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"lonely planet" Exhibition
April 10 (Sat) to June 6 (Sun), 2004 Closed Mondays (except for May 3, national holiday)
"We're running out of love, running of hate, running out of space for the human race, planet Earth is slowing down...
If you can't change the world, change yourself."
Such go the poetic lyrics from The The's song, "Lonely Planet,"
found on their 1992 album, "Dusk." Sung by the vocalist Matt Johnson, those words suggest a problem that we all need to ask ourselves:
namely, how do we perceive our relationship with the world, as we go on with our lives?
In contemporary society, with its onslaught of information that serves to deaden our sensation of true reality,
our hearts and minds seem to continually wander amidst reverie and illusion.
As a result, we sometimes feel that it's too complicated and difficult to correctly perceive the world that we live in.
The role of contemporary art in such circumstances is to shed light on the reality in a way that words, logic, and science cannot.
The upcoming exhibition at Art Tower Mito (ATM), from April 10 to June 6, brings together several artworks, produced by 14 artists around the world, which heighten our consciousness towards basic human desires and feelings, life and death, and the self and the world, thereby arousing the inherent power of our feelings, cognizance, intuition, and thinking.
The images, photographs, paintings and installations presented at the "lonely planet" exhibition illustrate various aspects of the real world and human beings swirling and wreathing around on our lonely planet, floating through the vastness of space.
Through the presentation of various points of view of the featured artists, the exhibition challenges us to revisit and revise our outlook of the world in which we all live.
Exhibition Details
Title: lonely planet
Period: April 10 (Sat) to June 6 (Sun), 2004
Venue: Contemporary Art Gallery, ATM
Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (no entrance after 5:30 p.m.)
Closed on Mondays (except for May 3)
Fee: ¥800 (General), ¥600 (advance-purchase tickets, groups of 20 or more)
Free admission: Junior high school students and younger, senior citizens aged 65 or older, and disabled persons with proper certification
Yearly pass: ¥2,500 (Adult Pass for people 20 years and older), ¥1,000 (H.T.P.)
Purchase locations: ATM Ticket Counter (Adult Pass can only be bought here), JR East "Midori-no-Madoguchi" ticket centers, View Plaza
Organizer: Mito Arts Foundation
Grant from:
The British Council
Supported by:
Asahi Breweries Ltd.,
ITH ne.jp
Cooperation:
Japan Airlines (JAL),
SOUM Corporation
Planning: Kenji Kubota, curator, Contemporary Art Center, ATM
Artists and Exhibited Works
Jake & Dinos Chapman (UK), b. 1962 (Dinos) and 1967 (Jake)
Active since the 1990s, the Chapmans have been both denounced and praised for their radical works,
in which they attempt to peel away the crust of society to expose the hypocritical morality underneath.
At the same time, they make reference to the logic of art history, philosophy and sociology,
inspiring multivalent interpretations on the part of the viewer.
Last year, they were nominated for the Turner Prize, an authoritative award for contemporary art.
Image: Jake & Dinos Chapman [What the Hell] 2000
©the artist
Photo: Norbert Schoerner
Courtesy of Jay Jopling / White Cube (London)
Tony Oursler (USA), b. 1957
Known for his eerie but humorous works in which he projects human faces onto the heads of dolls,
Oursler ranks with Bill Viola as a representative artist in the field of video art.
In the ATM exhibition this time he presents several new works,
produced in 2003, in which he demonstrates an evolutionary new development from his previous techniques.
Image: Tony Oursler [Chaos] 2004
Photo: Dave Morgan
Courtesy of Lisson Gallery and the artist
Yael Bartana (Israel), b. 1970
An up-and-coming video artist now based in Amsterdam, Bartana presents his
"Trembling Time" oeuvre originally submitted to the Manifesta 4 exhibition held in Frankfurt in 2002,
where it garnered much praise. Filmed on Israel's Memorial Day,
the fantastical images of his film arouse the latent consciousness of its viewers.
Image: Yael Bartana [Profile] 2000
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery
Rineke Dijkstra (Netherlands), b. 1959
A photographer and videographer with a solid international reputation,
Dijkstra has submitted her "Beach Portrait" series of photographs to ATM's
"lonely planet" exhibition, in which she portrays young girls and boys on beaches in various locations.
Her photographs capture the unsullied yet fragile beauty of these adolescents -- their bodies and their expressions -- caught as they are in that unstable period between childhood and adulthood.
Image: Rineke Dijkstra [Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 26, 1992]
Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Bill Viola (USA), b. 1951
Famed as a video artist, Viola creates beautiful works characterized by high resolution to express a multitude of human emotions and situations, leading viewers into a meditative state.
His more recent works have verged on the pictorial, with a series of videos harking back to the great works of art history.
He presents three of his latest works at the ATM exhibition using high-definition plasma displays.
Image: Bill Viola [Remembrance] 2002
Photo: Kira Perov
Nick Relph & Oliver Payne (UK)
Both young video artists, Nick and Oliver won the Golden Lion grand prize in the young artists' (under-35) division of the Venice Biennale in 2003 with their "Mix Tape" work,
also featured in ATM's exhibition this time.
Their videos employ an electronic visual language, set to the brisk pace of a music video clip,
in their portrayal of the spirit of urban youth.
