Research
Dr Yuko Kikuchi
Subject Area: Art and Design History
Research Group: TrAIN - Transnational Art, Identity and Nation
Peer Esteem (selected)
Membership of professional bodies
College Art Association (USA)
Design History Society
Association of Art Historians (UK)
Ruskin Association (USA)
British Association for Japanese Studies
William Morris Society
Association for Asian Studies (USA)
Japan Art History Society
British Association for Korean Studies
The Japan Society of Design.
Editorial positions
Appointed referee, Design History Workshop Japan.
Editorial Board Member, Chung Yuan Journal Of Design published by Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan.
Consultancies
Steering committee member for the Victoria & Albert Museum for the 'International Arts & Crafts' exhibition organised during March-July in 2005.
Fellowships
2006 University of Tsukuba.
2001-02 Academia Sinica in Taiwan, from The British Academy/The Academia Sinica.
Current Research
My on-going research on the issue of modernity and the discourse of cultural identities in East Asia continue to grow and I have recently its scope. My Taiwan project which investigates the discourse on Taiwanese identities in its visual culture, is expecting two major outcomes: a volume of collected essays by nine contributors and edited by myself -to be published as Refracted Modernity: Visual Culture and Identity in Colonial Taiwan (University of Hawai'i press, 2007), and a travelling exhibition in Taipei and London scheduled for 2008-9. My other major projects focus on the modern design and crafts in East Asia. I have been involved in a Hong Kong based three-year joint project, 'Critique of "Oriental" Modernity: a comparative study of the birth of modern design in China and Japan from 1860s to 1940s' and another book writing project on 'Russel Wright in Asia' which investigates the interventions made by American designer Russel Wright in the programme led by the American government to develop craft design and export products in Asian countries during the Cold-War period. I have also been conducting joint research at the University of Tsukuba in Japan as part of the 'Modern Japanese Art and Art Journalism in English Language Media in Japan' project.
Key Projects
Refracted Modernity: Visual Culture and Identity in Colonial Taiwan - collaborative research project led by Yuko Kikuchi and funded by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation. [view]
Selected Research Outputs
Books
2007 Editor and contributor: 'Refracted Colonial Modernity: Taiwanese Art and Design', University of Hawai'i Press.
2004 Author: 'Japanese Modernisation and Mingei Theory: Cultural Nationalism and Oriental Orientalism, London', London: Routledge Curzon.
1997 Co-author with Toshio Watanabe, 'Ruskin in Japan 1890-1940: Nature for Art, Art for Life', Tokyo: Cogito. (Winner of 1998 The Japan Festival Prize and 1999 The Gesner Golden Award)
Essays and Articles
2005 'The Mingei movement' in 'International Arts and Crafts', London: V&A Publications.
2005 'Yanagi Soetsu et l'artisanat traditionnel japonais' in Dossier de l'Art 118.
2004 'Martin Brauen, Bamboo in Old Japan, Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2003.' in Crafts, 186.
2004 'Japanese Modernisation and Mingei Theory: Cultural Nationalism and Oriental Orientalism.', London: RoutledgeCurzon.
2002 Co-author with Toshio Watanabe 'The British Discovery of Japanese Art' in 'The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations 1600-2000, vol. 5', Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press (Japanese version) and Palgrave (English version).
2001 'Sources of Inspiration: Takeshi Yasuda' in 'Crafts', Crafts Council, London, 173.
1998 'Hamada and the Mingei Movement' in 'Shoji Hamada: Master Potter', London: Lund Humphries in association with Ditchling Museum, Sussex..
1997 'A Japanese William Morris: Yanagi S"etsu and Mingei theory' in The Journal of the William Morris Society, XII-2.
1997 'Tomimoto Kenkichi' in 'Crafts', Crafts Council, London., no. 148.
Conference Papers
2007 'Russel Wright's Asian Projects and the Cross-cultural Fertilisation of Post-War National and International Design' at Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Conference, organised by Shanghai University.
2006 'Russel Wright's Asian Project and Japanese Post-War Design' at the 'Connecting' conference, organised by the International Committee of Design History and Studies (ICDHS) 5th Conference incorporating Nordic Forum for Design History Symposia. Also presented at Design History Society's annual conference, organised by the Delft University of Technology.
2006 'The Mingei Movement in the Transnational Context' at 'Mingei: Craft in 20th-century Japan and UK', British Museum, jointly organised by the Embassy of Japan, the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, TrAIN-University of the Arts London and the British Museum.
2006 'From Representation to Subjectivity: Taiwanese 'Vernacular' Crafts' at International Conference on History and Culture of Taiwan, organised by National Taiwan University, Taipei.
2006 'From Representation to Subjectivity: Taiwanese "Vernacular" Crafts' at International Conference on History and Culture of Taiwan, organised by National Taiwan University, Taipei.
2004 'Consuming Nationalism: Patriotic Objects of Desire during the Russo-Japanese War' at 'Re-imagining Culture in the Russo-Japanese War' Symposium by Birkbeck College, University of London., organised by Birkbeck College, University of London.
2004 'Bamboo Nationalism: The Complicity of Orientalism and Neo-nationalism in Modern Japanese/Taiwanese Crafts' at 'Nation, Identity and Modernity: Visual Culture of India, Japan and Mexico 1860s-1940s' Conference, Victoria & Albert Museum, organised by the Camberwell College of Arts and the Chelsea College of Art and Design.
2004 'Consuming Nationalism: Patriotic Objects of Desire during the Russo-Japanese War' at Design History Society's annual conference: 'Politics of Design' organised by University of Ulster, Belfast.
2004 'Re-evaluation of Mingei Theory in the Cross-Cultural Context' at 'Japanese Ceramics:Cultural Roots and Contemporary Expressions Symposium', Harvard University.
2004 'Okamato Taro's Mexico and Jomon: Alternative Counterpoint Modernity in Post-War Japanese Avant-garde and National Art Discourse' at 4th International Conference on Design History and Design Studies: 'Coincidence & Co-incidence', organised by Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico.
2002 'Refracted Colonial Modernity: Identity in Taiwanese Crafts from the Colonial Modern to the Contemporary National' in the Proceedings of the Papers at the Asia-Pacific Traditional Arts Forum, organised by the Council for Cultural Affairs, the Executive Yuan, ROC and the National Institute of the Arts in Taipei.
2001 'Li Mei-shu and the Sanxia Zushi Temple: Taiwanese Vernacular 'Modernity' in Comparative Perspective' at National Taipei University., Taipei.
2001 'Refracted 'Vernacularism' in the Development of the Modern Taiwanese Crafts' at 'Refracted Colonial Modernity in Art and Design of Taiwan' conference, The National Museum of History, Taipei.
