When words turn harsh and civility in politics seems to be lost, can art save diplomacy?

Rahm Emanuel, the former Mayor of Chicago and current U.S. Ambassador to Japan, thinks so. He and Madeleine Grynsztejn, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago’s Pritzker Director, are using art to bridge the worlds of two seemingly disparate places. This is thanks to the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, which has worked to provide artworks and throw exhibitions in embassies, consultants, and other diplomatic facilities around the world for over six decades. In this case, the program has helped Grynsztejn and Emanuel acquire and place art in institutions in both Japan and Chicago.

“Our work between Japan and Chicago sits inside a historic arch of deep understanding of the U.S. government about the importance of soft power and cultural diplomacy,” Grynsztejn tells T&C. “We know that visual arts have the capacity to cross linguistic borders, and cultural differences, and create human connections through wonder and curiosity.”