NAOHIRO UKAWA

While he is a recognized graphic designer among other professions, Ukawa has been devoting his artistic efforts to DOMMUNE since March 2010. DOMMUNE is not only a club in Tokyo, but also a contemporary platform where different cultural genres come together. It comprises two parts that are streamed live: a two-hour talk program with guests from both mainstream and subculture in the first half, and two-hours of DJ sets in the second half. Ukawa refers to DOMMUNE as a “commune and the next step”—since the letter “D” in DOMMUNE follows commune’s “C”. It is a present progressive form of art that allows real time engagement both on and offline. DOMMUNE is the first live streaming channel in Japan, and it has grown to such popularity that it attracts renowned domestic and international DJs, collaborates with commercial names like Tower Records, and influences record sales. As a product of club culture, the artist is attuned to the vitality of speed, freshness and currentness. In dealing with an audience accustomed to social media, he has attributed DOMMUNE’s success to its delivery of what is happening now.

Capturing the here and now has been a running theme in some of the artist’s other work as well. In his live drawing show BIRTH DEATH EXPERIENCE #1 (2009) held at Agnes Hotel and Apartments Tokyo, he drew animals proposed by the audience, morphing them into the next suggested animal as he drew. He also video-recorded the performance with the intention of archiving it. Ukawa recognizes the importance of real time media, but he also understands the significance of online sharing and the ability to re-experience events, and the value of archiving.

Reproductions and reenactments are also seen in Ukawa’s art projects. UKAWA'S TAGZ FACTORY (THE FINAL) /1000 Counterfeit Autograph!!!!!!!!!! (2008¬–2013) is a collection of 1,000 facsimiles of autographs by famous individuals across a range of genres and time periods. All signatures are sold at the same price, ignoring the usual fluctuations in prices that depend on factors like popularity and rarity. This is a conceptual work that confronts the contradictions of original autographs with unlimited editions, and counterfeiters’ personal styles that betray meticulous forgeries.

In his Series of Interpreted Catharsis, Ukawa studies natural disasters as moments that are physically, mentally, and economically destructive, but also as phenomena that reset everything through destruction. In A Series of Interpreted Catharsis Episode 1: Hurricane Katrina 2005.8.24 (2007), the artist created an environment for people to experience the force of Hurricane Katrina with a wind-generating machine and showers of paper bills, resetting the world as the bills are blown around chaotically. In A Series of Interpreted Catharsis Episode 2:
SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE / LOMA PRIETA 1989.10.17 GREAT HANSHIN-AWAJI EARTHQUAKE 1995.1.17 (2007), he captured on video and in a sequence of photographs, simulated scenes from settings similar to the two earthquakes. Unlike hurricanes, there are no preludes to tremors. In this work, Ukawa depicted the suddenness in which such forces majeure can alter the ordinary.

Ukawa’s solo exhibitions include Rapt! – 20 Contemporary Artists from Japan <Dr. Toilet’s Rapt-up Clinic> at Kings ARI, Melbourne, Australia (2006) and YCAMDOMMUNE at Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Yamaguchi, Japan (2013). His work has been shown in group exhibitions including KITTY EX. at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2004); Fusion: Design in Japan at Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2004); The Power of Expression at the National Art Center, Tokyo (2007); Beyond IMAGINATION at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2010); Reflection at Mito Art Center, Ibraki, Japan (2011); the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival at the National Art Center, Tokyo (2012); and DOMMUNE University of the Arts at 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo (2014).