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Japan Once Dominated the Art Market. Is the Country Ready for a Comeback?

Japan Once Dominated the Art Market. Is the Country Ready for a Comeback?

Even with the financial support, Mohri said that 70 percent of her time preparing for the Venice Biennale was spent on administrative tasks related to fund-raising and logistics. But she hoped that would be an investment in the future, and that Japan’s next biennale artist would have a better road map, with necessary support along the way.

“Opportunities are very limited,” Mohri said, explaining why only a few Japanese artists find an international audience. Raised in a family of teachers an hour outside of Tokyo, she joined an experimental punk band during college in the 2000s, taking part-time jobs serving meals on the bullet train and catering to businessmen in a hostess club to support her career. “I really enjoyed the conversation, and mostly I learned about human desire,” Mohri, now 44, said with a raised eyebrow.

In 2014, when she participated in the Yokohama Triennial, her artistic career began to gain traction. She taught herself English — rare in the insular Japanese art scene — and started networking with international curators, which helped raise her profile around Asia, Europe and the Americas. In 2015, she won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Nissan Art Awards for “Moré Moré (Leaky),” a kinetic sculpture that was inspired by the improvised ways that Tokyo subway stations patch leaks with anything on hand, including plastic tubing, umbrellas, tarps, funnels and buckets.

The sculpture was included at the Japanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale alongside her moldy fruit installation, “Compose,” which featured more than 400 rotting oranges, watermelons, grapes and apples.

Government officials said they were interested in building a more experimental arts sector, one that could match the resourcefulness of Mohri’s sculptures.

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