What is AAT?

Art Award Tokyo (AAT) visits graduation exhibitions from Japan's major art universities and graduate schools, and then selects the best works and artists from these exhibitions, bringing them all together in the Miyuki Gyoko Gallery in the Marunouchi underground, after which the Grand Prix is awarded to them through a public judging process.
When written like this, it may seem like just a "university graduation exhibition," but we have a much bigger "mission" in mind. It is a challenge to discover young talents who will make a leap into the world, and to build an evaluation axis and a continuous system for that. Therefore, when researching the works and visiting and selecting each art university, the major criteria for judgment are global art trends, critical consideration, and the extent to which the artist has the ability to continue creating in the future. In other words, we do not want to simply evaluate the works within the protected confines of a "graduation project," but rather want to judge them as "young Artist "Artist can be recognized worldwide. It goes without saying that the judges will also always be asked to use their own eyes, critical ability, and judgment.
The first AAT last year not only garnered great acclaim as an exhibition, but also led to many Artist being discovered and belonging to galleries, and being invited to group shows at art museums, among other results. For the second AAT in 2008, we hope to further materialize and accelerate this response. At the same time, we also believe that it is important to place importance on critics who support and analyze "young Artist."
AAT will finally pave the way for the future of art in Japan.

Shigeo Goto
(Editor / Creative Director / Professor and Head of the ASP Department at Kyoto University of Art and Design)