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Now and Then, Japanese Photography and Art

NOW AND THEN
Don’t Follow the Wind, Leiko Ikemura, Rinko Kawauchi, Ken Kitano, Tatsuo Miyajima, Daido Moriyama, Asako Narahashi, Mika Ninagawa, Lieko Shiga, Issei Suda, Yutaka Takanashi, Shomei Tomatsu and others

Dezember 5th, 2015 – January 23rd, 2016

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“NOW AND THEN” is the second exhibition in the new rooms of | PRISKA PASQUER. It is devoted to Japanese photography and art.

The exhibition brings together a number of different eras and media. Classical positions of Japanese post-war photography rub shoulders with the studious shots of Rinko Kawauchi; the bright pop aesthetic of Mika Ninagawa collides with the raw imagery of “Provoke” protagonists Daido Moriyama and Yutaka Takanashi; Leiko Ikemura’s contemporary painting is juxtaposed with a digital LED installation by Tatsuo Miyajima. On a thematic level, “NOW AND THEN” casts an eye on Japanese society. Past, present and future, changes and threats, possibilities and defeats are viewed from a wide variety of perspectives. As different as the artistic positions are, they all share a peculiarly Japanese approach to dealing with reality: the artists do not attempt to pigeon-hole what they find, but rather approach reality with a high degree of openness. This approach gives rise to a unique aesthetic. An aesthetic that toys with the visible and invisible, always referencing more than can be seen in the picture.

At the same time, all artists deal with very specific themes – always rupture, transition and change. These are discerned, shown and channelled into the image. However, they are not evaluated, nor is any attempt made to present reality in an explicable format or pattern.

The curtain on “NOW AND THEN” is raised with the website for the project titled “Don’t Follow the Wind”. Initiated by artist group Chim↑Pom and with ten international artists in radioactively contaminated houses near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the exhibition on the Tepco company site is not visible in any real sense. The contaminated site is out of bounds for the general public until such time as it is decontaminated. It is not known when and even whether this will ever be the case. Accordingly, the website is also “invisible”. A blank white screen with a soundtrack, but nothing to be seen.

Since 2000, | PRISKA PASQUER has shown many exhibitions featuring the leading names in Japanese photography – both in its own gallery rooms and in cooperation with institutions in Germany and abroad (e.g. FOAM in Amsterdam, Fondation Henri-Cartier-Bresson in Paris, FOMU in Antwerp and Hundertwasser Haus in Vienna).

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„NOW AND THEN“ ist die zweite Ausstellung in den neuen Räumen von | PRISKA PASQUER. Sie widmet sich der japanischen Fotografie und Kunst.

Die Ausstellung vereint verschiedene Zeiten und Medien. Klassische Positionen der japanischen  Nachkriegsfotografie stehen neben den achtsam- konzentrierten Aufnahmen von Rinko Kawauchi, die knallbunte Pop-Ästhetik von Mika Ninagawa kollidiert mit der rauen Bildsprache der “Provoke”- Protagonisten Daido Moriyama und Yutaka Takanashi, aktuelle Malerei von Leiko Ikemura trifft auf eine digitale LED-Installation von Tatsuo Miyajima.

Auf inhaltlicher Ebene richtet „NOW AND THEN“ den Blick auf die japanische Gesellschaft. Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, Zukunft, Veränderungen und Bedrohungen, Möglichkeiten und Niederlagen werden aus unterschiedlichsten Perspektiven fokussiert. So verschieden die künstlerischen Positionen auch sind, eint sie doch ein spezifisch japanischer Umgang mit der Wirklichkeit: Die Künstler versuchen nicht, das Vorhandene, Vorgefundene in feste Kategorien zu fassen, sondern begegnen der Wirklichkeit mit einer großen Offenheit. Aus diesem Ansatz heraus entwickelt sich eine besondere Ästhetik. Es ist ein Spiel mit dem Sichtbaren und dem Unsichtbaren, das immer auf mehr verweist, als im Bild konkret sichtbar ist.

Dabei sprechen alle Künstler ganz konkrete Themen an. Immer geht es um die Brüche, Veränderungen und den Wandel. Diese werden wahrgenommen, gezeigt und ins Bild übertragen. Sie werden jedoch weder bewertet, noch wird versucht, die Wirklichkeit in ein erklärbares Format und Raster zu bringen.

