"Place of life―Forest, Red Shirt, Tokyo" by Santeri Tuori

　今日は、休憩中にスパイラルで開催されているSanteri Tuoriの"命のすみかー森、赤いシャツ、東京"を見に。Santeri Tuoriは、もう２年くらい前だったかに、初めて見たとき当時では最高のメディアアートだって思ったのを今でも覚えてる。

　今回の作品もまたすごーくクールで、5月に東京で作ったという学校の校庭での作品と子供が一生懸命に赤いシャツを着ようとする映像の２つは、見ていてすごい楽しい気分になり、フィンランド沖の島で撮った映像を組み合わされて作られている"forest"という作品は、空間に入ってしまうような感覚で。

　休憩中という短い時間だったのが、本当に残念。日曜日までの開催だから明日もまた行こうかな！ほんと、またスカンジナビアに行きたい！というよりも、どこでもいいから自然のある場所へ！！今はそんな気分。




　SPIRAL is proud to present "Place of life－Forest, Red Shirt, Tokyo", Finnish artist Santeri Tuori's first solo exhibition in Japan, on view at Spiral from September 9th (Wed.) to the 27th (Sun.), 2009.Tuori is a leading Finnish artist whose work has previously been exhibited at MOMA, NYC, in 2008, as well as in the Art Unlimited exhibition platform, Basel, in June of this year.

　Tuori is known for a variety of work, but especially his fresh approach to portraiture. He studied art while still a law student. Starting his career in still photography, Tuori's early works reveal his interest in expressions of experimental photographic processes. "Blind City" (1999) was an early installation combining photography and sound, his photographs of places that the non-sighted recognize by their sounds. "Julia" (2001) and "Elisabeth" (2002), were each installations of still portraiture created from images produced by automatically photographing the subjects every two seconds for an hour, but without the artist present. Works in the upcoming Spiral exhibition will include "Posing Time" (2003), a work pivotal in the evolution of his current explorations in layering still and moving images, "Red Shirt" (2003), one of his best-known works, of scenes of a child struggling to put on a shirt, and "Forest" (2009), his latest series, the result of three years working on a small island in Finland. Spiral will also exhibit works he produced on the city in Tokyo, while resident at an artist-in-residence program this past May.

　His basic interest lies within how portraits exist, and the elements they consist of. Does photography reproduce an identity, or does it create something unexpected? When he began his career as an artist, he was researching the use of prison photography. "Law is, in a sense, a part of photographic research" he says, and "law and creation are quite similar in their strictness, and I like them both in that they depend on rules." Tuori's work investigates the nature of the portrait and the complicated power balance between photographer, subject, and camera. Please consider this opportunity to engage his work for your readership.

http://www.spiral.co.jp/e_schedule/2009/09/post-29.html

http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2009/6CB6.en

"Zekkei" Vacuum Fluctuation by Shinji Ohmaki

　先日、roomsに行った帰りに、TWS渋谷で開催されている大巻伸嗣の「絶景」を見に行ってきた。久しぶりに見入ってしまうほど時間を忘れる作品に出会う。"環境・ゴミ"をテーマにスラグを大量に使用した作品がほとんどで、圧巻の作品。すごくクールなので、お時間あったらぜひ！



In Japanese, zekkei (絶景) is the word used to describe "a superb view." It is comprised of two characters: "絶," here meaning "superb," and "景," here meaning "view."

However, a closer inspection of the character "絶" reveals it has other meanings besides "superb." This complex character is comprised of the component characters "糸" (ito, or "string"), and "刀" (katana, or "sword"). The image generated here is that of a sword cutting a string, from which stem numerous alternate meanings including: "to cut off," "to interrupt," "to put an end to," "to deny," "to eradicate," "to destroy," "to carry to the extreme," "to be distanced from," "to cross over" and "to cut across." All of these can be used to describe many of the situations we are in.

Meanwhile, the character "景" literally refers to strong separated light, and by extension, the shadow generated by that light, giving it the dual meaning of both "shadow" and "light."

We have created the three scenes of "Vacuum Fluctuation," "Silent Vaticination" and "Sinless Vandal" to the backdrops of absolute absence that transcends existence and nonexistence, the eastern philosophy of taiji/wuji, in which yin and yang constantly try to devour each other, and quantum field theory.

The vast passage of time due to slag artificially generated from burning all our waste brings about a poetic experience of imminence, as do the horizons we are inadvertently creating.

This exhibition combines research and dialogue on "the environment & waste" conducted as a step forward over the past year or so along with Shinji Ohmaki--a leading artist in the emerging artist support program, which TWS has continually been pouring its efforts into since its establishment.




http://www.tokyo-ws.org/english/archive/2009/08/environmenttentative.shtml

http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2009/003E

8年と1年と始まり

　アメリカが、世界が、大きく変わった９月から、8年がたち、1年がたった。

　21世紀の始まりの希望を壊した8年前と世界中の経済を破壊した1年前。

　あれから世界はどう変わり、自分はどう変わったのか。そして、この国は今日からなにが変わっていくのか。それは自らの選択によってこれからが見えてくるはず。

　がんばらなきゃ！