Remembrance beyond images

The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum is pleased to present the exhibition Remembrance beyond images.

With rapid advances in research in the fields of brain science, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, the systems and processes involved in memory are becoming increasingly apparent. In addition, there is renewed interest in the issues of memory and identity in the context of today’s fast-aging society. This exhibition focuses on how photography and film, which both serve to document time, have attempted to capture “memory” as a contemporary theme.

The works on exhibit demonstrate diverse approaches that include techniques of transforming personal records into collective memories by sublimating them into works of art, expressions that encourage the sharing of historical memories beyond time and geographical distance, and even attempts to generate new images through use of cognitive AI. The exhibition will feature over 70 works, including new and previously unseen works in Japan, by seven groups of eight artists from Japan, Vietnam and Finland, including Kishin Shinoyama, Tomoko Yoneda, Trinh Thi Nguyễn, Nodoka Odawara, Goro Murayama, Marja PIRILÄ, Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara, and others.

Kishin Shinoyama
Photography has the power to transform personal memories into a broader collective memory of the times. This section introduces three series of works by Kishin Shinoyama (1940–2024), who since the 1960s has been not only a leading figure in the world of photography, but also a forerunner of the new age. The three series include Birthday, composed of his own commemorative photographs; Meaning of House, which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1976; and ATOKATA, a reportage of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Tomoko Yoneda
Is it possible to discern the traces of history within everyday landscapes? Based in London, Tomoko Yoneda (b.1965) continues to create works that engage with domestic and international themes of epic scale, such as conflicts and clashes in ideology. This section presents a reconstruction of three series of work The Island of Sakhalin, Scene, and DMZ. Such works evoke within us distant and invisible borders.

Trinh Thi Nguyễn
The announcement in 2009 by the Vietnamese government of plans to build the nation’s first nuclear power plants, had served as an impetus for contemplating the extensive history of the Cham people and the preservation of their culture. Letters from Panduranga is an important work by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Trinh Thi Nguyễn(b.1973), presented at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume (France) in 2015, as well as other international venues.

Nodoka Odawara
This is text-based work by sculptor and critic Nodoka Odawara (b.1985). The artist considers the relationship between “photography” and “sculpture” through the story regarding the bust (statue) of Hikoma Ueno, the founder of photography in Japan, which was lost during World War II and later reconstructed, drawing reference to related materials belonging to photography historian Sadao Umemoto.

Goro Murayama
If the artist continues to create works 1,000 years from now, what kind of works will he create? Goro Murayama tasks himself with producing 1,000 drawings, and with the aid of Qosmo, Inc.’s creativity and technology, uses AI-learned data of his works to predict what his drawings may look like a millennial into the future. In relation to this, Takashi Ikegami and Alternative Machine considers the issue of evolution based on their research and experiments using artificial life forms.

Marja Pirilä, Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara
These portraits were taken using the camera obscura technique to project the outside scenery indoors. The subjects of the portraits are nine elderly people living in the Finnish city of Turku. The ceramic works are screen-printed with photographs from photo albums belonging to the respective subjects. From the works it is possible to see that each of these figures have led diverse lives while being greatly impacted by the vicissitudes of the times.

Curated by Akio SEKI (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum) / Organized by Tokyo Photographic Art Museum operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture / Supported by the Corporate Membership of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum / Sponsored by The Finnish Institute in Japan.

More details here.

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