Den Auftakt zu „NOW AND THEN“ macht die Website des Projekts „Don’t Follow the Wind”. Die von der Künstlergruppe Chim↑Pom initiierte und mit zehn internationalen Künstlern in radioaktiv verstrahlten Häusern in der Nähe des Atomkraftwerkes Fukushima realisierte Ausstellung auf dem Gelände der Firma Tepco ist faktisch nicht sichtbar. Das verstrahlte Gelände ist für die Öffentlichkeit gesperrt und wird erst nach seiner Dekontaminierung wieder betreten werden können. Es ist vollkommen ungewiss, wann und ob dies jemals der Fall sein wird. Entsprechend „unsichtbar“ ist auch die Website: Ein leerer weißer Screen, auf dem nur ein Sound-Track läuft, aber nichts zu sehen ist.

Seit dem Jahr 2000 hat | PRISKA PASQUER eine Vielzahl von Ausstellungen mit den bedeutendsten Vertretern der japanischen Fotografie gezeigt – sowohl in den eigenen Räumen als auch in Zusammenarbeit mit Institutionen im In- und
Ausland (z. B. FOAM, Amsterdam, Fondation Henri-Cartier-Bresson, Paris, FOMU, Antwerpen, Hundertwasser Haus, Wien).

RESET I and MODERNISM

RESET I and MODERNISM
Frank Ammerlaan, Viktoria Binschtok, Christian Falsnaes, John Gerrard, Mai-Thu Perret, Johanna Reich, Evan Roth, Pepo Salazar, Adrian Sauer, Lieko Shiga, Masha Tupitsyn

September 5th – November 28th, 2015

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On the occasion of DC Open, | PRISKA PASQUER is opening its “RESET I” group exhibit, which showcases today’s modernity – pioneering artists that take a radical approach to the changes of our age. At the same time, “RESET I” marks a new beginning for | PRISKA PASQUER in the legendary exhibition spaces of the Rudolf Zwirner Gallery in Cologne.

The “RESET” exhibition series is dedicated to artists who directly reflect the sweeping developments of the digital age. The “RESET” series of exhibitions will concern itself foremost with fundamental, far-reaching questions: How do artists respond to the digital transformation? What themes define art in the digital age? How does the digital age change the way artists view the world? How does art work in the digital age and how can artists respond to the new challenges that present themselves? This means that the main focus is on substantive questions that can be explored in videos and computer animations as well as in paintings, photographs, sculptures, websites or installations.

We live today in a new modernity, in which digitization permeates all areas of our lives and thus alters the

very nature of our civilization. In recent years, the process of digitization, dematerialization and interconnection has stepped up its pace dramatically.

“The relationship between image and language, language and body, image and space, object and subject has changed rapidly. While the creation of images is no longer the primary function of art, working with existing images, objects and spaces is becoming a de-subjectivised place of reflection.” – Susanne Pfeffer (“Speculations on Anonymous Materials”, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2013). At the same time, past reminders, present experiences and future imaginings come together in digital space to form equivalent images in our eyes.

Digital modernity creates the potential for revolutionary developments in every aspect of our lives.  At the same time, it raises fundamental questions while relying on artistic and design input. Like their predecessors of the earlier Western modernity, the artists of the digital modernity engender new perspectives on key issues of our age. With critical openness, they grasp the scope of the radical transformation, grapple with its risks and develop visionary projects.

Since being founded in 2000, | PRISKA PASQUER is focusing primarily on art created during periods of social change. Over the years three main groups have emerged: Russia, Japan and Germany – with works from the 1920s/1930s, 1960/1970s and new works from the new millennium. In the future, the gallery will also be concentrating on avant-garde art of the digital age.  The first result of this further programmatic development is the “RESET I” exhibition.

Located at Albertusstrasse 18, the former rooms of Galerie Rudolf Zwirner are well known in the international art scene as one of the key venues in Cologne. It was here that many pioneering exhibitions of avant-garde art were held. It was designed in 1972 by local architect Erich Schneider- Wessling. The space is ideal for presenting a wide variety of formats in all kinds of media – be it video, painting, photography or large-scale installation.

