The Nagano Prefectural Agency for Cultural Promotion, a general incorporated foundation, in cooperation with the Nagano Prefectural Government, is going to host the third art exhibition “Shinbism 3,”jointly planned and produced not only by the curators from public and private institutions, but also freelance curators, having various careers, in the prefecture.

The title of the exhibition, “Shinbism,” stands for “The essence of beauty in the art in 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.

“Shinbism,” indeed, is the very child of Mr. Kunio Motoe, which came to be through his ideas and guidance. He served as the art director of Nagano Prefecture and unexpectedly passed away on June 3, 2019.
We fervently wish those Shinbists, who must surely have inherited his will, continue to oversee future projects and proceed with them resolutely.