ABSTRACT
I address the recent socially engaged art (SEA) movement in Japan, not only as art history, but also from citizen and communitybased perspectives, focusing on its strengthening of vernacular heritage resilience. First appearing in Japan in the 1950s through the 1970s, and developed during the 1990s, after 2000 SEA particularly flourished in community-based art projects. Utilizing local vernacular architecture, they engaged with central and local administrations, nonprofit organizations, participants, residents, and volunteers. SEA, now considered a method of local revitalization, however, has been criticized for ignoring art’s capacity to liberate diverse subjectivities. Using participant observation and interviews, I show how new SEA actively emancipates those subjectivities. Against the stereotype of Japanese homogeneity, SEA encourages the resilience of individual cultural vernacularity.