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Anlässlich der DC-Open eröffnet | PRISKA PASQUER die Gruppenausstellung „RESET I“. Gezeigt wird die Moderne von heute: Künstler, die sich wegweisend mit den radikalen Veränderungen unseres Zeitalters auseinandersetzen. Zugleich markiert „RESET I“ den Neustart von | PRISKA PASQUER in den legendären Räumen der Galerie Rudolf Zwirner in Köln.

Die Ausstellungsreihe „RESET“ widmet sich Künstlern, die unmittelbar die weitreichenden Entwicklungen des digitalen Zeitalters reflektieren. Dabei geht es vorrangig um grundsätzliche Fragestellungen: Wie reagieren Künstler auf die digitale Transformation? Welche Themen bestimmen die Kunst des digitalen Zeitalters? Wie verändert das digitale Zeitalter den künstlerischen Blick auf die Welt? Wie diskutieren Künstler den Begriff der Partizipation in seiner politischen wie medialen Bedeutung? Im Fokus von „RESET“ stehen also inhaltliche Fragen und diese können ebenso in Videos und Computeranimationen, wie in Fotografien, Gemälden, Skulpturen, Websites oder Installationen diskutiert werden.

Wir leben heute in einer neuen Moderne, in der die Digitalisierung alle Lebensbereiche durchdringt und damit unsere Zivilisation in grundlegender Weise verändert. Der Prozess von Digitalisierung, Dematerialisierung und Vernetzung hat sich in den letzten Jahren dramatisch beschleunigt.

„Die Relation von Bild und Sprache, Sprache und Körper, Bild und Raum, Objekt und Subjekt hat sich rasant verändert. Während die originäre Bildgenese als primäre Aufgabe der Kunst entfällt, wird das Arbeiten mit bereits existierenden Bildern, Objekten und Räumen zum entsubjektivierten Ort der Reflexion.“ – Susanne Pfeffer (“Speculations on Anonymous Materials”, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2013). Die Erinnerung an die Vergangenheit, das Erleben der Gegenwart und die Vorstellung von der Zukunft vereinen sich im digitalen Raum zu für uns scheinbar gleichwertigen Bildern.
Die digitale Moderne schafft Potenziale für revolutionäre Entwicklungen in allen Lebensbereichen. Zugleich wirft sie weitreichende Fragestellungen auf und ist ihrerseits auf künstlerische und gestalterische Inputs angewiesen. Wie die Künstler der frühen westlichen Moderne entwickeln die Künstler der digitalen Moderne neue Perspektiven zu zentralen Themen unserer Zeit. Mit kritischer Offenheit erfassen sie die Tragweite der radikalen Transformation, diskutieren deren Risiken und entwickeln visionäre Projekte.

Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 2000 konzentriert sich die Galerie | PRISKA PASQUER auf Kunst, die in gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen passiert. Hier haben sich über die Jahre drei Hauptgruppen herauskristallisiert – Russland, Japan und Deutschland – mit Werken aus den 1920/1930er- und 1960/1970er-Jahren sowie neuen, nach 2000 entstandenen Arbeiten. In Zukunft wird sich die Galerie zusätzlich auf die Moderne des digitalen Zeitalters fokussieren. Erstes Ergebnis dieser programmatischen Weiterentwicklung ist die Ausstellung „RESET I“.

Die ehemaligen Räume der Galerie Rudolf Zwirner in der Albertusstrasse 18 stehen für den Standort Köln im internationalen Kunstbetrieb als unvergesslicher und prägender Ort. Hier wurden wegweisende Ausstellungen von Avantgardekunst gezeigt. Das Gebäude wurde 1972 von dem Kölner Architekten Erich Schneider-Wessling errichtet. Die großzügig gestalteten Räume eignen sich hervorragend für die Präsentation unterschiedlichster Formate in allen Medien – ob Video, raumgreifende Installation, Malerei oder Fotografie.

LIEKO SHIGA, Canary at FOAM, Amsterdam

CANARY
FOAM AMSTERDAM
Lieko Shiga

March 22nd – May 12th, 2013

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Foam presents the Canary series by Japanese photographer Lieko Shiga (1980). In her work, Shiga combines local myths with stories of ordinary people and their personal memories, feelings and experiences. She thus creates fantastical and often dramatic images that make reference to the twilight area between dream and reality. Her often-dark work is deeply rooted in the Japanese folkloric tradition and the supernatural as a self-evident presence. Shiga is part of a new generation of Japanese photographers. Her photos are characterised by a distinctive use of light and colour and a powerful visual language based on her own fantasy.

