1 Dec – 24 Dec, 2023
Dates｜December 1 (Friday) – 24 (Sunday), 2023
Opening Hours｜13:00-20:00
Closed: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
［Performance] every Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Venue｜Aoyama Meguro 2-30-6 Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0051
Curator｜Takuya Nakao
Artist｜Shota Yamauchi
Medium and Dimension: Apparition is an exhibition on the theme of ‘Apparition’. This term for the appearance of ghosts, gods, etc. comes from a speculation in a note by Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). It was used in Duchamp’s masterpiece, The Bride Naked by Her Bachelors (also known as The Big Glass) (1915-1923), to describe the ‘appearance’ of an object in a higher dimensional world, beyond the real three dimensions, in front of the three-dimensional world. Appearance is the essence of the artist’s work, which attempts to capture higher-dimensional existence through machines and eroticism, and is also an extremely important perspective in the act of creation in contemporary art. This exhibition reconsiders the meaning of the word ‘appearance’ from a contemporary perspective through the works of Shota Yamauchi, and explores the possibilities of expressing two, three and even higher dimensions.
In this exhibition, two works will encounter each other. One is Mai Hime (2021), which is born on a virtual space with computer graphics against the backdrop of Yamauchi’s personal experience of love, shedding her skin like a garment. The other is an installation in collaboration with Maki Weda, reconstructing a play about smell, Sour Juice like Sweat and Oil Cheese (2023), which takes place in the dreams of a figure sleeping in an aquarium. Yamauchi has crossed digital technology with physical expression, launching the sense of touch in the former and the sense of smell in the latter, linking them to emotion and memory. By interlocking the mechanisms of these two works, each autonomous from the other, visitors will experience a resonance or a newly created manifestation in Yamauchi’s world of work.
The year 2023 marks 100 years since Duchamp abandoned the production of The Big Glass. The main themes of The Big Glass were machines and eroticism, and it is said that The Big Glass, which was abandoned 100 years ago, is an epic of the contemporary human figure. This exhibition examines the present-day nature of ‘machines’ and ‘eroticism’ in historical years through Yamauchi’s works, which continue to make full use of current media, overlapping virtual and real space and examining ‘technology’ and ‘love’.
Performances will be held irregularly during the exhibition. In conjunction with the performer’s movements, the two works will trigger further chemical reactions and a cyclical system will emerge.
Organizer｜Medium and Dimension Executive Committee
Cooperation｜KYOTO EXPERIMENT
Supported by: 2023 Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Creator Development Support Program
Profile
Takuya Nakao
Art critic, art studies. D. in art, born in 1981. Writes critiques on modern and contemporary art. He explores the connection between life (or non-art) and production, particularly with the theme of chess, in which Marcel Duchamp was immersed. He is the author of Marcel Duchamp and Chess (Heibonsha, 2017). Recent curations include “Medium and Dimension: Liminal” (Kakinokiso/Tokyo, 2022).
Shota Yamauchi
Artist, born in 1992. As a member of the generation that grew up with the reality after 1995, when the Internet became widespread, he has attempted to clarify the relationship between the self and the world, and the rift between the world as he perceives it and reality in various ways. His media of expression are diverse, including video, sculpture, installation, and performance, and he also freely uses techniques such as clay animation, chroma key, 3DCG, 3D printing, VR, and motion capture.
Talk Event
What is “Apparition”? –On Appearance and Appearance
Reiji Ando (literary critic) x Takuya Nakao x Shota Yamauchi
Saturday, December 16, 15:30-17:00
The images shown here are available for loan for publicity purposes. If you wish to borrow images, please contact us.