Screening of the documentary film Feeling the World and talk
A "Domani: The Art of Tomorrow" 25th anniversary project

Experiencing the World(2022)

Aldo Grassini and his wife Daniela Bottegoni are a visually-impaired couple who have used their hands to feel their way around the world, encountering a diverse range of culture and art on their travels. The pair were instrumental in the founding of the Museo Omero tactile museum in Ancona, in the Marche region of Italy, in 1993, the museum gaining public status in 1999. This 60-minute documentary showcases the activities of the museum, where replicas of pre-modern sculptures and actual works by contemporary artists can be appreciated by touch. Following its Japanese premiere at the Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum (Nagaizumi, Shizuoka) in the autumn of 2022, the film will be screened in Tokyo during Disability Week (December 3–9). A post-screening talk with novelist and Waseda University professor Ono Masatsugu, joining director of the film Okano Koko, and Domani exhibiting artist Kitagawa Taro, who has also staged “tactile” exhibitions, will also be held.

Date

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Time

13:00 registration; 13:30 film screening; 14:30–15:30 talk

Seats

100
*Pre-book for this event and receive free same-day admission to the exhibition
*Capacity has now been reached.

Admission

Free

Venue

The National Art Center, Tokyo, 3F Auditorium

Organizers

The Agency for Cultural Affairs; The National Art Center, Tokyo

In conjunction
with

Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum

Speakers

Ono Masatsugu (Novelist; Professor, Waseda University)

Born 1970, native of Oita Prefecture. A novelist, French literature scholar, and professor at Waseda University. Received the Asahi Award for New Writers for his first novel Mizu ni umoreru haka [Graves buried in water], the Mishima Yukio Prize for his second novel Nigiyaka na wan ni seowareta fune [Echo on the Bay], and the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award for 9 Nen Mae no Inori [A prayer nine years ago]. His translations from French include In the Name of Identity (Amin Maalouf) and Three Strong Women (Marie NDiayi). He has been a host of NHK’s Sunday Museum since 2018.

Okano Koko (director of the film)
Born 1973. Master of Arts in Education, Columbia University Teachers College. Organized exhibitions including “The Sense of Wonder: Into Another Garden” and “Everybody Needs a Rock: Sensing the world through the eyes and hands” at the Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum. As an extension of her research on the possibilities of museum education through senses that go beyond the visual, she produced the documentary film Feeling the World.

Kitagawa Taro (Domani 2022–23 exhibiting artist)
Born 1976 in Hyogo Prefecture, currently based in Okayama Prefecture.
2007-2010 Program of the Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists (Cusco, Peru), Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan Kitagawa's sculptures, painstakingly crafted in stone with chisel, hammer, and a steadfast commitment to working by hand, are primitive in aesthetic and brimming with vitality; their spontaneous, artless appearance summoning hitherto unknown sensations. In recent years Kitagawa has participated in numerous exhibitions sounding a warning to today's world, taking different approaches to demonstrating the innate appeal of stone as a material. In recent years, he has also extended his practice the experience of appreciating sculptures via “touch.”

Documentary film Feeling the World website