Transphere #1:
Daito Manabe + Motoi Ishibashi
Fertile Landscapes
March 16–May 7, 2016
Opening: March 15, 4pm (by invitation only)
Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris
Exhibition room (level 2)
101bis, quai Branly
75015 Paris
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday noon–8pm
T +33(0)1 44 37 95 00 / 01
www.mcjp.fr
rhizomatiks.com
Facebook / Twitter / #MCJP / #TRANSPHERE
Curator: Aomi Okabe, Artistic Director of Exhibitions at the MCJP
Transphere is a new series of exhibitions that opens the door to the imaginary worlds of emerging and established artists from Japan.
Over the course of three years (with three exhibitions per season), this invitation to travel to the heart of contemporary Japanese creation will present audiences with a broad cross section of current artistic practices.
Since opening in 1997, the Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris (MCJP) has sought to showcase many facets of traditional and contemporary Japanese art in Paris. Transphere promises to transform the MCJP into a venue for contemporary creation. Some of the Japanese artists will be collaborating with artists from other countries, and each exhibition in the series will present a previously unseen work with the promise to transport the viewer to a radically different universe, alongside older efforts.
The first installment, Fertile Landscapes, opening on March 16, focuses on new media art, showcasing works by Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi. In early June, the second part will feature architecture, with Atelier Bow-Wow (Japan) and French architect Didier Faustino collaborating on a joint project entitled The Magical House. The third part, in September, will be a meditative piece by Rei Naito, presented in memory of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
In Fertile Landscapes, Manabe and Ishibashi, passionate advocates of new technology, will present their latest work, rate-shadow, which makes the invisible visible. This subtle creation is rooted in an LED lighting mechanism specially designed for the occasion. Illuminating shapes, these lights produce shadows, which, when viewed through a smartphone or iPad screen, reveal colors that are normally imperceptible to the naked eye. The work consists of two phases.
Video editions of some of Manabe and Ishibashi’s older projects will also be on display. These include several dance pieces choreographed by MIKIKO for the company ELEVENPLAY, including border, which explores a labyrinth in augmented reality. This work was presented in Japan in the end of 2015.
Manabe is an extremely creative programmer and Ishibashi a brilliant designer of devices and machines. Together they merge art and technology in cutting-edge projects. Both are directors of Rhizomatiks Research, an organization devoted to developing innovative experimental projects in the fields of interactive and digital design. In 2014, they collaborated on MOSAIC, a challenging production using dancers and drones. Some of Manabe and Ishibashi’s works transform the venue into a space of great beauty, creating unprecedented physical sensations. These include particles, a poetic installation awarded a prize at the Ars Electronica Festival, pulse, which makes use of laser beams, and rate, composed of huge white balloons which gradually reveal a variety of beautiful colors through a screen.
This exhibition benefits from the special support of the Ishibashi Foundation, the support of The OBAYASHI Foundation and is sponsored by Shiseido and Japan Airlines.