Canary consists of about 50 works in various formats. In addition to photos, a film will be shown with the same title, and the images accompanied by a stirring audio track (composed by Yuta Segawa). The works in the series were shot in Brisbane (Australia), Singapore and northern Japan. In order to establish contact with local people in these areas, Shiga formulated a list, and asked questions about specific places, personal experiences and anecdotes. Her contact with the people and the places they referred to served as the starting point for the series. Ultimately, however, the photos mainly reflect the fantasy world of the artist.

In her first meeting with a person or a place, or even before, Shiga visualises the definitive image she is going to create – it is as if she steps beyond herself and her body and finds herself in another existential state. The title of the series is based on this state of mind: ‘The body is simply a medium, I kept a canary inside my stomach.’

In most cases, the photos are deliberately staged, such as Wedding Veil, for which Shiga decorated a bare tree with thousands of paper blossoms or the surrealistic My Husband. For this intriguing image she created a huge animal skull, and posed alongside it. The series also contains several purely recorded images, such as Man Wearing Fur, for which she travelled to the mountains of northern Japan with a group of bear hunters.

Lieko Shiga was born in 1980 in the prefecture of Aichi. She presently lives and works in Sendai, Japan. In 2004 she graduated from the Chelsea University of Art and Design, London, earning a BA in Fine Arts and New Media. Canary won Lieko Shiga the ‘Infinity Award (Young Photographer)’ from the International Center of Photography, New York, in 2009. In 2007, her portfolio was published in Foam Magazine #12.

Photographs courtesy Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne

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Foam presents the Canary series by Japanese photographer Lieko Shiga (1980). In her work, Shiga combines local myths with stories of ordinary people and their personal memories, feelings and experiences. She thus creates fantastical and often dramatic images that make reference to the twilight area between dream and reality. Her often-dark work is deeply rooted in the Japanese folkloric tradition and the supernatural as a self-evident presence. Shiga is part of a new generation of Japanese photographers. Her photos are characterised by a distinctive use of light and colour and a powerful visual language based on her own fantasy.

Canary consists of about 50 works in various formats. In addition to photos, a film will be shown with the same title, and the images accompanied by a stirring audio track (composed by Yuta Segawa). The works in the series were shot in Brisbane (Australia), Singapore and northern Japan. In order to establish contact with local people in these areas, Shiga formulated a list, and asked questions about specific places, personal experiences and anecdotes. Her contact with the people and the places they referred to served as the starting point for the series. Ultimately, however, the photos mainly reflect the fantasy world of the artist.

In her first meeting with a person or a place, or even before, Shiga visualises the definitive image she is going to create – it is as if she steps beyond herself and her body and finds herself in another existential state. The title of the series is based on this state of mind: ‘The body is simply a medium, I kept a canary inside my stomach.’

In most cases, the photos are deliberately staged, such as Wedding Veil, for which Shiga decorated a bare tree with thousands of paper blossoms or the surrealistic My Husband. For this intriguing image she created a huge animal skull, and posed alongside it. The series also contains several purely recorded images, such as Man Wearing Fur, for which she travelled to the mountains of northern Japan with a group of bear hunters.

Lieko Shiga was born in 1980 in the prefecture of Aichi. She presently lives and works in Sendai, Japan. In 2004 she graduated from the Chelsea University of Art and Design, London, earning a BA in Fine Arts and New Media. Canary won Lieko Shiga the ‘Infinity Award (Young Photographer)’ from the International Center of Photography, New York, in 2009. In 2007, her portfolio was published in Foam Magazine #12.

