Imperial Animations in Transpacific Contemporary Art

Imperial Animations in Transpacific Contemporary Art situates the Japanese Empire as a world-historical event that persists today through pervasive and deep impacts on regional and global politics. Considering contemporary artwork from across the transpacific region, Namiko Kunimoto documents efforts to expose colonial trauma and reveal its presence in shaping political liberalism in Japan as well as the global rise of aspirational fascism. At the heart of these artistic endeavors is a drive to animate, both in the sense of digitalization and performance and in the urge to enliven, mobilize, and reveal the continuities of imperialism today. The animate art addressed in this book urges us to think critically about imperialism and its links to the digital age, land, racism, and violence, thereby inviting us to reenvision our collective future.

About the author

Namiko Kunimoto is Director of the Center for Ethnic Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art at The Ohio State University. She is author of The Stakes of Exposure: Anxious Bodies in Postwar Japanese Art.

Product details

• Authors: Namiko Kunimoto, Kunimoto Namiko
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 24.02.2026
• EAN: 9780520421592
• ISBN: 978-0-520-42159-2
• No. of pages: 224
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Japan, Ethnic Studies, 20th Century, ART / Asian / General, 21st Century, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, 21st century, c 2000 to c 2100, History of Art, History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -, Oriental art, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / Asian Studies, Ethnic studies / Ethnicity, ART / History / 20th & 21st Century