About me

I am a Docent/Associate Professor of Japanese Language and Culture at the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies of the Stockholm University. I am an art historian specializing in Japan and East Asia with a transnational education and career (including Poland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway) in museums and academic institutions. I am also a member of the Young Academy of Sweden (elected in 2019). 

 

 

Education

• 2008    Ph.D., History of Art, Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan 
• 2002    M.A., Japan Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
• 1998    M.A., History of Art, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

Employment

• 2017 -           Associate Professor/Docent (tenured), Japanese Language and Culture (Art History), Dept. of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden
• 2011-2017     University Lecturer (tenured), Art and Visual Studies of Japan, Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
• 2011-2008     Guest Curator, Museum of Japanese Art and Technology (Krakow); Museum of Cultural History(Oslo); Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Stockholm)
• 1999-2008     Curator, Dept. of Far Eastern Art, National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland

Teaching

My teaching encompasses the following subjects: the arts and visual culture of Japan across genres and periods; print culture and poetry pictorialization; gender; art theory, methodologies of art history etc. I am also the Director of the MA Asian Studies Programme at our Department. 

Research

As an art historian, I am interested in interdisciplinary approaches that intersect visual arts and social and environmental history. Currently my main research projects pertain to socially engaged artistic practices and their impact on social-ecological systems in Japan and beyond.  I am also interested in the applications of digital technologies to the study of cultural artifacts and historical processes; and the potential transformative effects that computational methodologies hold for the discipline of art history in general.

 

Monographs and edited volumes

• 2009    Hokusai`s Hyakunin isshu: Visual Genesis of Japanese National Identity. Brussels: P.I.E-Peter Lang. (peer-reviewed monograph) 
• 2016    Too Pretty to Throw Away: Packaging Design from Japan, by Ewa Machotka and Katarzyna Cwiertka. Krakow: Museum of Japanese Art and Technology. (book) [Open Access]
• 2018    Consuming Life in Post-Bubble Japan: A Transdisciplinary Perspective, co-edited by Ewa Machotka and Katarzyna Cwiertka. Amsterdam University Press. (peer-reviewed edited volume) [Open Access]

Grants & Awards (selection)

• The Bolin Center for Climate Research, 2018/2019
• The Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, 2018
• The Leiden Asia Center, 2013-15
• The DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion, 2014/2015
• The College Women's Association of Japan, 2009-2011
• The Mitsubishi Foundation, 2006/2007
• The Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies, 2006/2007
• The Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 2004/2005
• The Japan Arts Foundation, 2003/2004
• The Japanese Ministry of Education, 2002-2006
• The Toshiba International Foundation, 2001/2002