TWO EXHIBITIONS – MORI ART MUSEUM – TOKYO

Two exhibitios 
from 31 May to 31 August 2014
Mori Art Museum
Roppongi Hills – Mori Tower 53F – Tokyo
+81 3 57708824 FAX +81 3 54112648

MAM PROJECT 021: melvin moti

Curated by Kondo Kenichi (Curator, Mori Art Museum)

QUESTIONING THE WAY WE SEE: DOES VISION OUTSMART THINKING?

Mori Art Museum is pleased to present “MAM Project 021: Melvin Moti” from Saturday, May 31 through Sunday, August 31, 2014.

Europe-based artist Melvin Moti (born 1977, the Netherlands) produces works grounded in intensive research that explore neurological, scientific and historical processes in relation to visual culture, in a wide range of media including films, sculpture, installation, and books. Catapulted into the limelight at the 55th Venice Biennalein 2013, his work has been highly regarded in recent years, and will also appear in Yokohama Triennale 2014 later this year.

This first solo exhibition of Moti’ s in Japan will showcase a new series of textile pieces titled Cluster Illusion . Inspired by kimono Komon patterns, the works are based on three common Edo Komon patterns (Same , Toshi and Gyogi ) as well as the artist’ s own original designs and were made with the cooperation of Japanese textile dyers. The exhibition comprises total of eight works, including three large pieces with meticulous, extra-fine Same Komon patterns depicting sunlight breaking through gaps in clouds and based on European etchings from the 16th through 19th centuries and photographs the artist himself took; one abstract piece combining Toshi and Gyogi Komon patterns; and four pieces that are part of a series depicting images of constellations including birds and fish amidst starry skies rendered in countless dots.

The title Cluster Illusion is a specialist term referring to the human psychological trait of trying to detect regularity in things that are irregular. As well as demonstrating the tendency of humans to conjure up concrete images from randomly arranged abstract forms, as when the constellations were designated based on the association of groups of stars in the night sky with the forms of mythological figures and creatures, the series also reminds us how the things we see are a reflection of our own thoughts.

MELVIN MOTI
Born 1977 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Moti Studied at the Academie Voor Beeldende Vorming in Tilburg from 1995 to 1999 and at De Ateliers in Amsterdam from 1999 to 2001. His major solo exhibitions include: “Echo Chamber” (Kunsthalle Lissabon, 2012), “The Prisoner’s Cinema” (MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, U.S.A., 2010), and “E.S.P.” (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2007). He has also participated in a number of group exhibitions including the 55th Venice Biennale (2013) and the 5th Berlin Biennial (2008). Moti spent three months in Japan on an artist-in-residence program hosted by Arts Initiative Tokyo (AIT) in 2013. He is also scheduled to participate in Yokohama Triennale 2014.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

■ ARTIST TALK
* Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation available
The artist will discuss the work in the exhibition, as well as the artist’s other works and projects to date. Speaker: Melvin Moti Date & Time: 14:00-15:30, Saturday, May 31, 2014 Venue: Mori Art Museum Capacity: 80 (advance booking required) Admission: Free (exhibition ticket required)
Booking: Mori Art Museum website www.mori.art.museum

■ CURATOR TALK
* In Japanese-language only
Sakamoto Hirofumi, known for his research on moving image, will talk about Melvin Moti’s past film works with the curator of this exhibition.
Speakers: Sakamoto Hirofumi (Associate Professor, Faculty of Integrated Media, Wakkanai Hokusei Gakuen University), Kondo Kenichi (Curator, Mori Art Museum)
Date & Time: 19:00-20:30, Monday, July 7, 2014 Venue: Mori Art Museum
Capacity: 80 (advance booking required) Admission: Free (exhibition ticket required)
Booking: Mori Art Museum website www.mori.art.museum

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GO-BETWEENS: THE WORLD SEEN THROUGH CHILDREN

curated by Araki Natsumi (Curator, Mori Art Museum)

Different Cultures, the Real World and the Imaginary, Adulthood and Childhood… “The Power to Live” that Emanates from Children Who Move to and fro across All Sorts of BOUNDARIES

The Mori Art Museum is pleased to present “Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children” from Saturday, May 31 through Sunday, August 31, 2014.

