Abu Dhabi: The latest exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi — Japanese Connections: The Birth of Modern Décor — was officially opened on Thursday.
The exhibition featuring 50 paintings, prints and folding screens by 12 French and Japanese artists.
Running until November 12, the exhibit’s opening was attended by a number of dignitaries including Mohammad Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi; Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence; French Ambassador to the UAE Ludovic Pouille; and Kanji Fujiki, Japanese Ambassador to the UAE.
Curated by Isabelle Cahn, general curator of Paintings at Musée d’Orsay, the works of the 12 French and Japanese artists have been assembled from the collections of Louvre Abu Dhabi, Musée d’Orsay, Musée national des Arts asiatiques — Guimet and Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
The exhibition will be accompanied by programming that celebrates Japanese arts and culture. The exhibition opening weekend will feature the Emirati-Japanese Kharsha Drums group, presenting traditional waikaido percussion performances played by Japanese and Emirati musicians.
The programme will also offer film screenings curated by arts and culture expert Hind Mezaina, a talk entitled ‘1,000 years of Manga’ exploring how Japanese traditions inspired the comics phenomenon, and a project with renowned street artist Myneandyours, whose collaboration with several UAE schools will be showcased in the museum. The programme culminates with a ‘Big in Japan’ weekend featuring a spoken word event by award-winning poet Emirati Afra Atiq, and a performance by the Turntable Symphonograph Orchestra from Japan. The museum’s cafe will also feature a special Japanese-inspired menu.
