Sensing Nature: Perceiving Nature in Japan
24 July - 07 November 2010
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| © Yoshioka Tokujin
Drawing for Snow, 2010 |
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SENSING NATURE: PERCEIVING NATURE IN JAPAN
July 24 - November 7, 2010
Yoshioka Tokujin, Kuribayashi Takashi, Shinoda Taro
Winter turns to spring, summer turns to autumn. We sense the shifts not
just by the changes in the temperature and the scenery, but in the
smells carried on the breeze and the quality of the sunlight. Over two
thirds of Japan's population lives in its cities, which make up just a
small fraction of its landmass. And yet we are still able to read nature
with our bodies.
Japan's temperate climate and its mountainous topography gave birth to a
unique natural environment, which in turn fostered an ancient cosmology
and spirituality which have greatly influenced our culture and arts. In
"Sensing Nature: Yoshioka Tokujin, Shinoda Taro, Kuribayashi Takashi"
we think about how the innate human ability to perceive nature (to sense
nature) and the Japanese view of nature exist in our urbanized and
modernized world. We also ask how those views are reflected in
contemporary art and design practices. Yoshioka Tokujin, Shinoda Taro
and Kuribayashi Takashi are three internationally active
artists/designers who give abstract or symbolic expression to immaterial
or amorphous concepts as well as natural phenomenon such as snow,
water, wind, light, stars, mountains, waterfalls and forests. Their
ideas of nature suggest that it is not something that is to be
contrasted with the human world, but that it is something that
incorporates all life-forms, including human-beings. Their works hint
that we have inherited this all-encompassing cosmology deep in our
memories and in our DNA.
Consisting of newly commissioned works by each of the three participant
artists, the exhibition attempts to stimulate our sense of nature
through large-scale installations with visitors’ physical experiences
with their entire bodies.
YOSHIOKA TOKUJIN
Born 1967. Yoshioka established the Yoshioka Tokujin Design Office after
working under Kuramata Shiro and then Miyake Issey. Many of his works
are in the permanent collections of major museums, including the Museum
of Modern Art, New York, which has his paper chair, "Honey-pop,” and
"TFU,” the lighting fixture in which he designed light itself. In 2007,
Yoshioka was named "Designer of the Year” at Design Miami. He has also
appeared in television broadcaster NHK’s "Professional: Shigoto no
Ryugi” (The professional’s way of working) and he was selected by the
Japanese edition of Newsweek as one of the "100 most respected Japanese
around the world.”
Yoshioka is well known for dynamic spatial designs, which, despite being
made with artificial materials, give us the sensation of experiencing
light, snow, storms and other natural phenomena. He is currently
exploring the future potential of design to incorporate natural
principles and effects and to integrate natural science technologies.
Website: www.tokujin.com
SHINODA TARO
Born 1964. Shinoda originally studied Japanese landscape gardening, and
for years he has been working on the theme of the "connection between
man and nature," directing his attention at everything from the human
spirit to the universe at large. In recent years, Shinoda has been
concerned with human beings and their connections with their
contemporary living environments, which are the sum products of urban
landscapes, convenience and technological developments. He is interested
in the "process by which our lives, society and culture tend to make
nature into an entirely abstract concept.” In this exhibition, Shinoda
presents three works, including a new video trilogy called
"Reverberation". He has held solo exhibitions at REDCAT (Los Angeles),
Hiroshima City Museum for Contemporary Art and elsewhere, and has
participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the 2006
Busan Biennale and 2007 Istanbul Biennale.
Website: www.taroshinoda.net
KURIBAYASHI TAKASHI
Born 1968. Kuribayashi graduated from Musashino Art University in 1993
and Kunstakademie Dusseldorf (Germany) in 2002. Having studied nihonga,
Kuribayashi has always been interested in spaces where some kind of
border or series of layers divides the world into different zones. He
endeavors to recreate such locations in three-dimensional installations.
Animals such as seals and penguins, which often appear in his works,
are used as symbols of the divide between two distinct worlds, such as
between the underwater world and the above-water world. Viewers are able
to experience the multiple viewpoints that such animals have.
Kuribayashi has held solo exhibitions at various locations including the
Kolnisches Stadt Museum, Cologne, in 2003 and has also participated in
several international exhibitions including "Thermocline of Art - New
Asian Waves" (ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany) and
Singapore Biennale in 2006.
Website: www.takakuri.net
www.mori.art.museum |
