Bunraku Backstage
Japan Society, New York City, 2024
Clients: Japan Society
Curator: Dr. Michele Bambling
Senior Gallery Director
Research: Naomi Kuromiya
Senior Research Associate
Exhibition Logistics: Stefani Oh
Gallery Associate
Fabrication: Miles Huston, Sebastijan Jemec, Meris Rosenberg
Installation & Art Handling: WittsART
Vinyl Installation: DaSign Guy
Bunraku, one of Japan’s representative traditional theaters, was born around 1600 from the unification of three itinerant folk arts: puppetry, narrative recitation, and shamisen music.
Literately translated as “delighting in the literary arts,” bunraku brings to life real and imaginary stories, captivating audiences with historical tales, war epics, and love tragedies.
Alongside the bunraku performances held at Japan Society this fall, Bunraku Backstage offers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the theater. It presents puppets and props on loan from the National Bunraku Theater in Osaka, archival photographs and interview excepts with performers and artisans from the Barbara Curtis Adachi Bunraku Collection, and works of contemporary art exploring the aesthetic language of bunraku.
The entire exhibition, featuring materials diverse in both form and scale, is presented within a long table that occupies the center of the exhibition hall. Designed to match the dimensions of the objects on display, this single structure incorporates cut-outs—voids and pockets—that accommodate the puppets without requiring additional protective barriers between them and the visitor. In this way, the table itself becomes an 11-meter-long sculpture, capable of gathering all the works into one continuous form.
