Awaiting a Revolution in Cutting-edge Art

Among this year's entries, works using light and sound were prominent while, due to the diffusion of international exhibitions and the popularization of contemporary art, interactive installations using lazers, video, and sound could also be seen. However, contemporary art is not limited to aesthetics and sensory stimulation. There has also been a trend in recent years to place importance on social concerns, and in the Art Division of this festival the works ultimately selected also deeply engage with reality. Nevertheless, as in previous years, the Grand Prize has stuck to the mold of pure art or art appreciation.
If we investigate this direction toward connecting society with art, then we find it is new media art that, through the use of social networks and big data, abounds with possibilities to extend the field into unexplored territories. The joy in being a judge in the Japan Media Arts Festival lies in being able to encounter astounding and beguiling works that, through approaches and methods different to those of conventional media art, invigorate social awareness. Within the current od art history, examples of conceptual art, with its emphasis on concept and language, can be found taking simple plastic forms. The Jury Selection Double Standards - Somali Seajacks 2010-2012, a survey of 59 vessels that were attacked by Somali pirates over a two-year period, is an excellent work that can precisely be said to fl ow from this current, but at a comprehensive level its content would be difficult to understand immediately in an exhibition venue where physical receptivity is important.
All of the Excellence Award-winners demonstrate a high creative quality appropriate for the Grand Prize. However, if we look simply at the parameters of social criticality and the level of completion in terms of rich plasticity, the selected works could swing to either pole. The decision this year that none of the selections qualify for the Grand Prize was made with the sincere hope of encountering works that are a fusion of both aspects, exceeding mere consumption to convey a message for the future.
Although the heart leaps at cutting-edge creative experiences and plastic forms, works of long-term commitment can, while encouraging criticality in the viewer, and attempting to stave off transformations in a continually deteriorating global environment, exalt the spirit. It is precisely exemplary works of contemporary art that offer unparalleled intellectual stimulus to consider the future.