The cultural aspect of manga and video games
Manga includes a type of surreal comic book drawing that's highly popular in Japan, and one of its most gifted artists was Tezuka Osamu. His death in 1989 frames a Tokyo exhibition that looks at animation, video games and manga, and how they reflect social change and technological development. The show is divided into eight sections and examines themes such as the depiction of reality through technology, the varying responses by artists to natural disasters and how video games are not about a sole player cloistered in a room. Manga, Anime, Games From Japan runs at the National Art Centre until August 31. For more information visit www.www.nact.jp
Before fashion magazines there was pen and ink
Before photography had developed as a medium, the fashions of the day were hand-drawn in printed illustrations. Publishers hired talented illustrators, printmakers and colourists to the showcase the clothes and their wearers with as much detail as was possible. The Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands has hundreds of these prints in its collection, and over the summer there are 300 on display. Showing the work of fashion designers such as Paul Poiret, the prints are a vital resource following the development of fashion from 1600 to the early 20th century. New for Now: The Origin of Fashion Magazines runs at the Rijksmuseum until September 27. For more information visit www.rijksmuseum.nl
The troubled history of Colombia through art
Colombia has had a traumatic history for much of the recent past, from civil war, drug wars and gang violence to wider issues of colonialism, racism and social injustice. These have been central themes for the Bogota-born artist Doris Salcedo over the past three decades. A major retrospective in New York, taking up four levels of the Guggenheim's Tower galleries, now surveys her work. Salcedo is particularly known for her use of furniture and everyday objects, which have then been transformed into sites of mourning and memory for victims of conflict. Doris Salcedo runs at the Guggenheim in New York until October 12. For more information visit www.guggenheim.org
