“UNIVERSAL MUSEUM”: Exploring the New Field of Tactile Sensation
| Location | The Special Exhibition Hall, National Museum of Ethnology |
|---|---|
| Exhibition Period | Thursday, September 2 – Tuesday, November 30, 2021 |
| Hours | 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Entry is permitted until 4:30 p.m.) |
| Closed on | Wednesdays |
| Presented by | The National Museum of Ethnology |
| Admission Fee | Adults ¥880 (¥600), and college/university students ¥250 (¥200), senior high school and elementary and junior high school students Free *Visitors can also view the regular exhibits. *We perform the some display substitute during the period. |
Services may be subject to change or cancellation due to coronavirus infection prevention measures. We thank you in advance for your understanding.
Admission fee
※ Those in brackets ( ) are discount charges for groups of more than 20 people, people of universities and the like* who use this facility as part of their classwork, high school students writing reports, repeat visitors within 3 months after the last visit, and people 65 years old and older (certification required).
* Groups of 20 or more university students are eligible for the discounted exhibition admission rate (¥200 for university students).
* University students and the like include students of college, undergraduate, graduate, and vocational school students.
※ Admission is free for visitors with a disability certificate and also for one accompanying person.
※For college students and general visitors: please buy a museum ticket at the ticket windows of the Natural and Cultural Gardens. Ticket holders can pass through the garden at no charge.
※For high school students and younger to pass through the Natural and Cultural Gardens (paid area): tell the person at the window of the garden (center, west, or north entrance) that you are going to Minpaku and receive a pass.
※ When you are going to the Natural and Cultural Gardens (paid area), you should pay the admission fee.
※ You can buy tickets at major convenience stores all over Japan.
Shuttle Bus Service
The service is available on Saturdays, Sundays, and National Holidays between September 2(Thursday) and November 30 (Tuesday).
There is a shuttle service from Bampaku-kinen-koen Station on the Osaka Monorail Line to the National Museum of Ethnology during the exhibition period. Please use our shuttle bus service.
- 11 round trips per day ◆ The bus ride takes 10 minutes ◆ Free of charge
*may be temporarily unavailable when Expo ’70 Commemorative Park holds an event. - The service does not run on weekdays and, October 30, 31, November 3, 6, 7
Exhibition Guide
A large collection of artworks that you can touch and experience physically. This is an exposition which explores the possibilities of “touch”, featuring artworks made from a variety of materials using a variety of techniques, and arranged according to themes such as “Touch History”, “The Scene Unseen” and “Touch Sound”. The experience of the coronavirus pandemic has revealed how the everyday mantra of “don’t touch, don’t be touched, don’t allow others to touch” has broken down human beings’ natural forms of communication (being in contact). A non-touch society cannot nurture a culture rich in stimulation. Come to the exhibition hall and try moving your hands. The Universal Museum is not just about supporting the physically disabled or socially deprived. Visitors who attend and participate in this special exhibition will help create new chains of connection and stimulation with their own hands!
３D Map of Mt. Fuji ／ Miki Seisakusho Co., LTD.
