Ocula Conversation Hito Steyerl: How To Build a Sustainable Art World 'A Picture of War is Not War', we read in Hito Steyerl's iconic film November (2004), an essayistic Super 8 film tackling the definition of terrorism constructed around the figure of the artist's best friend Andrea Wolf, who was killed as a terrorist in 1998 in Eastern Anatolia after she joined the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). Mixing documentary...
Ocula Report Aichi to Okayama: Art in Japan Looks to the Future 11 Oct 2019 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula There has been a flurry of triennial and biennial art activity in Japan this year. The Aichi Triennale opened in Nagoya this August, sparking a national debate about the shutting down of a display of formerly censored works—the result of public backlash against a burnt image of Emperor Hirohito and a statue commemorating the women forced into...
Ocula Insight | Video Hans Hartung and Art Informel at Mazzoleni London (1 October 2019-18 January 2020) presents key works by the French-German painter while highlighting his connection with artists active in Paris during the 50s and 60s. In this video, writer and historian Alan Montgomery discusses Hartung's practice and its legacy.Born in Leipzig in 1904, Hans...
Kohei Nawa (b. 1975, Osaka) lives and works in Kyoto, Japan. He received a Ph.D. in Fine Art Sculpture from the Kyoto City University of Arts (2003). Notable solo exhibitions include: LBS at Ginza Maison Hermes, Tokyo, 2009; Synthesis at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2011; and SCULPTURE GARDEN at Kirishima Open-air Art Museum, Kagoshima, 2013. He has participated in the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia, 2009; the 14th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2010 (Grand Prize winner); Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, Japan, 2013, amongst others. Nawa is currently an Associate Professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.
Related Press How technology distorts nature: Kohei Nawa’s art for the information age – so tactile you want to feel it South China Morning Post : 24 July 2019 It takes some restraint not to reach out and touch the art when walking through a Kohei Nawa exhibition. From the stuffed animals covered in glass bubbles in his 'PixCell' series to the polished, futuristic blades of Throne, and the voluptuous objects coated in bedazzled grains from his "Particle" series, these sculptures have tactile...
Related Press Q&A With Japanese Artist Kohei Nawa Who Distorts And Illuminates The World We Live In Forbes : 19 May 2019 A major figure in Japanese contemporary art, Kohei Nawa reinvents sculpture by associating cultural tradition and new technologies. We sit down with the 44-year-old Osaka-born, Kyoto-based artist.
Related Press The Louvre has a new seat of power Japan Times : 28 August 2018 PARIS - This year, Paris has had a little bit of a Japanese makeover. To celebrate the 160th anniversary of diplomatic ties between France and Japan, the capital is hosting Japonismes 2018: Les Ames en Resonance, a large-scale initiative running through February 2019 involving numerous exhibitions and events promoting Japanese art and design,...
Related Press Japanese Art, on Its Own Terms The New York Times : 30 October 2017 METZ, France — French and Japanese flags flap in tandem at the Pompidou Center here, hailing the fall program at this sister venue of the Paris museum of contemporary art. Its exhibitions include one about Japanese architecture from 1945 to the present day, and the recently opened Japanorama, a survey of Japan's contemporary art since 1970,...
Related Video & Audio ASIA NOW 2018 || Yuko Hasegawa (Curator) and Kohei Nawa (Artist) ASIA NOW : 22 November 2018 Yuko Hasegawa, Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Kohei Nawa discuss the artist's recent sculptures and installations, including Throne, on view under the Louvre Pyramid until January 14, 2019.
