Eleven Japanese and foreign artists are featured in "The Gift of Hope," the third exhibition in the "MoT Annual" series, which previously only showcased emerging Japanese artists. It was decided to expand the format this year because of the transition from the 20th to the 21st century. The artists were assigned to communicate with the audience -- to offer a "gift of hope" for the future through their art, by including the audience in their work.
Viewer participation is central to almost all exhibits, and the varied approaches are engaging. Works range from the cynical, playful despair for the future in Kenji Yanobe's "Atom Suit" installation to the joyfulness of two Thai artists' installations.
The robot/spaceman aesthetic of Yanobe's installation, based on his trip to Chernobyl, is at once fantastic and chilling. A 500-strong army of 10-cm plastic figures wearing radiation-protective suits surround the suit Yanobe wore himself while at Chernobyl, which is placed on a wide light box in the center of the gallery. The light box shows slides of his trip and cheerful snapshots of him in the suit with the people whose lives have been destroyed by the accident.