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Open

EXHIBITION

Koichi Sato: Third Landscape

2019.4.6 (Sat.) -
2019.9.23 (Mon.)

Information

Period :
2019.4.6 (Sat.) - 2019.9.23 (Mon.)
10:00 - 18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays)
Venue :
Design Gallery / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Closed:
Mondays (Open on Apr 29, May 6, Jul 15, Aug 12, Sep 16, 23), and May 7 (Tue.), Jul 16 (Tue.), Sep 17 (Tue.)
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

At a time when artworks centered on the visual sense still predominate, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa is proud to be staging a exhibition that explore the next possibilities for art museum activities by embracing new expression that stirs not only the sense of sight but also the non-visual senses of hearing and smell.
Based on an interest in anthropology and botany, SATO Koichi (b. 1990) has examined the possibilities of entities that teeter ambiguously on various boundaries. He inquires into the boundary – invisible but certainly present – between “the self” and “that which is not the self,” complexly combining not only video and installations but also non-visual media such as sound and smell to present a future in which these entities co-exist while fluctuating between the two.
The exhibition title, “Third Landscape,” derives from a concept put forward by leading French gardener / garden designer Gilles Clément, indicating space in which the evolution of the landscape is left entirely to nature. According to this concept, places such as vacant city lots, abandoned land in farming villages and borders between countries that have been neglected or suppressed by humans are assessed positively as privileged places receptive to biodiversity. One could say that this “third landscape,” in which various elements are able to exist complexly alongside each other, offers a range of suggestions as to the nature of the relationship between people and plants in our society going forward. Based on this symbolic term and including such works as the fig reproduction-themed Mutant Variations, this exhibition provides a bird’s eye view of Koichi Sato’s current practice.

*The announced exhibition change was canceled due to the conveniences.

Related Events

Artist talk: “Koichi Sato: Third Landscape”
Koichi Sato will talk about his works, standing before them in the gallery space.
Date/time: April 6 (Sat) 14:00–15:00
Venue: Design Gallery, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Admission: Free
Cooperative program Koichi Sato talk
In advance of the exhibition, Koichi Sato will talk about his artistic practice and artworks.
Date/time: April 5 (Fri) 18:00–19:00
Venue: KUMU Kanazawa (2-40 Kamitsutsumicho, Kanazawa)
Admission: Free

Profile

SATO Koichi

Born 1990 in Tokyo. Completed MFA from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2019. Lives and works in Tokyo. His work was featured in the solo exhibition “Crepuscular Gardens” (Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, 2018) and the group exhibition “Complex Topography: Garden” (Ritsurin Park, Kagawa, 2015). Recipient of the 12th shiseido art egg Prize (2018), Art no Chikara Award, Tokyo University of the Arts (2019) and Mori Award, Tokyo University of the Arts (2019).

Mutant Variations

Installation view
Photo: Keizo Kioku

[1]
I am in a large garden surrounded by a wall. The garden is very well maintained, with neatly manicured pine trees and azaleas, various kinds of fruit trees laden with fruit, and beautiful flowers all year round. (Here there are no seasons.) Because the wall is so tall it seems to reach the clouds, no insects of any kind can get in to attack the leaves or flowers, and no birds or animals can eat the fruit.

[2]
However, this peaceful state of affairs may not last much longer. Of late, every so often an ominous sound can be heard from the other side of the wall, as if something is collapsing. A low-pitched rumbling of the ground produces a humming sound and the walls surrounding the garden shake. The people who look after this place are uneasy and saying all sorts of things: that another ethnic group might attack us, that if the wall collapses we will be eaten by wild animals, or that if we build another wall inside the garden we will be safe.

[3]
Soon, the order of the garden will likely be disturbed as we come into contact with whatever is outside the wall. But I don’t view the collapse of the wall entirely negatively. The destruction of our order is also the restoration of an order “that is not us,” the restoration of subjectivity. I want to see the elegance, sensuality and love that emerge due to the retreat of human things. A garden of a leaden hue that is neither day nor night, a freezing fjord turning into liquid. I imagine us slithering across the earth, having transformed into something resembling wild animals or plants.

Koichi Sato

Images

    Installation view
    Photo: Keizo Kioku

    Installation view
    Photo: Keizo Kioku

    Installation view
    Photo: Keizo Kioku

Organizers

Organized by:
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa Art Promotion and Development Foundation)
In Cooperation with:
KUMU Kanazawa, TAKASAGO INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, Nakagawa Chemical Inc.