With the relentless advance of economic development in recent years, people's lifestyles have become more uniform. Particularly, the countries of East Asia, lying in close geographical proximity, are gradually coming to resemble one another. Although Japan used to look upon its neighbors as "near, but far" countries, it would perhaps be better now to call them "near, and near." The people of East Asia in the current era can be said to share the following perception in common: they are all happy in the present moment, thanks to economic prosperity, but at the same time they are vaguely anxious about what the future has in store. That leads us to the theme of the exhibition: we have chosen the term of "cute" to describe the ambiguous feeling (happiness combined with anxiety) held by many Asians today. We are not using "cute" merely in the sense of being charming, lovely, or sickeningly sweet, but also to mean the fervent desire of artists to impart their works with the evanescent feeling of being happy "right now and here" -- a feeling that may be lost at any moment.

Participating artists:
Ai Iijima (Japan), Wakako Kawakami (Japan), Ku Shih-yung (Taiwan), Minako Nishiyama (Japan), Park Hong-chun (Korea), Yao Jui-chung (Taiwan), Wang Jun-jieh (Taiwan), Wang Qing-song (China), Wang Te-yu (Taiwan).