50th Anniversary Pre-Project Collection 2: Historicizing the Contemporary
The National Museum of Art, Osaka presents a collection exhibition tracing contemporary art trends up to 1977, marking its 50th anniversary pre-project for 2026.Summary
The National Museum of Art, Osaka opened in 1977 after taking over the former Expo Museum of Fine Arts in Expo Memorial Park, Suita. It relocated to Nakanoshima in 2004 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2027. Ahead of this milestone, the museum will divide its 2026 collection exhibitions into two phases, looking back through its holdings at art trends and their contexts up to its founding year of 1977. Since opening, the museum has focused primarily on the diverse practices of art arising in the contemporary moment, tracing what artists thought and presented in the "here and now." At the same time, the museum is a place that classifies, organizes, and historicizes all works, and contemporary art is no exception; the "contemporary art" of its early years differs from what it means today. Alongside tracking the latest trends, the museum must continue to reconsider and reevaluate contemporary art accumulated as history. This collection exhibition revisits movements that flourished in the 1960s, such as "Pop Art," "Minimal Art," and "Conceptual Art," aiming to review former contemporary art that is now over half a century old and to find footholds for grasping art that is emerging now. The exhibition runs from December 1, 2026 to March 22, 2027, at the National Museum of Art, Osaka B2F galleries. It features works by Kimiyo Mishima, Edward Ruscha, Nobuo Sekine, Kishio Suga, Katsuro Yoshida, Group GUN, and Minoru Yoshida. Curated by Senior Researcher Takashi Fukumoto. Admission is 1,000 yen for adults (800 yen), 500 yen for university students (400 yen), free for high school students and under, under 18, and 65 and over. The ticket also grants admission to the concurrently held special exhibition "Places Where Words Overlap."
(Source：ART iT)