Abstract
“The Aida Makoto Retrospective” had been held at Mori Museum of Fine Arts, Tokyo, from November 2012 to March 2013. It had been well received by both main-stream media and art circles, while criticized as “hugely infringing on women’s dignity.” It, therefore, ignited classical yet not adequately resolved issues, and thus, caused a controversy; if those works are either pornography or art, and if those inherently cause violent effects on the minors and those who are vulnerable to those effects.
Instead of choosing an answer within a given choice, this paper provides a context with the issues by bringing in “museum (of fine arts) as modern institutional medium” through which visibility and meanings of art works are put into effect. Through this analysis and criticism, the issues could be re-situated in such a way that the controversy does not necessarily favor a particular position, namely Art History. In addition, this paper argues that “pornography” has to be regarded as an effect of “museum as modern institutional medium,” complicit with Art History. Thus, a theoretical perspective, informed by this paper, attempts to offer a fresh insight at the issues, thereby allowing a critical moment to emerge for astute audience and critics to engage themselves in communicative praxis.
