Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi
AATM is a contemporary art exhibition dedicated to discovering and nurturing young artists. Its curators visit graduation exhibitions at leading art universities, art colleges, and graduate schools across Japan, and from among the nominated works uncovered there, a further selection is put on display. It is closely watched each year as an award that recognizes outstanding emerging artists.
A.A.T. Founding Statement
From Tokyo to the world — A.A.T. is building a system to discover new artistic talent.
Japan has many art universities. And even outside those universities, there are many young people aspiring to become artists — young people with new and outstanding talent. Yet even when talent exists, there is a great contradiction: no system to nurture it.
Looking back, the world’s art scene since the 1990s — driven in part by the globalization movement typified by the internet — has entered an extraordinarily active state. And yet the gap only widens each year: Japan’s young talents lack critics who actively evaluate them and lack any system to launch them onto the world stage.
A.A.T. researches, selects, and nominates graduation exhibitions from major art universities, and will exhibit them together at a new space now being opened in Marunouchi (the Gyoko-dori Underground Passage Gallery). Awards are decided through open judging and public discussion by a committee (jury) of critics, curators, and educators. The awards are strictly intended to support the recipients’ future production costs.*The abbreviation at founding was “A.A.T.”
Notable artists who have exhibited in the past include Daisuke Ohba, Kaoru Usukubo, Masato Taniguchi, Noriyuki Konishi, Koji Nakazono, Aya Ito, Mari Katayama, Aki Kondo, Rina Mizuno, Natsuki Takayama, Ryu Kawada, and Haruna Mitobe Shohei Yamamoto — the program has produced many popular artists.
For the latest exhibition at the time this article was written, please refer to the link below.
Past Participating Artists
2021
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2021/artist.html
2020
Grand Prize: Xu Ning
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2020/artist.html
2019
Grand Prize: Aki Kojima (Kyoto City University of Arts, Graduate School)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2019/artist.html
2018
Grand Prize: Kazuhiko Hiwa (Kyoto University of Art and Design)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2018/artist.html
2017
Grand Prize: Toko Izumi (Musashino Art University, Graduate School)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2017/artist.html
2016
Grand Prize: Yuki Murata (Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2016/artist.html
2015
Grand Prize: Taishi Nishi (Kyoto City University of Arts, Graduate School)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2015/artist.html
2014
Grand Prize: Yusuke Taninaka (Kyoto City University of Arts, Graduate School)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2014/ja/artists/
2013
Grand Prize: Shoyo Jahana (Tokyo University of the Arts)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2013/ja/artists/
2012
Grand Prize: Mari Katayama (Tokyo University of the Arts)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2012/ja/artists/
2011
Grand Prize: Masanori Koyama (Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2011/ja/artists/
2010
Grand Prize: Shunsuke Matsushima
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2010/ja/artists/
2009
Grand Prize: Wah (Kenji Minamigawa + Hirofumi Masui)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2009/ja/artists/
2008
Grand Prize: Emi Otaguro (Tokyo University of the Arts)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2008/artists/index.php
2007
Grand Prize: Haruka Kojin (Tokyo University of the Arts)
https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/aatm/2007/artists/index.html