trip of the tactile ／ WATARU（Tomoya Ishikawa+Shoko Furuya）
Space-time pyramid ／ Taro Kitagawa
A person who thirsts for hope ／ Hiroshi Katayama
Gathering Clouds1―The sculptured group of ectoplasm ／ Naohiro Takami
Gathering Clouds2―The sculptured group of ectoplasm ／ Naohiro Takami
attitude Ⅰ ／ Seitaro Moriya
Melt in the canyon of a tub – Turn inside out the tumulus ／ Takayuki Okamoto
Pop-up picture book ／ Chiaki Kuwata
tactile book ／ Yayoi Mashimo
Related Event
| September | ||
|---|---|---|
| September 3 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| September 4 (Sat) | Gallery talks by exhibitors CANCELED | Exhibitor Asuka Tosaka |
| September 10 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| September 11 (Sat) | Workshop ‘Love Stone Project-UM (rugged edition)’ CANCELED |
Instructor Atsuya Tominaga（Sculptor） |
| September 17 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| September 18 (Sat) | Minpaku Seminar ‘What is an able-bodied person? The Story of Hoichi the Earless’ |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| September 19 (Sun) | Workshop ‘The shape of a heart, a mass of feelings’ CANCELED |
Instructor Naohiro Takami（Sculptor） |
| September 20 (Mon) | Gallery talks by exhibitors CANCELED | Exhibitor Taro Kitagawa |
| September 24 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| September 25 (Sat) | Gallery talks by exhibitors CANCELED | Exhibitor Yayoi Mashimo |
| September 26 (Sun) | Gallery talks by exhibitors CANCELED | Exhibitor Koji Maekawa |
| October | ||
|---|---|---|
| October 1 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| October 2 (Sat) | Minpaku Associates Lecture ‘Creating a masterpiece you can feel – the diversity and possibilities’ |
Instructor Akihisa Tatsumi（Kyoto City University of Arts） Student volunteer from Kyoto City University of Arts |
| October 3 (Sun) | Workshop ‘Love Stone Project-UM (rough edition)’ |
Instructor Atsuya Tominaga（Sculptor） |
| October 8 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| October 15 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| October 16 (Sat) | Minpaku Seminar ‘What is the Universal Museum? Regaining our natural intuition in the dark’ |
Instructor Toru Ohishi（Ashiya University） Hiroshi Kurosawa（Nanzan University） Satoshi Shinohara（Tokai University） |
| October 22 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| October 29 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ CANCELED |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| October 30 (Sat) | Minpaku Associates Lecture（Tokyo venue） ‘Why should we touch? How should we touch? Seeking new developments in tactile understanding’ |
Instructor Kiyotatsu Yamamoto（The University of Tokyo） |
| October 31 (Sun) | Workshop ‘Designing for touch – how to enchant with pop-up books’ |
Instructor Chiaki Kuwata（Designer） |
| November | ||
|---|---|---|
| November 3 (Wed/ National Holiday) |
Workshop ‘Love Stone Project-UM (smooth edition)’ |
Instructor Atsuya Tominaga（Sculptor） |
| November 5 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| November 6 (Sat) | Gallery talks by exhibitors | Exhibitor Koichi Sakao |
| November 7 (Sun) | Screening of projects related to the Minpaku Film Show ‘And then the Goze disappeared – The travels of a blind female entertainer’ |
Commentary Hiromi Saito（GozeMuseumTakada） |
| November 12 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| November 13 (Sat) | Special Lectures and Performances ‘The ‘sound of soil’ heard by the body – touch, strike, shake and spread’ |
Commentary Yasuyuki Watanabe（Sculptor） Perfomance Sachiko Nagata（Percussionist） |
| November 14 (Sun) | Workshop ‘Touch sound – how to make the Earth ring out’ |
Instructor Yasuyuki Watanabe（Sculptor） Sachiko Nagata（Percussionist） |
| November 19 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| November 20 (Sat) | Workshop ‘Opening your senses to see the invisible’ |
Hiroshi Katayama（Sculptor） |
| November 21 (Sun) | Minpaku Weekend Salon: A Chat with a Researcher ‘Behind the scenes at the exhibition – before and after the opening’ |
Speaker Naoko Sonoda（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| November 23 (Tue) | Gallery talks by exhibitors | Exhibitor Manami Goto |
| November 26 (Fri) | Touch Tour ‘Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience’ |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
| November 28 (Sun) | Minpaku Weekend Salon: A Chat with a Researcher ‘A non-touch society cannot engender stimulation – looking ahead to EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai’ |
Instructor Koujirou Hirose（National Museum of Ethnology） |
Touch Tour
Every Friday during the exhibition period, a touch tour will be hosted entitled “Special Exhibition Hands-On Experience” (Koujirou Hirose).
