Japanisches Glück - Eine Ausstellung zur Spurensuche zwischen West und Ost und der ästhetischen Dimension von Glückserfahrungen

In the organizer's words:

How do you exhibit happiness? What is happiness and where can it be found?

Initiated by the Identity Foundation, non-profit foundation for philosophy, Düsseldorf and realized in cooperation with the Düsseldorf Peter Behrens School of Arts, an experimental and sensory design exhibition will be presented at the Japanese Cultural Institute Cologne, which attempts to shed light on the connections between happiness and Japanese aesthetics using selected objects from everyday life, design objects and works of art.

Twenty personalities from the fields of art, design, philosophy, cooking, Japanese studies, music, fiction, fashion, photography, typography and exhibitions were invited to select the objects. They are all connected to Japan and have contributed as co-authors to the exhibition catalog "Japanese Happiness - In Search of the Happiness of Inner Peace through Aesthetic Experience" (Optik Books).

In addition to the obvious aesthetics of the objects, the exhibition also highlights the happiness experienced by the artisans and makers when viewing, using or making the selected objects. Persistent and hard work is rewarded with the happiness of inner satisfaction. The selected film by filmmaker Ooki Jingu about the Japanese master craftsman Baba Masayuki shows this in a vivid way.

Handy readers in various languages make it possible to find out about the backgrounds and relationships of happiness to the objects in the exhibition. The various texts describe surprising perspectives and at the same time help to make the objects speak for themselves. Some of the texts are very personal experiences, while others were written by the exhibition team.

The exhibition design was created by students from the Exhibition Design (EDI) master's program at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences together with students from the Tallinn Academy of Art (EKA). Their exhibition design is both experimental and playful. The exhibition architecture radiates calm and simplicity and creates very different sensory impressions. One example of this is the interactive installation "In Praise of Sweeping".

The event is a cooperation with the International Philosophy Festival phil.COLOGNE (June 11 to 18, 2024).

The exhibition was initiated by the Identity Foundation, non-profit foundation for philosophy, Düsseldorf, realized in cooperation with the Düsseldorf Peter Behrens School of Arts and the Japanese Cultural Institute Cologne.

Price information:

Free admission The Japanese Cultural Institute Cologne is closed Monday-Friday between 1 and 2 pm.