"Visceral sensation"--the most primordial of the various human senses. This book, is published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, features 13 artists from Japan and abroad who tune into the voices of life within us, speak to them, and induce new perceptual awakenings. Their works employing wide-ranging media will create a place for pondering sensations, perceptions, and emotions related to our primordial physical embodiment, and for reconnecting with the life rhythms resonating quietly in our organs, the axis of our physical being.
Included artists:
Louise BOURGEOIS / CHO Shinta / Nathalie DJURBERG & Hans BERG / KATO Izumi / KUSAMA Yayoi / Ana MENDIETA / AKAGAWA Yukio / Saskia OLDE WOLBERS / OLTA / Pipilotti RIST / SHIGA Lieko / Bill VIOLA / WATANABE Kikuma
Born in 1974, OSAKA Japan 1995 "Konica Introducing New Generation Photographers", Grand Prix 1999 Published "SHANGHAI RYUUGI" (Mole Press) 2000 "Photographic Societyof Japan Awards", Newcomer's Award 2001 Published "RUSH" (Littlemore) 2013 38th Kimura Ihee Photography Award
By recognizing the uncertain world, I find the existence of "I".
By finding the uncertain existence of "I", I recognize the world again.
In order to recognize something hard to do, I take photographs.
July24, 2012 OKADA Atsushi
----
"The World" could be viewed in a number of different ways. On the one hand, it's a response to the events of the disasters that rocked Japan in 2011, while at the same time it functions as a kind of personal diary of the photographer. Perhaps it's best understood in terms of other photographic production happening in contemporary Japan, which values a highly personal expression over a clarity of concept: in a very lyrical, abstract way, Okada is attempting to express the unexpressable. There's a focus on nature throughout the book, as well as photographs of areas affected by the tsunami of 2011, and it seems fair to say that in the wake of the Great Tohoku Earthquake, Okada is questioning the relationship between humans and nature. These photographs of natural phenomena are interspersed with studio images of women in various states of undress, but it's difficult to say that they are meant to represent unconditional "beauty." Okada is not trying to present a simple statement about "The World." Instead, he recognizes the difficulties in his subject, and has incorporated them into his own work.
Born in Hokkaido, Japan, 1979.
Graduated from the Osaka University of Arts, Department of Photography in 2003.
2005 Completed Graduate School of Arts, the Tokyo Polytechnic University. Earned M.A degree
2008 Completed Graduate School of Arts, the Tokyo Polytechnic University. Earned Ph.D. [Dissertation : Wrist Cut -A photographic exploration of identity-]
- Award -
2002 Fuji Photo Salon the New Face Prize
2008 the 33rd Kimura Ihei Photography Award
planning for the "sendai mediatheque" began in 1994. at the beginning, plans called for a multifunctional facility comprised of a library, gallery, visual media center that also contained services to aid the sight-and hearing-impaired. subsequently, plans changed so that instead of simply being a "mixed-use" facility, it was intended to encompass a larger sphere of functions that would allow the facility to operate as a unified "mediatheque" with common goals to respond to a continuously changing information environment and users' diverse needs. the "sendai mediatheque will gather, preserve, exhibit, and present various forms of media without being bound to form or type. this public facility for the 21st century will, through its various functions and services, be able to support the cultural and educational activities of its users.
Yoshihiko Ueda is one of Japan's most prominent commercial photographers, yet he has also published a number of well-regarded books of his personal work. "M.River" takes the viewer on an abstract journey into the wildnerness. The nominal subject of this book is, of course, a river, but the river itself is only a medium through which Ueda conducts an experiment in seeing. This experiment consists in showing a series of blurred images of the river, followed by a series of clear images, and ending with another set of blurred ones. These blurred images hold the gaze surprisingly well, and the core of "M.River" lies in the experience of looking at these photographs. In other words, the object of Ueda's experiment is to let the viewer consider the way that they are looking―perhaps not just at these photographs in particular, but at the world in general. "M.River" requires careful, concentrated viewing, and the book's clean design and layout facilitate this meditative gaze. Includes an English text by Shigeo Goto, G/P gallery director and co-curator of Gallery 916
