Counting
OPENING RECEPTION | May 30, 6:30PM - 8:00PM
GALLERY HOURS | 11:00–19:00
CLOSED | Sun., Mon., National Holidays
*SUMMER HOLIDAYS | August 11–19, 2019
We have the pleasure to hold at Akio Nagasawa Gallery Ginza the exhibition Counting by Tatsuo Miyajima.
This is the second show since Counter Skin (colors) held in April 2017. This time three performances of Tatsuo Miyajima are displayed: Counter Voice in Milk (2000/2019), Count Down Drawing against the Wall (1983/2000/2017) and Counter Skin (colors) (2016).
Counter Voice in Milk (2000/2019) is the latest work of Counter Voice series that Miyajima has been working on since 1996, the video performance was recorded in the yard of Hara Museum, in Shinagawa, which will close its doors by the end of 2020.
In the series of Counter Voice, Miyajima counts down from 9 to 1. When he reaches the number 0 (Zero), he inhales, holds his breath and put his face inside a bowl full of liquid. He then repeats the act countless times. Miyajima's Counter Voice in Milk performance in 2000 was put on act by a third person, while this time performance is taken by the artists himself.
Count Down Drawing against the Wall (1983/2000/2017) is a reproduction of a performance first staged in 1983. The performance in May 2017 privately was recorded on a video which together with part of the actual work, a segment of the wall surface, are displayed and unveiled here for the first time.
Counter Skin (colors) (2016) is the most recent work of the series of Counter Skin.
Through this series which consists of painted bodies of 6 persons, both men and women of different skin tones, the artist try to reflect on the overcoming of the differences.
This installation is composed of 6 screens hanging on the wall and projecting 6 different images. The work was first presented as a solo show at Kirishima Open Air Museum in 2016.
The work Counter Skin (colors) held at Akio Nagasawa Gallery Ginza in April 2017 was for the first time exhibited in the form of “photos as media” and it became a hot topic.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the new book Keep Changing, Connect with Everything, Continue forever (Akio Nagasawa Publishing, Limited edition of 900 copies, sealed and numbered) will be on sale at the gallery as well as on the online shop.
Artist
Tatsuo MIYAJIMA
宮島達男
Born in Tokyo in 1957. Completed postgraduate studies at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1986. Since his debut in Aperto ’88 at the Venice Biennale, he has been recognized as one of Japan’s foremost contemporary artists and has exhibited widely in Japan and internationally.
He represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1999 and has held major solo exhibitions at leading institutions including Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (1990), Hayward Gallery, London (1997), Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (2000), Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2002), Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (2004), Art Tower Mito (2008), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (2016). His works are held in the collections of Tate, London; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; among others. He has also realized large-scale public art commissions such as for TV Asahi at Roppongi Hills, Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Tokyo Opera City, and Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul.
Miyajima is best known for his LED counter works, based on three key concepts: Keep Changing, Connect with Everything, Continue Forever. The counters, each blinking at different speeds and never displaying zero, evoke the continuity, eternity, and interconnectedness of time and human life.
He is the founder of the Revive Time: Kaki Tree Project, which propagates seedlings from a persimmon tree that survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and plants them worldwide. More recently, he has been engaged in the Sea of Time – TOHOKU project, which seeks to carry forward the memories of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake while envisioning a new future for the Tohoku region.
Miyajima’s solo exhibition is currently on view at the Asia University Museum of Modern Art, Taichung, Taiwan, through July 2026.
Publication