Photographs courtesy Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne

LIEKO SHIGA, Canary at Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow

CANARY
Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow
Lieko Shiga


May 18th – July 17th, 2012

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Press Release
Krakow Photomonth Festival 2012
Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology

Organizer: Foundation for Visual Arts
Partners: Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology, Galerie Priska Pasquer
Curator: Ferdinand Brüggemann

Liego Shiga (1980) is a Japanese photographer based in Miyagi prefecture, Japan. She lived in London for several years, and graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2004. She herself explains that her limited ability in English and lack of money for expensive materials led her towards a more introverted approach and to devise her own techniques. Initially she used cheaper prints, which she cut and perforated, then backlit so light shone through the holes, and then photographed again. These were published in three books: Jacques Saw Me Tomorrow Morning, Lilly, and Damien Court). Though Shiga’s techniques have evolved, her conceptual approach remains constant: for her, photographs are the sum of experiences that led her to a place—a site where she stages a scenario. For the Canary series, she asked the residents of Brisbane, Australia, and Sendai, Japan, to choose the “lightest” and “darkest” places in each city; based on that information she attempted to find links between the place and the person who chose it.

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Press Release
Krakow Photomonth Festival 2012
Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology

Organizer: Foundation for Visual Arts
Partners: Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology, Galerie Priska Pasquer
Curator: Ferdinand Brüggemann

Liego Shiga (1980) is a Japanese photographer based in Miyagi prefecture, Japan. She lived in London for several years, and graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2004. She herself explains that her limited ability in English and lack of money for expensive materials led her towards a more introverted approach and to devise her own techniques. Initially she used cheaper prints, which she cut and perforated, then backlit so light shone through the holes, and then photographed again. These were published in three books: Jacques Saw Me Tomorrow Morning, Lilly, and Damien Court). Though Shiga’s techniques have evolved, her conceptual approach remains constant: for her, photographs are the sum of experiences that led her to a place—a site where she stages a scenario. For the Canary series, she asked the residents of Brisbane, Australia, and Sendai, Japan, to choose the “lightest” and “darkest” places in each city; based on that information she attempted to find links between the place and the person who chose it.

Rinko Kawauchi, Lieko Shiga, Asako Narahashi and others, MIZU NO OTO at FotoGrafia. Festival Internazionale di Roma

MIZU NO OTO
Rinko Kawauchi,
 Lieko Shiga, Asako Narahashi and others
FotoGrafia – Festival Internazionale di Roma

September 23rd – October 23rd, 2011

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FotoGrafia – Festival Internazionale di Roma
MACRO Testaccio

Curated by 3/3 in dialogue with Rinko Kawauchi
In co-production with Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne and G/P gallery, Tokyo

A haiku by Matsuo Bashô: “Into the old pond — A frog leaps. The sound of water.”

Water as an element is the common thread that binds together the work of five women photographers — some well known on the international scene, others young emerging artists — who, though differing greatly from each other, well represent the most interesting lines of Japanese photography in recent years.

The show titled Mizu no Oto: Sound of Water meshes perfectly with the theme “Motherland” chosen for this year’s photography festival. It explores the lines of a sensitivity expressed by close attention to tiny things, a deep tie to nature and the flow of existence by elaborating on a key image in Japanese art. From Hokusai’s The Great Wave to Asako Narahashi’s foreground waves, water is an energetic and vital element, metaphor for the cycle and cyclic character of life.

Though water may not be literally present, it takes us back to a liquid vision, a fluidity that creates points of contiguity between visual and emotional states, between macrocosmos and microcosmos, the real and the imaginary, the personal and the universal. Water becomes the vehicle of resonances charged with metaphoric and poetic power.

It is this plane of relating to reality — an idea of life and fate always projected in an utmost dimension — that connects these artists to the immediate experience, a concept that John Szarkowsky focused on in the exhibition “New Japanese Photography,” held in 1974 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (curated by Szarkowsky and Shôji Yamagishi, it was the first major show of contemporary Japanese photography held outside Japan).

An ecstatic experience, a psychic state of suspension, in search of immediacy and unselfconsciousness: sensations, perception, images that strike us and come into contact with our innermost selves.

Lieko Shiga believes that “taking photos is not like shooting, but the reverse: it’s like being shot. I am shot, and the entire timeline of my existence is resurrected in the photograph. So, I think photography is the revival of eternal time and of eternal life.”

On the one hand, this relationship with the continuous flow of experience and existence brings us back to a constant present (as David Chandler notes in his afterword to Rinko Kawauchi’s latest book, Illuminance, as regards her relationship to memory) and to that skin-deep relationship made up of epiphanic events that Mayumi Hosokura narrates with her photos. On the other hand, though, this doesn’t mean eluding intention, such as is very much present and clarified in Yumilo Utsu’s playful creations.

