ART CITIES:Tokyo-TOKAS Project Vol. 4 Routes/Roots
Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS), Project, which began in 2018, aims to promote international exchange and shine a contemplative light on the arts, society, and other themes from multicultural perspectives. In 2011, TOKAS launched the Exchange Residency Program in which creators are dispatched to Berlin and invited to Tokyo, the two having a Friendship Cities relationship. Participants from Japan are offered the opportunity to stay and work at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: TOKAS Archive
The exhibition “TOKAS Project Vol. 4 Routes/Roots” presents works by artists based in Berlin, to commemorate both 10 years of exchange between TOKAS and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien and 160 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Japan. Compared to other major cities of the world, Berlin’s social structure makes it easy for artists to live and for creative communities to form, and creators from all over the world have gathered to live and work in the city. Japanese artists whose works are featured in this exhibition, have also lived in Berlin for several years and have been producing works with multifaceted perspectives on Europe’s unique history and diversity while adapting to a different linguistic and cultural environment. They participated in TOKAS’s residency program for Japanese artists in Germany, exhibited their works at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, and each of them deepened their knowledge and insight through activities and interactions that leverage the networks they have cultivated thus far. The exhibition features works with themes related to legends, traditions, and cultures that draw the artists’ interest. Also, video works capturing Japan from distinctive perspectives, by past participants in the Tokyo TOKAS Residency. Sugito Yoshie explores themes of social interaction, artistic moments encountered in the course of daily life, and the generation of images through various media. She presents an installation with the motifs of coffee-grounds reading, a traditional form of Middle Eastern fortune-telling, and pajamas, incorporated as a device for switching back and forth between subject and object. In his work, Takeda Tatsuma interprets the concept of “media” in terms of the old-fashioned “mediums” of classical analog art forms such as painting and sculpture, and seeks to explore beauty as a common language. In this exhibition he presents the “Skin Deep Beauty” series, inspired by medieval European still life paintings of vegetation. Yoshida Shingo is interested in micro-societies of various parts of the world, and creates video works with themes including myths from diverse regions, humans’ actions toward nature, and human powerlessness. Here, he primarily presents a video work based on a legend handed down over generations in a small village, which he visited with friends, on the border between France and Spain. Martin Ebner was born in 1965. Lives and works in Berlin. Graduated with a degree in Visual Media from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna in 1993. Ebner has primarily produced video works and installations in recent years. Recent exhibitions: “Palydos,” SWALLOW, Lithuania, 2020, “Walking in ice,” XC.HuA Gallery, Berlin, 2020. Joachim Fleischer presents large-scale installations dealing with the theme of light. Recent exhibitions and projects: “Inversion,” Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany, 2021, “Kunst ist Lebensbereicherung,” Art is life enrichment,” Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg, Stuttgart, Germany, 2020. Stefanie Gaus’ interest in political and socio-cultural impacts – also seen as matter of representation – and her distinctive view on spacial and architectural dimensions are base of her artistic practice and films. Major works: Nippon-koku Ogata-mura (2021), Laufhaus (2006).
Photo: Sugito Yoshie, Coffee Reading, 2019 Oil on paper, wood, clay, © Sugito Yoshie, Courtesy the artist and Tokyo Arts and Space
Info: Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, 2-4-16 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan, Duration: 21/8-3/10/2021, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-19:00, www.tokyoartsandspace.jp
