Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba at Mizuma Art Gallery
20 November - 25 December 2002
Mizuma Art Gallery
Fujiya Bldg. .2flr. 1-3-9 Kamimeguro Meguro-ku, 153-0051 Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)3-3793-7931 Fax:+81-(0)3-3793-7887
Memorial Project Minamata: Neither Either nor Neither-A Love Story
Mizuma Art Gallery is pleased to present Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba Solo Exhibition.
Last year, at first international art exhibition: Yokohama Triennial (Japan), Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba attracted a great deal of attention for his video piece: people riding cyclo (Vietnamese rickshaw taxi) under sea, was born between a Vietnamese father and a Japanese mother in Tokyo, 1968. Currently he resides at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Hatsushibas works combines visual beauty and attitude of calm pursuit to Vietnamese social problems that continues to capture the heart of many people in the world.
In this exhibition, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba plans to release his new video work. Without politically prosecuting the unresolved unfortunate problems in modern history, he attempts to convey to the world by sublimating to his art through the viewpoint of a contemporary artist. This year he worked on a project, which overlaps with the scars left from the Vietnam War and the post war tragedy, which occurred in Minamata Japan. With the corporation of Minamata prefecture and Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, the shooting took place at the local sea. This video is a site-specific piece made in hope of not to repeat these tragedies in history. The serious effect made by orange agents (a code name for defoliant) sprayed by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War adds depth to this video. Also, for rapidly developing countries such as Vietnam and China, Minamata disease (a type of poisoning caused by industrial mercury pollution) is manifesting as a fervent pollution disease and for Hatsushiba who currently reside in Vietnam, it is a very realistic problem that cannot be considered as other peoples affairs. This work carries its role as a memorial piece; it continues to tell of these unresolved problems to people in order not to forget. This work encourages the audience to become pilgrims and to repeat their pilgrimage.
For further information and biography please visit mizuma-art.co.jp
2003 Up coming Exhibition:
The Matrix program at the UC Berkeley Art Museum, U.S / April 6th-June 1st, 2003
(The Matrix show will tour to The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY /May 6th-June 29th, 2003, and Austin Museum of Art, U.S. )
MIT List Visual Arts Center/ U.S / From April 8th, 2003
NKV extra/ Germany /March 30th -May 11th, 2003
Moderns, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea,/ Italy / April 14th- August 24th, 2003