The pictures created by these five photographers and their fluid approach are thus almost magically maintained in a state of delicate balance with reality. Their narrations open up to poetic and creative possibilities of existence that, though far from any Western-like objectivity, do not waive an open and at times even ironically explicit dialogue with the West.

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FotoGrafia – Festival Internazionale di Roma
MACRO Testaccio

Curated by 3/3 in dialogue with Rinko Kawauchi
In co-production with Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne and G/P gallery, Tokyo

A haiku by Matsuo Bashô: “Into the old pond — A frog leaps. The sound of water.”

Water as an element is the common thread that binds together the work of five women photographers — some well known on the international scene, others young emerging artists — who, though differing greatly from each other, well represent the most interesting lines of Japanese photography in recent years.

The show titled Mizu no Oto: Sound of Water meshes perfectly with the theme “Motherland” chosen for this year’s photography festival. It explores the lines of a sensitivity expressed by close attention to tiny things, a deep tie to nature and the flow of existence by elaborating on a key image in Japanese art. From Hokusai’s The Great Wave to Asako Narahashi’s foreground waves, water is an energetic and vital element, metaphor for the cycle and cyclic character of life.

Though water may not be literally present, it takes us back to a liquid vision, a fluidity that creates points of contiguity between visual and emotional states, between macrocosmos and microcosmos, the real and the imaginary, the personal and the universal. Water becomes the vehicle of resonances charged with metaphoric and poetic power.

It is this plane of relating to reality — an idea of life and fate always projected in an utmost dimension — that connects these artists to the immediate experience, a concept that John Szarkowsky focused on in the exhibition “New Japanese Photography,” held in 1974 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (curated by Szarkowsky and Shôji Yamagishi, it was the first major show of contemporary Japanese photography held outside Japan).

An ecstatic experience, a psychic state of suspension, in search of immediacy and unselfconsciousness: sensations, perception, images that strike us and come into contact with our innermost selves.

Lieko Shiga believes that “taking photos is not like shooting, but the reverse: it’s like being shot. I am shot, and the entire timeline of my existence is resurrected in the photograph. So, I think photography is the revival of eternal time and of eternal life.”

On the one hand, this relationship with the continuous flow of experience and existence brings us back to a constant present (as David Chandler notes in his afterword to Rinko Kawauchi’s latest book, Illuminance, as regards her relationship to memory) and to that skin-deep relationship made up of epiphanic events that Mayumi Hosokura narrates with her photos. On the other hand, though, this doesn’t mean eluding intention, such as is very much present and clarified in Yumilo Utsu’s playful creations.

The pictures created by these five photographers and their fluid approach are thus almost magically maintained in a state of delicate balance with reality. Their narrations open up to poetic and creative possibilities of existence that, though far from any Western-like objectivity, do not waive an open and at times even ironically explicit dialogue with the West.

LIEKO SHIGA, Canary

CANARY
Lieko Shiga

May 24th – July 30th, 2011

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Die Galerie Priska Pasquer freut sich, die Serie “Canary” der japanischen Künstlerin Lieko Shiga vorzustellen. Für diese Serie erhielt sie 2009 den „Infinity Award/ Young Photographer” vom International Center of Photography, New York.

In „Canary“ verbindet Lieko Shiga persönliche Berichte von Menschen, lokale Mythen, eigene Erinnerungen, Gefühle und Erfahrungen, zu fantastischen, oft irritierenden Szenarien. Im Zusammenspiel der Arbeiten entsteht dabei ein komplexes, dramatisches Tableau, das zwischen Realität und Traum oszilliert.

Die Arbeiten der Serie sind in Brisbaine, Australien, Singapur und in Nordjapan entstanden. Um einen Zugang zu den Menschen vor Ort zu erhalten hat Lieko Shiga einen Fragebogen herausgegeben, in dem sie nach besonderen Plätzen und damit verbundenen persönlichen Erfahrungen und Geschichten gefragt hat.

Der Kontakt zu den Menschen und die von ihnen genannten Orte bilden den Ausgangspunkt der Serie „Canary“, doch letztendlich ist es die eigene, innere Bildwelt der Künstlerin, die im sich in den Fotoarbeiten widerspiegelt: „I can already visualize the finished photograph when I first encounter the subject or scene, or even before that. The time that exists before the photograph is taken, shoots me where I stand outside, and restores me to life.
The body is simply a medium, I kept a canary inside my stomach.“ (Lieko Shiga).