Photographer Jacob A. Riis, who documented the lives of poor immigrants in New York during the late 19th century, dubbed immigrant children who performed various tasks in acting as bridges for parents with a poor grasp of English, “go-betweens.”

This exhibition focuses on the childhood characteristic of moving freely to and fro across all sorts of boundaries – between different cultures, for instance, between the real world and the world of imagination, or between adulthood and childhood – in an attempt to look at the world through a child’ s eyes. Through images of children as they appear in 110 works by 26 of the world’s top artists / artist groups, “Go- Betweens” turns its gaze on politics, culture, family and other aspects of the environment surrounding children, and the problems they face. Taking as key words the likes of play, dreams and memories, it also homes in on the diverse sensate nature of children, their creativity unconstrained by adult convention or the bounds of tradition.

Though children are at the mercy of their environment, at the same time their potential to act as catalysts in stalemate situations may well hold the key to our planet’ s future. By seeing how children cross boundaries, we explore the possibilities for a new world in which a greater diversity of values coexist.

Exhibition Touring Schedule
Nagoya City Museum: November 8, 2014 [Sat] – December 23, 2014 [Tue / Holiday]
Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum: January 16, 2015 [Fri] – March 15, 2015 [Sun]
The Museum of Art, Kochi: April 5, 2015 [Sun] – June 7, 2015 [Sun]

EXHIBITION OUTLINE
Children move freely to and fro across all sorts of boundaries: between different cultures, for instance, or between the real world, and the world of imagination. This exhibition “Go-Betweens” focuses on this childhood characteristic in an attempt to look at the world through a child’s eyes.
Photographer Jacob A. Riis, who documented the lives of poor immigrants in New York during the late 19th century, dubbed immigrant children who performed various tasks as interpreters for parents with a poor grasp of English, “go-betweens.” These children who moved with ease between their ancestral culture and that of the United States, acted as bridges in the New World. Children also traverse the realms of reality and fantasy through their constant play and imagination. Their creativity, unconstrained by adult convention or the bounds of tradition, reflects a world far more multifaceted.
Viewing children as go-betweens, or windows on the world, this exhibition focuses on different things occurring in society, and through images of children as they appear in works by some of the world’s top artists, turns its gaze on politics, culture, family and other aspects of the environment surrounding children, and the problems they face. Taking as key words the likes of play, dreams and memories, it also homes in on the diverse sensate nature of children.
Every grownup was once a child. By tracing memories of emotions and sensations shown through art – joy, loneliness, pain – visitors may encounter a forgotten side of themselves. Moreover, though children are at the mercy of their environment, at the same time their potential to act as circuit-breakers in stalemate situations may well hold the key to our planet ’ s future. By seeing how children cross boundaries, we explore the possibilities for a new world in which a greater diversity of values coexist.

Press Contact Details: Ms. Machino, Ms. Taki, Ms. Tozawa
Public Relations, Mori Art Museum Tel: +81-(0)3-6406-6111 Fax: +81-(0)3-6406-9351
E-mail: pr@mori.art.museum Web: www.mori.art.museum

Mori Art Museum
53F, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-1 0-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Open Hours: 10:00 –22:00 | Tue: 10:00 –17:00 | * Admission until 30 minutes before closing time. * Open everyday.
Admission: Adult: ¥ 1,500 / University/highschool: ¥ 1,000 / Child( 4 years to Junior Highschool ): ¥ 500 * All prices include tax. * Ticket also valid for “Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children” and Tokyo City View observation deck (excludes Sky Deck).
* Additional entrance fee to the Sky Deck is required.