 2000 in Bangkok
4. Robert Coutelas – Born 1930 in Paris; died 1985 in Paris
5. Horio Akiko – Born 1937 in Tokushima, Japan; lives in Hyogo, Japan
6. Horio Sadaharu – Born 1939 in Hyogo; died 20 1 8 in Hyogo
7. liyama Yuki – Born 1988 in Kanagawa, Japan; lives in Tokyo
8. Kanasaki Masashi – Born 1990 in Tokyo; lives in Tokyo
9. Kanazawa Sumi – Born 1979 in Hyogo; lives in Tokyo
10. Koizumi Meiro – Born 1976 in Gunma, Japan; lives in Kanagawa
11. Wolfgang Laib – Born 1950 in Metzingen, Germany; lives in Southern Germany, South India and New York
12. Zoe Leonard – Born 1961 in New York; lives in New York
13. Naito Masatoshi – Born 1938 in Tokyo; lives in Tokyo
14. Yoko Ono – Born 1933 in Tokyo; lives in New York
15. Tsai Charwei – Born 1980 in Taipei; lives in Taipei
16. Guido van der Werve Born 1977 in Papendrecht, the Netherlands; lives in Berlin, Amsterdam and Hassi, Finland

Exhibition: June 29 [Wed] – November 6 [Sun], 2022