The Nagano Prefectural Agency for Cultural Promotion, a general incorporated foundation, in cooperation with the Nagano Prefectural Government, is going to host the fourth art exhibition,“Shinbism 4,” as the Nagano Prefectural Artistic Supervisory Team’s project, jointly planned and produced not only by the curators from public and private institutions, but also freelance curators, having various careers.

The title of the exhibition, “Shinbism,” stands for “the essence of beauty in the art of Shinshu.” In this case, “shin” - 信 stands for Shinshu (Nagano Prefecture). The “bi” - 美 means beauty or art, and “ism” - イズム conveys “essence or principle.” At the same time, instead of using 信, which is pronounced “shin,” we can replace it with several homonyms having the same sounds as “shin,” but differ in meanings in order to elaborate on the meaning of “Shinbism.” Thus, “Shinbi” could be written as 新美 meaning new, art/beauty, 真美 meaning true, art/beauty, and 親美 meaning accessible, art/beauty.

Now, we are endeavoring to extend our unreserved support to the artists, and provide great variety of richer information to all citizens in the prefecture, by raising the motivation and skill of the curators, who worked hard to connect citizens with the artists and their works, and further promote strong networking among museums in Nagano Prefecture.

Upon this opening, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for all who offered their cooperation and support for the materialization of this exhibition.

February 2021
The Organizers