Combining medicine and art, an interview with Fumio Nanjo - June 2009
Over the years Fumio Nanjo has worn many hats as a critic, curator, lecturer as well as the director of the Japan Pavilion at the 47th Venice Biennale (1997) and a member of the jury committee for the Turner Prize (1998).
Nearly two years ago, ChinarTree met with the formidable Nanjo to discuss his role as artistic director of the Singapore Biennial (2008). Recently, we were fortunate enough to catch up with him again, this time to talk about his ongoing work as Director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
Nanjo has been responsible for a number of initiatives at the museum since his appointment in 2006. This November he will combine the two seemingly immiscible worlds of medicine and art in an intriguing exhibition, tentatively titled ‘The Body as Universe.’
In association with the Wellcome Trust in London, the exhibition seeks to explore the body as ‘meeting place’ of science and art by bringing together ‘precious historical documents on medicine with contemporary and classical Japanese art.’ We wanted to know more…
ChinarTree: How did the idea for this exhibition first come about?
Fumio Nanjo: Well, I got to know about the Wellcome Trust in London which was founded by Henry Wellcome in the 19th century. He was the one who first invented the tablet, so people could start taking medicine in regulated doses. Then he began to collect materials about the human body and medical science from Asia, South America and Africa.
In total the collection consists of about two million items in storage - some are now in the British Museum and at various science museums in the UK. They kindly agreed to lend me some of these items to match and display along with contemporary art.
CT: How will you be demonstrating this relationship between medicine and art?
FN: We’re not trying to be too open - we’re more concerned with this concept of narrow curation. The work should be strongly linked to medical science.
For example, Damien Hirst’s ‘Pharmacy’ is of course on the list and he also made an installation with medical equipment. Kiki Smith also made these beautiful glass sculptures linked to genetic science. So it will be selected artists.
I would like to show the scope of medical science in a global way. We are including charts of the body made by people hundreds of years ago - Iranian, Tibetan, Japanese.
CT: Tell us more about this approach of ‘narrow curation’?
FN: The story will firstly be about the scientific search of the body by human beings. The second section is about fighting death. The first step may be discovering the body, but then you need to understand the mechanisms behind it and try to mend it.
The third part is ‘What is the front-line of medical science now? And how does this impact our future? What is the meaning of death?’ So the third part is philosophical, linked to questions of where we come from and where we’re going.
This was explored by Gaugin, but we cannot of course get the pieces involved. Another piece that would be wonderful for this would be the famous image of an operation by Rembrandt and then of course there’s Da Vinci.
CT: So you’re mapping the exploration of science through art from Da Vinci to Hirst?
FN: Yes. We haven’t decided on installation yet, but it is more about specific artworks by selected artists rather than good or bad artists. I hope to show around 200 hundred artists in total of which only 20 will be contemporary.
CT: And how about Frida Kahlo?
FN: Maybe - it’s a good suggestion!
CT: And how do you think the show will be received in Japan?
FN: That’s what I’m afraid of! Even previous artist’s shows involving anatomy have been received as frightening in Japan. We’ll be showing actual body parts including bones, parts of legs and eyeballs!
In Japan they are not always so scientifically minded, people like to talk about superstition and ghosts. Having said that, the exhibition ‘Bodyworlds’ by the German doctor has come to Japan five times already and has been very successful.
I’m hoping to stimulate the same people’s curiousity - but it will be complex combining art and history as well as asking philosophical questions. That’s why we’re trying to get the right title and text. As it says, ‘this unique exhibition finds connections between the mortal human life and the eternity of art.’
‘The Body as universe: Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art’ will be on display at MORI ART MUSEUM, Tokyo from 28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010.
