This exhibition introduces the works and activities of artists who express themselves through inhabiting, residing, living, and doing things with others. Each artist has unique ways of expression, such as performances that explore relationships with close family members, their love for certain food items, scavenging trash in neighboring areas, poetry created from everyday events, and attempts to reconsider modern homes and lifestyles. These expressions shake and question the boundary between life and art. When you encounter each uniqueness, you may feel surprised, confused, strange, or laugh and feel at ease. But for each of their works, there is something most intimate and certain in their symbiosis. They value the everyday interpersonal relationships that are hard to describe, and that cannot be contextualized into something bigger. In this exhibition, we hope that stepping into this world and being exposed to their “certainty” will allow you to ruminate on what “certainty” means for you as an individual. Enter the space of different Symbioses.
Installation views of ”Space in Symbiosis -How to live with "certainty"- ”
Title
Space in Symbiosis -How to live with “certainty”-
Period
Saturday, 10 February – Sunday, 12 May 2024
Opening Hours
11:00 AM- 7:00 PM
Closed on
Mondays, 13 February, 30 April, 7 May *except 12 February, 29 April, 6 May
Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
Artists
ORIMOTO Tatsumi 1946 –
ORIMOTO Tatsumi, Performance: Bread-man Trips by Train, 1992, Collection of the artist.
Courtesy of ART-MAMA Foundation
Born in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan. A contemporary artist who has been active at the forefront of contemporary art for nearly 40 years. His works, such as “Bread Man,” a performance in which he wraps bread around his face and moves around town, and “Art-Mama,” which uses caring for his own mother as a work of art, are highly acclaimed internationally for their style of questioning the way of communication with love and humor while shaking the boundary between life and art. His recent solo exhibitions include Orimoto Tatsumi - Past and Present - (Onomichi City Museum of Art, Hiroshima, 2018), and many other exhibitions at museums in both Japan and abroad.
SAKAI Mihoko 1979 –
SAKAI Mihoko, Portrait of SAKAI Mihoko, 2015, Courtesy of Atelier Yamanami
Born in Shiga, Japan. A member of ATELIER YAMANAMI since 1996. For over 28 years, regardless of where or with whom, she has never let go of a pack of “Sapporo Ichiban Original” instant noodles. Instead of eating the noodles, she grabs it and listens to the rustling sound of the plastic, and watches the subtle reflections on it. The time and silent exchanges between people and things are irreplaceable moments for SAKAI. Her recent exhibitions include Meaningless, or something like that (Hajimari Art Center, Fukushima, 2018).
Swing 2006 –
Swing, 2022, Courtesy of Narita Mai
Swing is a welfare facility in Kyoto, Japan, where about 30 people with and without disabilities have been working since 2006. Swing's activities are based on free work and expressive activities that are not bound by existing views of work and art. In addition to the "GOMICORORI" cleanup action and "Oretachi Hyogen-zoku" creative activities such as painting, writing poems, and making collages, Swing also holds exhibitions, publishes free papers, and distributes a podcast radio. Recent exhibitions include Swing x Mai Narita x Tatsuki Katayama Exhibition: “blue vol.2 ― What the Things We Cannot Throw Away Tell Us" (THEATRE E9 KYOTO [Kyoto], 2022).
MURAKAMI Satoshi 1988 –
MURAKAMI Satoshi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, August 30, 2018, 2018, Collection of the artist, Photo by TAMURA Can
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2014, he has been a contemporary artist who has reexamined existing housing and lifestyles through the “Living Migration” project, where he travels around the world while carrying his own styrofoam house. While developing a “pattern of living,” he has been working in recent years on the development of air-conditioned and heated spaces that do not use electricity, such as by using the heat of fermenting fallen leaves, or the cooling effect of vaporization heat. His recent exhibitions include SATOSHI MURAKAMI Living Migration (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 2020–21).
Warming Up Event of Space in Symbiosis -How to live with “certainty”-
A pre-event will be held by the group and three artists as a warm-up project to enjoy the Space in Symbiosis exhibition, which will open from February 10, 2024, in greater depth. Each presentation is made in a different format, and the theme is cycles that are difficult to see, such as actions that everyone performs every day and the workings and operations that are occurring unnoticed. We hope that this will provide an opportunity to experience the expression of each artist and the root of their activities.
Period: Saturday, 13 January, 2024- Sunday, 28 January, 2024, Saturday, 2 March 2024 Closed on Mondays Venue: Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery
Related Event of Space in Symbiosis -How to live with “certainty”-
Performance of "Bread Man" by ORIMOTO Tatsumi 〆
Period
Sunday, 12 May, 2024 4:00PM-5:00PM
Venue
Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery
Admission
Free
Exhibition
Performances
Gallery 1 & 2
Interactive Space
"Bread Man," a representative performance piece by exhibiting artist ORIMOTO Tatsumi, will be held, on the last day of this exhibition.
This "Bread Man" will be open to the public! Up to 10 people selected by lottery will be able to participate.