The fifth edition of the “East-East: UAE meets Japan” series, curated by Sophie Mayuko Arni, will open in the seaside town of Atami, in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, this November.

The exhibition will be held from November 3rd to 27th at HOTEL ACAO ANNEX, as part of ATAMI ART GRANT 2022, an art festival organized by PROJECT ATAMI, supported by the City of Atami, Atami Tourism Association, Shizuoka Prefectural Cultural Foundation, amongst other governmental and corporate sponsors.

Last year’s ATAMI ART GRANT 2021 welcomed more than 10,000 visitors to various venues throughout the city of Atami.

The exhibition marks a rare opportunity for Arab artists, many from the United Arab Emirates, to exhibit new site-specific works alongside Japanese artists in the historical resort town of Atami, a famous destination for onsen hot springs located just south of Tokyo. Two participating artists, Bady Dalloul and Shaikha Al Ketbi, as well as the curator, are currently taking part in ACAO OPEN RESIDENCE artist residency program, producing new works on-site of the exhibition venue.

HOTEL ACAO ANNEX, Atami, Japan. (Photo: Naoki Takehisa/Image courtesy: ATAMI ART GRANT)

The exhibition will be held at inside the 700,000 square meters Acao Spa & Resort complex, which opened 60 years ago and stands today as one of Atami’s most recognizable hotel resorts. Its extravagant interiors blend baroque style and Japanese traditional ryokan. As a time capsule of bubble-era Japanese taste, they interestingly mirror the taste of rococo-style hotels and palaces built in the UAE from the 1980s to today.

HOTEL ACAO ANNEX, Atami, Japan. (Photo: Naoki Takehisa/Image courtesy: ATAMI ART GRANT)

The exhibition, which is part of a global effort to decentralize West-centric art narratives, and create meaningful dialogues between the Arab World and East Asia, will celebrate 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and Japan, and is the fifth edition of the East-East: UAE meets Japan exhibition series started in 2016 at NYU Abu Dhabi Project Space, which has since traveled to multiple gallery venues in Dubai and Tokyo.

“Walking through the halls of HOTEL ACAO ANNEX made me reflect on the afterlife of luxury resorts. Materiality in all its grandeur – we are in the afterlife of man-made ornaments decorating an 18-floor hotel, an architectural wonder built off the cliff of Atami, Japan. Stepping into this hotel reminded me instantly of the United Arab Emirates, a place I had called home for many years. Atami’s resort construction mirrors the development of the Gulf’s seashores today, with the UAE currently accepting an influx of tourists to large hotel structures built on environments that have developed naturally over thousands of years. I would like this exhibition to reflect on the choices artists and architects from the UAE and Japan have made when interacting with their coastal environments,” Arni said in a press release.

Inspired by the name of the 1962 Donald Richie’s short film, Atami Blues sets forward a cinematic scene, with site-specific installations spanning eight rooms of the hotel, from onsen baths to royal suites to grand dining halls. A central theme is the idea of shared storylines of the UAE and Japan surrounding blue seas and oceans.

Many works in this exhibition explore the histories of labor, migration, exchange, and architectural innovation taking place on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the Arabian Gulf. One example is the pearl diving industry, which the UAE dominated before Japan took over as one of the world’s leading pearl exporters.

The other is Abu Dhabi’s sabkhas environments, saline wetlands between land and sea, which serve today as inspiration for new construction material innovation. The exhibition will also showcase the works of artists who use meditation and performance as tools to personally navigate cross-cultural dialogues between the Arab World and East Asia.

“East-East: UAE meets Japan Vol.5, Atami Blues” features newly-commissioned as well as site-specific installations by artists and architect collectives, including by Bady Dalloul, Rintaro Fuse, Lamya Gargash, GROUP, Shaikha Al Ketbi, Hashel Al Lamki, Nimyu, and waiwai research and design agency. Mediums vary from painting to video and sound installations, to photography and multi-media installations.