Louvre No. 9: Bande Dessinée

In recent years, the work of Franco-Belgian comic artists – known as Bande Dessinée (BD) – has began earning the status of high art in its region of origin. As the title of this exhibition suggests, Francophone comics are being labelled the 'ninth art[form]', on par with painting, sculpture, poetry and so on, and have even earned the honour of access to the hallowed halls of the Louvre. Started in 2005, the Paris museum's BD Project invites comic artists from all over the world to create new Louvre-themed works for display. From Japan, Jiro Taniguchi and Hirohiko Araki have already taken part, while Taiyo Matsumoto is among this year's new contributors. The Mori Arts Center Gallery's 'Louvre No. 9' displays not only works and materials from the BD Project's past, but also specially commissioned art by local greats like Matsumoto, Daisuke Igarashi, Shinichi Sakamoto, Katsuya Terada and Mari Yamazaki, and aims to present a vision of how the French and Japanese comic cultures can come together and draw inspiration from each other.