Post 3.11 is a series of talks that aimed to examine how the role of the artist and art activities post-earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region of Japan. For the first session, The Japan Foundation invited Ichiro Endo, a painter and performer who has exhibited at venues including Art Tower Mito and BACC Bangkok and the Beppu Contemporary Art Festival.

Endo was joined by Kaori Homma, Art Action UK and Keith Whittle, curator and Japan Foundation Fellow, who introduced several artist projects initiated in response to the disaster. Including artists and artist groups Chim↑Pom, Shiga Lieko and Kato Tsubasa working in or near the regions affected and with its communities, and touching upon the contradictions and conflicts that exist in the context of Japanese modernisation and industrialisation, and post-war diplomatic policy, in the particular Japan-US relations under the Cold War structure, and the prioritising the economy and efficiency during the period of high economic growth.

The talk explore’s the artist’s role and impact of art activities that respond to unprecedented situations, social and political issues, or take an exclusively political position in response to issues thrown up by the events in 2011, posing the question ‘What is the power of art and what can it do?’.

Organised by the Daiwa-Anglo Japanese Foundation, London