Reincarnation of Media Art

The Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] is currently presenting Reincarnation of Media Art,  an exhibition co-curated with the New York-based art unit, exonemo.

In the 15 years since its opening, YCAM has worked with numerous artists from Japan and abroad to produce and present artworks that utilize media technology.

Works of media art often use computers and video or audio equipment. Consequently they are difficult to maintain over time due to mechanical breakdowns and changes in the technological environment. Art museums and institutions worldwide are currently engaged in efforts to develop methods of preserving or restoring such works. In this exhibition we join forces with artists to consider the “death” of artworks and the possibilities for “reincarnating” them in the future by means other than conventional approaches to preservation.

This exhibition features a massive “Mausoleum of Media Art” resembling a huge burial mound, which houses no longer functioning media works by various artists. The voices of these artists encourage us to think about the meaning of an artwork’s lifespan and future, and to explore new ways of creatively transmitting artistic expressions and other forms of “culture.”

Participating artists of “Mausoleum of Media Art”:
Koichiro Eto, exonemo, Masaki Fujihata, Toshio Iwai, Kazuhiko Hachiya, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Nam June Paik, Tadasu Takamine, Nao Tokui, Tetsuya Umeda

More informaiton about the exhibition, interviews and essays can be found on the following website.
Exhibition website: rema.ycam.jp