KOHEI NAWA

The highlight of the exhibition, VESSEL series, was made as part of a performance of the same title, in collaboration with choreographer Damien Jalet (b. 1976). For this exhibition, a stage of 30 meters in length and 4.5 meters in width is constructed to present the entirety of the figure sculptures and simultaneously with a soundscape specially-produced for the show by Japanese sound artist Marihiko Hara (b.1983). Expanding from material to surface, from surface to form, and from form to space, VESSEL also presents Nawa’s persistent endeavour of nearly twenty years in transcending genre limitations of performance, dance, theatre, sound, and video, in addition to exploring the potentials of media. Figure sculptures that capture the piercing intensity of human body, and music in which fills and condenses the air around the stage enliven new sensation in the viewer, crossing the limits of cognition and presenting an experience that traverses the boundaries of reason and perception.

Born in Osaka, Japan in 1975, Kohei Nawa has developed a body of work that, together with his unique treatment of sculptural surface, poses phenomenological questions on the essence of the subject. His large-scale installation exhibition at the Louvre in 2018 THRONE and his solo exhibition Synthesis, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2011, were met with great success. His works may be found in the collections of international institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan), Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA), leading him to walk a brilliant artistic path. He currently works as an Associate Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, and is director of the art, design and architecture platform SANDWICH.