Fields of Relation is a forthcoming publication by Keith Whittle that examines socially engaged art projects in Japan, exploring their objectives, practices, and implications—from curatorial and artistic strategies to their broader political, social, and economic contexts.
Over the past fifteen years, there has been a marked rise in what is commonly referred to as Chiiki Art (‘local art’) or Art Projects across Japan, many of which have been developed as catalysts for rural, regional, and urban revitalisation. Operating beyond the conventional framework of the museum, these initiatives are often deeply embedded within—and shaped by—the communities in which they take place. As a result, they have come to occupy an increasingly significant position in Japan’s contemporary art landscape, prompting renewed debate about the relationship between art, place, and public life.
Drawing on interviews and case studies from across the Japanese archipelago, the publication examines how these initiatives negotiate the intersections of art, community, and policy, while considering whether they offer new possibilities for curatorial practice and the evolving social role of contemporary art. By situating these projects within wider cultural, institutional, and governmental frameworks, Fields of Relation offers a critical account of the emergence of socially engaged art in Japan and reflects on its significance for contemporary curatorial discourse and participatory artistic practice internationally.
Borrowed Scenery: The Afterlives of Empire in Contemporary Japanese Art is a forthcoming publication by Keith Whittle that examines how contemporary artists in Japan and its former colonies engage with the enduring legacies of Japanese imperialism. Through archives, personal histories, performance, photography, and moving image, it explores how artists recover suppressed memories and challenge dominant narratives surrounding empire, colonialism, and national identity.
Marking eighty years since the end of the Second World War, the publication considers how artistic practices have become critical sites for rethinking Japan’s colonial history across Korea, Taiwan, Manchuria, Okinawa, and the Pacific. Rather than treating empire as a closed historical chapter, these works reveal how its political, cultural, and psychological legacies continue to shape contemporary society. Operating between history and memory, artists reconstruct fragmented archives, foreground marginalised voices, and expose the silences, omissions, and revisions that underpin official accounts of the past.
Drawing on interviews, archival research, and close readings of contemporary artistic practice, Borrowed Scenery examines the work of artists including Jane Jin Kaisen, Yoshiko Shimada, Meiro Koizumi, Bontaro Dokuyama, and Fujii Hikaru. Through these case studies, the publication considers how contemporary art functions as a form of counter-history, offering new perspectives on colonial memory, historical responsibility, and the politics of remembrance, while reflecting on the continuing significance of empire within Japan and across East and Southeast Asia.