From Here to There is Japan Society’s first online, commissioned project initiated as a testing ground for artistic practice, discussion, and production. This dynamic online programming reflects upon the current moment and responds to our collective resilience and desire for meaningful connections. Striving to deepen understanding and encourage public engagement in the Japan-U.S. relationship has been at the heart of Japan Society’s mission for over a century.

The ongoing pandemic has exposed our vulnerability but also our resiliency. It has demanded isolation even as opportunities to make connections continue to evolve. Given the current flux of culture and life, From Here to There introduces the work of Nobutaka Aozaki, Hanako Murakami, and Aki Sasamoto, three visual artists whose new projects reckon with time, place, and context.

Each project takes its own direction and interpretation on the theme through its respective medium and attempts to collapse the distinctions that are particularly resonant today: isolation/community; physical/digital; illusions of control/agency. A dossier-style website for each project serves as an experimental testing site and reveals behind-the-scenes videos, photographs, research notes, related texts, and more—providing living documentation for each in-progress project with regular updates of new material throughout the duration of the show.

Through new and reframed projects, including commissioned works, performances, and digital programs, the exhibition aims to blur boundaries and create meaningful connections that bridge physical sites of artistic production and display, such as artist studios and spaces for exhibition, with online sites to explore creative processes and to cultivate a dialogue around the visual arts today.

Serving as the official launch of the online exhibition From Here to There, participating artists Nobutaka Aozaki, Hanako Murakami, and Aki Sasamoto will introduce each newly developed project in discussion with Tiffany Lambert, Assistant Curator, Japan Society. Presentations will be followed by a round-table discussion exploring intersections among their distinct projects and will contemplate what it means to make art in this time, moderated by Yukie Kamiya, Gallery Director, Japan Society.