Meist sind die Arbeiten das Resultat einer Inszenierung für die Kamera, wenn die Künstlerin zum Beispiel einen verdorrten Baum mit tausend Papierblüten schmückt („Wedding Veil“) oder aber einen monumentalen Tierschädel anfertigt, der als prägender Bestandteil einer Portraitfotografie dient („My Husband“). Seltener sind es ‚direkte’ Fotografien, wie bei der Arbeit „Man wearing Fur“, für die Lieko Shiga Bärenjäger in Bergen Nordjapans begleitet hat.

Lieko Shiga, 1980 in der Präfektur Aichi geboren, lebt und arbeitet bei Sendai, Japan. Studium an der Chelsea University of Art and Design, London. 2004 Abschluss BA Fine Arts New Media. Zahlreiche Ausstellungsteilnahmen, u. a. “Rapt! Contemporary Art from Japan”, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australien, “BMW Young Asian Artist Series”, Tyler Print Institute, Singapore; “Unseen”, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, China; “Roppongi Chrossing 2010: Can There Be Art? The Creative Potential of New Japan”, Mori Art Museum. Tokyo, Japan; “Aichi Triennale 2010: Arts and Cities”, Aichi Arts Center, Aichi, Japan.

2005 Mio Photo Award – Jurors Award (Michiko Kasahara), Japan. 2008 “Kimura Ihei Photography  Award”;  2009 “Infinity Award/ Young Photographer” vom International Center of Photography, New York.

Publikationen:

– Lilly. Artbeat, Tokyo 2007

– Canary. Akaaka, Tokyo 2007

– Canary Mon (Canary Gate). Akaaka, Tokyo 2009

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Galerie Priska Pasquer is pleased to present the “Canary” series by Japanese artist Lieko Shiga, for which she won the “Infinity Award (Young Photographer)” from the International Center of Photography, New York, in 2009.

In “Canary”, Lieko Shiga combines personal accounts of people and local myths with her own personal memories, feelings and experiences to create fantastic, often perplexing scenarios. The works interact to form a complex, dramatic tableau that vacillates between dreams and reality. The works in this series were created in Brisbane (Australia), Singapore and Northern Japan. In order to establish contact with local people in these areas, Lieko Shiga produced a questionnaire in which she asked about particular places and personal experiences and stories relating to these. The contact to the people and the places they mention form the starting point for the “Canary” series, yet it is ultimately the artist’s own inner imagery that is reflected in the photographic works:  “I can already visualise the finished photograph when I first encounter the subject or scene, or even before that. The time that exists before the photograph is taken shoots me where I stand outside and restores me to life. The body is simply a medium, I kept a canary inside my stomach.” (Lieko Shiga).

For the most part, the works are deliberately staged for the camera, for instance when the artist adorns a withered tree with a thousand paper blossoms (“Wedding Veil”) or creates a monumental animal skull to serve as the centrepiece of a portrait photograph (“My Husband”). Less frequent are ‘direct’ photographs such as “Man wearing Fur” for which Lieko Shiga accompanied bear hunters to the mountains of Northern Japan.

Lieko Shiga was born in 1980 in the prefecture of Aichi and lives and works in Sendai, Japan. She studied at Chelsea University of Art and Design, London, graduating with a BA in Fine Arts New Media in 2004. She has been involved in many group and individual exhibitions, including “Rapt! Contemporary Art from Japan”, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; “BMW Young Asian Artist Series”, Tyler Print Institute, Singapore; “Unseen”, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, China; “Roppongi Crossing 2010: Can There Be Art? The Creative Potential of New Japan”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; “Aichi Triennale 2010: Arts and Cities”, Aichi Arts Center, Aichi, Japan.

2005 “Miho Photo Award – Jurors Award” (Michiko Kasahara), Japan. In 2008, she was presented with the “Kimura Ihei Photography Award”; in 2009, she won the “Infinity Award (Young Photographer)” from the International Center of Photography, New York.

Publications:

– Lilly. Artbeat, Tokyo 2007

– Canary. Akaaka, Tokyo 2007

– Canary Mon (Canary Gate). Akaaka, Tokyo 2009