Image: Oliver Payne & Nick Relph [Mixtape] 2002
Courtesy of Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York
Makoto Aida (Japan), b. 1965
With a belief that contemporary art should be a "multi-purpose hall" encompassing everything and anything,
Aida employs a wide variety of expressive techniques to illustrate the many contradictions and taboos of modern Japan with a caustic but humorous touch.
His works for the current exhibition include two installations from 1998,
"Space 'Unko' (doo-doo)" and "Space Knife," as well as newer works.
Image: Makoto Aida [Space Knife] 1998
Photo: Hideto Nagatsuka
Courtesy of Mizuma Art Gallery
Chiho Aoshima (Japan), b. 1974
Debuting in the "Tokyo Girls Bravo" exhibition curated by Takashi Murakami,
Aoshima later garnered intense worldwide attention through her collaboration with Issei Miyake in exhibitions taking place in New York and Paris, among others.
For the "lonely planet" exhibition, she has newly produced a giant painting using computer graphics, thus embarking on a new stage in her career.
Image: Chiho Aoshima [Haruna in Meteor Shower] 2004
©2004 Chiho Aoshima / Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.
Courtesy of Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery
Kou Inose (Japan), b. 1960
A photographer with many avid fans, Inose takes the utmost painstaking care to produce each of his prints singly,
a fact that necessarily limits the number of times that his works are shown.
Usually appearing in solo exhibitions, Inose's participation in "lonely planet" is his first group exhibition in a long while.
He presents several monochrome photographs, several of them announced for the fist time, depicting scenery, animals, and corpses, directly stimulating the emotions of his viewers.
Image: Kou Inose [Untitled]
Izumi Kato (Japan), b. 1969
Using her hand instead of a brush as she paints on a canvas, Kato gives expression to the various emotions and feelings swirling inside human beings.
The unreliability and emptiness of the bodily forms she portrays mirror our modern circumstances.
Kato has submitted several paintings and sculptures to the "lonely planet" exhibition, including some new works.
Image:Izumi Kato [Untitled] 2001
Rinko Kawauchi (Japan), b. 1972
Working as a freelance photographer since 1997, Kawauchi won the 27th Ihei Kimura Photography Award in 2001.
Her translucent photographs have won her many fans among the younger generation.
Kawauchi depicts the fleeting nature of beauty in her pictures, highlighting the inseparability of the evanescence and cruelty of reality.
Image: Rinko Kawauchi [Untitled]
Shinako Sato (Japan), b. 1965
As a woman living in modern Japan, subject to the enormous influence of Western culture, Sato uses Barbie dolls and Ukiyoe prints to portray the environment in which she was born and brought up, adding a humorous, erotic, and kitschy touch.
The installation she plans to submit to ATM includes both video images and two-dimensional art.
Image: Shinako Sato [Untitled (Play house, #D-65)] 2001
Photo: Kentaro Takioka
Cortesy of Gallery SIDE2
RELATED PROJECTS
Lecture by Jake & Dinos Chapman Commemorating Their Visit to Japan
Apr. 10 (Sat), 2004 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Simultaneous interpretation offered (English & Japanese)
Capacity: 300 (first-come, first-served)
Concert Hall ATM, Art Tower Mito
Fee: Included in the admission to the "lonely planet" exhibition
Weekend Gallery Talks
Volunteer docents, known as CAC Gallery Talkers, will lead tours of the exhibition on weekends,
giving a fresh insight into the works displayed, enhancing your gallery experience.
Weekends from Apr. 24 (Sat) to June 6 (Sun)
2:30-3:10 p.m. (approximately 40 minutes)
Note: Talks may be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
Gallery Talk with Babysitting Services
ATM has arranged a gallery talk with babysitting services on May 9 for busy mothers who otherwise would not get a chance to view the exhibition.
May 9 (Sun), 2:30-3:10 p.m. (approximately 40 minutes)
Capacity: 15 (accepted in the order of reservation)
Babysitting fee: ¥500
Deadline: Apply by April 24 (Sat)
CRITERIUM
Criterium 59 Shuhei Ohata
Apr. 10 (Sat) to June 6 (Sun), 2004
Room 9, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito
Planner: Toshihiro Asai (curator, Contemporary Art Center, ATM)
Fee: Included in the admission to the "lonely planet" exhibition
Note: "Criterium" is the Latin for the originally Greek word "criterion," and means "standard." The Criterium series aims to introduce new works primarily of young artists.
ATM Contemporary Art Gallery's
Pass for Adults
|
| © Hiroko Ichihara
|
A pass has been designed for adults aged 20 and older,
letting the holder make an unlimited number of visits to the Contemporary Art Gallery's exhibitions for one year from the date of purchase.
The price is ¥2,500 The artwork on the pass has been designed by Hiroko Ichihara,
an artist who incorporates words in her works. The logo on the pass reads: "Contemporary art -- as easy as pie." The pass is on sale at the ticket counter in Art Tower Mito.
Translated by Paul T. Narum
(official names of exhibitions and artworks are furnished by the artists andplanners themselves)
Copyright ©2004 MITO ARTS FOUNDATION. All Rights Reserved. Created by TK.
Mail to: webstaff@arttowermito.or.jp
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