Yuki Iiyama and Fellow Artists Take Action: Pro-Palestine Protest at the National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo

Yuki Iiyama and artists participating in the Does the Future Sleep Here? – Revisiting the Museum's Response to Contemporary Art After 65 Years exhibition held a protest against Israel's occupation of Palestine at the National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo, on March 12, 2024.

The protest was organized by "Concerned Citizens and Exhibiting Artists (展覧会出品作家有志を中心とする市民)." The group expressed their "strong opposition to the Israeli government's ongoing genocide in Palestine" and demanded that Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd, an official partner of the National Museum of Western Art, halt the import and distribution of Israeli weapons.

According to the group, the protest took place without prior notice given to the museum, and only a few of the participating artists were informed of the planned action in advance.

The protest took place in the museum's lobby during the press preview. After a brief greeting by the exhibition organizers, one of the participating artists, Yuki Iiyama, suddenly began to read a letter of protest. A banner reading: "Kawasaki Heavy Industries Don't be Complicit in Genocide" was hung from the upper floor towards the press, and protesters' chants caused temporary mayhem in the venue.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the National Museum of Western Art signed an official partnership agreement on March 17, 2023. Notably, this is the museum's first official partnership agreement. The museum was established in 1959 to preserve and exhibit the "Matsukata Collection," which belonged to Kojiro Matsukata, the first president of Kawasaki Dockyard, the predecessor of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

As the museum's first exhibition in its 65-year history to feature works by contemporary artists, Does the Future Sleep Here? has attracted a fair amount of attention before its opening. Intending to reflect on the museum's history critically, the exhibition also starts with referencing the origins of the Matsukata Collection, which served as the museum's foundation.

Shortly afterward, during the public preview, Mai Endo, a participating artist, and Aya Momose, a fellow artist who has worked with Endo previously, staged a guerrilla-style protest performance outside the exhibition space. Dressed in what appeared to be blood-soaked costumes, the two slowly and silently walked around the room, demonstrating their protest against the Gaza invasion.

The initiator of the protest, Yuki Iiyama, has previously openly protested against the censorship of her work, which touches on the massacre of Koreans during the Great Kanto Earthquake. The controversy began with Iiyama's exhibition We Walk and Talk to Search Your True Home (2022), sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Human Rights Plaza, a facility managed and operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Human Rights Promotion Center. The screening of Iiyama's film In-Mates (2021) was scheduled as a special event for this exhibition but was banned by the Human Rights Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. After making a public statement, Iiyama also took the protest directly to the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.