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Open

EXHIBITION

Aperto 03

SAKANO Mitsunori : VISIBLE BREATH

2016.1.30 (Sat.) -
2016.5.8 (Sun.)

Visible Breath 2012

Information

Period :
2016.1.30 (Sat.) - 2016.5.8 (Sun.)
Venue :
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Closed:
Mondays, Mar 22 (Open on Mar 21)
Admission:
Free
For More Information:
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Phone: +81-76-220-2800
Facsimile: +81-76-220-2802
E-Mail: info@kanazawa21.jp

About the Exhibition

This exhibition will present Visible Breath (2012) by SAKANO Mitsunori, a video installation work employing five screens. Sakano was born in Tsurugi in Hakusan city, Ishikawa prefecture in 1977 and raised there. Today, he is a practicing Tokyo-based video artist. Sakano studied art and video production at the University of East London and, on his return, embarked on the creation of video artworks. Increasingly, his interest has turned to the festivals and other traditions of his native Tsurugi. Visible Breath is the culmination of his investigations into that world. The work takes iron production as its motif, an industry through which Tsurugi (pronounced the same as tsurugi, the word for sword) had commerce with Izumo(Shimane Prefecture, Japan) and the Korean peninsula in ancient times. Sakano has imbued Tsurugi’s traditions with his own interpretations to create a work of fictional content that activates the imaginations of viewers.

WASHIDA Meruro (Curator, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)

Related Events

Story Time in the Museum
Date: Saturday, February 20, 2016 11:00–11:30
Venue: Kids’ Studio, Long-Term Project Room
Language: Japanese
Admission: Free
Art Festival in Tsurugi Archive Exhibition
Date: Saturday,Jan30 –Sunday,May8
Venue: Art Library

"Art Festival in Tsurugi" was held in Tsurugi seven times from 1991 to 1999. Of particular note is Jan Hoet’s active role in the festival’s execution from 1991 to 1995. Hoet, director of S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium had also served as commissioner for the 1992 Documenta in Kassel. As a result of his involvement, a number of international artists resided in Tsurugi and produced artworks with the assistance of local craftsmen knowledgeable about iron production.
"Art Festival in Tsurugi" was a forerunner of the regional art festivals held today throughout Japan. It was distinguished by the active participation of the local Society of Commerce and Industry, which operated the festival office and even provided production assistance. What made this possible was the long history of collaborative production that supports Tsurugi’s traditional “Horai Festival," which is famous for its large, hand-crafted festival dolls.
This archive exhibition will present documents and documentary photos and video preserved by the Tsurugi Society of Commerce and Industry, along with interviews of festival personnel conducted especially for this event. The exhibition’s aim will be to prevent festival-related materials from getting scattered and lost, and to provide an occasion for thinking about how art and region can find connection, based on understanding what occurred at "Art Festival in Tsurugi." Sakano Mitsunori, the artist featured in Aperto 03, is from Tsurugi and actually experienced the festival as a junior high school student. The exhibition will therefore also provide viewers with a background for understanding Sakano’s work.
Artist Talk
Date/time: Saturday,Jan30 16:00-17:30
Venue: Lecture Hall
Language: Japanese
Admission: Free
Capacity: First 90 arrivals

About the “Aperto” Series

The exhibition series “Aperto” introduces up-and-coming young artists in a solo exhibition format. As an art museum actively engaged with the contemporary world, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa looks closely at new trends now in the process of forming. Artists and curators collaborate in creating occasions for exhibiting works and act as an intermediary between today’s creation and that of the future. This exhibition series looks at individual artists who, although having little experience with solo or important group exhibitions at art museums, possess sufficient creative motivation to command a solo exhibition and who are expected to make a significant impact in the future. Artists are selected without regard for their nationality or expressive media by the curator at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. 
Note: “Aperto” is Italian for “open.”

SAKANO Mitunori

Born in 1977 in Tsurugi, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the University of East London in 2000. Lives and works between Tokyo and Ishikawa Prefecture. In recent years, he is developing projects centered on making visible the specific histories and memories of regional places, based on the viewpoints of unique people he encounters through fieldwork. He also established the project space MITSUME (Tokyo) in 2014, which is focused on art projects and the organization and management of exhibitions. Solo exhibitions include appearing (Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, 1/2 1F gallery, Taipei) in 2013, Visible breath (3331 Arts Chiyoda, main gallery, Tokyo) in 2012, beep beep beep (Project Space KANDADA, Tokyo) in 2007, etc.

Statement

Visible Breath 2012

Who is responsible for initiating customs familiar to us, or traditions that have subconsciously come to form a part of our daily lives? When did those individuals arrive, and from where did they originate?
Strands of culture originating from distant lands come to imperceptibly take root on foreign soil, and, while fusing with existing customs, may be lying motionless with bated breath.
I feel a strong sense of being rooted to my hometown. And after undertaking a private journey to connect with a far-flung historical world, an encounter with a folklore researcher has come to give it a visible shape.
Through an ongoing process of creating and giving form to the immaterial, I continue to transform and inherit the past with eyes fixed upon a ceaselessly changing world that is updated on a daily basis.

Publication

Leaflet: "Aperto 3 SAKANO Mitsunori: Visible Breath"

Format: A5
Pages: 6 pages
Language: English / Japanese
Price: 370JPY (without tax)

Available at the Museum Shop of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.

Images

    Visible Breath 2012

    Visible Breath 2012
    Installation view at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
    photo: KIOKU Keizo

    Art Festival in Tsurugi Archive Exhibition
    Installation view
    photo: KIOKU Keizo

    "Walking talk with Jan Hoet and the artists," "Contemporary Art Tsurugi '94," 1994, courtesy of Tsurugi Society of Commerce and Industry

    Flyer of "Contemporary Art Tsurugi '91," 1991, collection of Sakamoto Yoshiaki

Organizers

Organized by:
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa Art Promotion and Development Foundation)
Sponsored by:
Hakusan City
Tsurugi Society of Commerce and Industry