* The program in October is canceled due to coronavirus infection prevention measures.
* Details of the program after November will be announced in due course.
Gallery talks by exhibitors
Gallery talks by exhibitors will be held on the following dates.
- September 4 (Sat) Asuka Tosaka CANCELED
- September 20 (Mon) Taro Kitagawa CANCELED
- September 25 (Sat) Yayoi Mashimo CANCELED
- September 26 (Sun) Koji Maekawa CANCELED
- November 6 (Sat) Koichi Sakao
- November 23 (Tue) Manami Goto
* The program in September is canceled due to coronavirus infection prevention measures.
* Details of the program in November will be announced in due course.
Publications
Catalogue
“UNIVERSAL MUSEUM”: Exploring the New Field of Tactile Sensation
- Editing: National Museum of Ethnology
- Editor: Koujirou Hirose
- Publisher: Chiisagosha
- Price: ¥2,750 (incl. tax)
- Size: B5
- Pages: 248
- Publication date: 2nd September 2021 (Thu)
List of Exhibitors
0. “Touch Base
– Why Should we Touch? How Should we Touch?”
Warming up exercise to learn “touch etiquette” (manners and techniques). Let’s move our hands and bodies gently and slowly.
- Miki Seisakusho Co., LTD.
- Kintetsu Real Estate Co., Ltd
- WATARU（Tomoya Ishikawa+Shoko Furuya）
1. “Section 1
Adding Touch to Vision with Sculpture”
Use your whole body to touch and feel carvings and sculptures made with a variety of different materials and techniques.
- Hiroshi Katayama
- Taro Kitagawa
- Naohiro Takami
- Yuichi Tashiro
- Atsuya Tominaga
2. “Section 2
The Scene Unseen”
Scenery is not something you see with your eyes. Sharpen the senses of your whole body to physically experience “invisible worlds”.
- Sahoko Aki
- Hiroko Sakai
- Koichi Sakao
- Tokuya Yano
- the Study Group Working on Universal Museums
3. “Section 3
Opening a Dialogue with Art”
Dialogue with exhibits, dialogue with oneself, dialogue with other museum visitors – touching the artifacts and other materials on display opens up a variety of new dialogues.
- Kanae Kato
- Kiyonori Shimada
- Koji Maekawa
- Hidenori Majima
- Toshio Matsui
- Ruriko Miyamato
- Seitaro Moriya
4. “Section 4
Touch History”
How, and how far, can we imagine the stories of the people who made, used and transmitted the objects on display? Let’s try feeling the history that is the concatenation of humanity’s “making, using, and transmitting”.
- Michitomo Ishihara
- Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co., Ltd.
- Takayuki Okamoto
- Manami Goto
- Suita City Museum
- Kocho Nishimura
- Takeshi Horie
5. “Section 5
Touch Sound”
Various random “sounds” provide entryways to “unseen worlds”.
- Ashiya University
- Takeshi Kamei
- The Japan Braille Library
- Yasuyuki Watanabe
6. “Section 6
Seeing, Touching, Understanding”
“See and touch, touch and see, touch without seeing, see without touching”. Our hope is that new synergies will develop through the free interaction between those who see and those who touch.
- Tetsuya Ito
- Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd
- KYOTOGRAPHIE
- Kyoto City University of Arts
- Chiaki Kuwata
- Asuka Tosaka
- Yayoi Mashimo
- Yoko-Sonya
- Warabekan
- Iwasaki Shoten
- KAISEI-SHA Publishing Co., Ltd
- General Asahi Co., Ltd
- Kodansha Ltd
- KOGUMA Publishing Co., Ltd
- Shogakukan Inc.
- Chiisagosha
- Tenyaku Ehon Fureiai Bunko
- Doshinsha Publishing Co., Ltd
- BL Shuppan
- Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers, Inc.
- POPLAR Publishing Co., Ltd
- Universal Design Ehon Center