Mingei Bamboo Prize International Prize - Mingei Japanese Arts and Parcours des Mondes

For 15 years the Mingei gallery has been defending Japanese bamboo basketry and is now the first European gallery of this specialty.

With a collection of several hundred works, the Mingei gallery has organized numerous exhibitions on this theme, as well as exhibitions by contemporary artists,

Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (2015, 2018, 2021) and Nagakura Kenichi (2017), or “Ōita, Japanese Bamboo Art from Ōita area” (2019) and “Iizuka, Masters of Bamboo in Japan” (2020), Mingei Bamboo Prize, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet, 2021; “Eloge de la Lumière: Pierre Soulages – Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, Baur Foundation – Geneva, 2022), etc.

In 2016, in partnership with the Mingei Gallery, the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques - Guimet presented Godai, the monumental installation Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, an event unanimously acclaimed.

Stemming from a long tradition of braiding bamboo, the art of basketry in Japan has conquered in recent years an ever-growing public, and rose to the rank of acclaimed works of art, especially during the exhibition «Fendre l'Air, Art du Bambou au Japon» by 165,000 visitors to the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (11/2018- 04/2019). An exhibition initiated by the Mingei gallery.

MINGEI BAMBOO PRIZE SECOND EDITION (MBP-2023)

Making the recognition of this art permanent and encouraging contemporary creation are the main objectives of this annual prize organized by the Mingei gallery. This prize is aimed at all Japanese artists, regardless of their age, mainly using bamboo as a medium. Artists can present themselves at the prize as many times as they wish.

The amount of the MBP-2023 is set at €5,000.

It is entirely funded by the Mingei gallery.

The finalist artist will also be invited to Paris at the expense of the Mingei gallery to receive his prize.

The jury, currently being constituted, will be presided over by Stéphane Martin, Honorary President of the Parcours des Mondes 2023 and former President of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.

As in the first edition, the public will have the opportunity to vote via a QR Code system for a second Prix du Public Parcours des Mondes-Mingei, in the amount of €2,500, jointly funded by the Parcours des Mondes and the Mingei gallery.

The works will be exhibited during the Parcours des Mondes (5-10 September 2023, Mingei gallery, 7, rue Visconti Paris 6e).

The first edition of the Mingei Bamboo Prize, in 2021, was won by Tanabe Chikuunsai IV with the work Disintegrated bamboo Daruma, exhibited at the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet with all the finalists. The artist Yonezawa Jirō won the Guimet-Mingei Public Award with Red Fossil 20-3 following the public vote by QR Code.