Children move freely to and fro across all sorts of boundaries: between different cultures, for instance, or between the real world, and the world of imagination. This exhibition “Go-Betweens” focuses on this childhood characteristic in an attempt to look at the world through a child's eyes. Photographer Jacob Riis, who documented the lives of poor immigrants in New York during the late 19th and early 20th century, dubbed immigrant children who performed various tasks as interpreters for parents with a poor grasp of English, “go-betweens.” These children who moved with ease between their ancestral culture and that of the United States, acted as bridges in the New World. Children also traverse the realms of reality and fantasy through their constant play and imagination. Their creativity, unconstrained by adult convention or the bounds of tradition, reflects a world far more multifaceted. Viewing children as go-betweens, or windows on the world, this exhibition focuses on different things occurring in society, and through images of children as they appear in works by some of the world's top artists, turns its gaze on politics, culture, family and other aspects of the environment surrounding children, and the problems they face. Taking as key words the likes of play, dreams and memories, it also homes in on the diverse sensate nature of children.

Every grownup was once a child. By tracing memories of emotions and sensations shown through art – joy, loneliness, pain – visitors may encounter a forgotten side of themselves. Moreover, though children are at the mercy of their environment, at the same time their potential to act as circuit-breakers in stalemate situations may well hold the key to our planet's future. By seeing how children cross boundaries, we explore the possibilities for a new world in which a greater diversity of values coexist.

* Exhibition information
Touring to: Nagoya City Art Museum, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum,
The Museum of Art, Kochi

Participating artists:
Chiristian Boltanski, Rineke Dijkstra, Teresa Hubbard & Alexander Birchler, Kondo Akino,
Jacob Riis, Shiota Chiharu, Won Seoung Won, Yamamoto Takayuki, and others

*image (left)
My Age of Seven - Oversleeping, 2010
C-print, 86x120cm
© Won Seoung Won

Courtesy of Mori Art Museum