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SCREEN MEMORIES
April 13 (Sat) to June 9 (Sun), 2002

In the field of art over the past few years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of artists producing works involving film and video images, bringing the art world into much deeper contact with image media in general. The multifaceted nature of image media, which includes both sound and time in addition to visual effects, can be seen as a modern version of the brush -- one that enables a greater variety of expression. Its influence has extended to pictorial expression in contemporary art and to photographic works, which evoke a broad range of images. The "Screen Memories" exhibition at Art Tower Mito dwells on the connection between image-based artworks emerging from the field of contemporary art, on the one hand, and films, on the other. Introduced are photographs, paintings and images that illustrate the mutual relationship between art and films.


"SCREEN MEMORY"
The term "screen memory" derives from Freud's psychiatric terminology, and means "hidden memories." The word "screen," of course, has several definitions, including the "silver screen" of the cinema as well as a "concealing curtain." In the context of psychiatry, childhood experiences are known to be difficult to recall as they are often repressed. Still, minute fragments of memory are frequently maintained. In many cases, fragmentary memories from our personal childhood experiences are not true memories of that period -- while some differences do exist -- but are memories of separate experiences, and may seem inconsequential. It is this kind of memory that is referred to as "screen memory."


Profile of "Screen Memories" Exhibition
Period: April 13 (Sat) to June 9 (Sun), 2002
* Regular closing: Mondays, except for April 29 and May 6, which fall on national holidays (in which case the following Tuesdays -- April 30 and May 7 - will be taken off instead).
Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (no admission after 5:30 p.m.)
* Note that we have shortened the opening hours by 30 minutes.
Admission: ¥800 General
¥600 Advance-purchase tickets, groups (20 or more)
¥1,000 H.T.P. (one-year Pass for 15- to 19-year-olds, available at ATM and JR East)
¥2,000 Pass for Adults (one-year pass for persons aged 20 and above)
Free Students (through 9th grade), senior citizens (65 and older), and handicapped persons
Guest Curator: Takayo Iida
Organizer: MITO ARTS FOUNDATION
Supported by: The British Council, Ambassade de France au Japon, American Embassy
Grant from: The Japan Foundation
Sponsor: Asahi Breweries Ltd.
Cooperation: Takeo Co., Ltd., SOUM Corporation, Non Profit Organization Cinemapunch



Participating Artists (alphabetical order)

Profiles and Exhibited Works

(1) Doug Aitken (b. 1968, U.S.)
"Into the Sun" (1999) (film, 7 mins.)
Now working primarily in L.A., Aitken contributed to the Whitney Biennale in 1997, and took the International Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1999. Once a producer of music videos, Aitken creatively edits images and music to vividly evoke various landscapes and the multiple layers of human memory.

(2) Kenneth Anger (b. 1930, U.S.)
Four photographic works, 1996 (Collection agnes b., Paris)
If we accept that the world of Hollywood movies has both its resplendent and seamy sides, then Anger would definitely represent the latter, with his gritty, violent, often homosexual-themed films. His omnibus, nine-part work, "Magick Lantern Cycle," entrances young fans even today. Anger's photographs formed the backbone of a group exhibition held two years ago in the French National Photography Museum..

(3) Candice Breitz (b. 1972, South Africa)
"Soliloquy Trilogy... Clint, Jack, Sharon" (2000) (video, 28 mins., 14.5 secs.)
A graduate student in art history at Columbia University through 1998, Breitz stayed on in New York for a while, putting on a solo exhibition in the New Museum's renewal program in 2000, among other activities. Now based in the German capital of Berlin, Breitz continues to draw attention for her unique mode of expression, which involves the use of a variety of darkly humorous and often disturbing tactics to strike out at stereotypes and visual conventions as presented and accepted in the media and popular culture. For instance, she has created works that sample pop stars, such as an iconized Madonna and the Carpenters.

(4) Thomas Demand (b. 1964, Germany)
"Archive" (1995) (photograph)
Working out of both Berlin and London, Demand takes real photos of the scenes or buildings of actual historical events, and then recreates them into works of art by using poster paper or regular paper, after which he photographs them again. Posing the question of what "reality" is and what reality can be found in "fakes," his works force us to think about where reality actually is in consumer society.

(5) Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (b. 1965, France)
"ANN LEE in ANZEN ZONE" i2000j (video, 3 mins., 25 secs.)
Based in Paris, Gonzalez-Foerster has put on solo and group exhibitions in many art museums worldwide, including the Serpentine Gallery (located in a 1934 tea pavilion erected in London's Kensington Gardens, Le Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (located in the East Wing of the Palais de Tokyo), built for the 1937 World's Fair), and MOMA's P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (located in an old school built on Long Island in the 1890s). Her works focus on her realization that a society grounded in the consumer culture is becoming one and the same with the media environment found in our homes. Without adopting a particular perspective, she highlights the multiple natures of our daily memories.

(6) Ken Ikeda (b. 1964, Japan)
"Behind the Scenes #2" (2001), Untitled (2002), 1:1.37 (2002)
After graduating from the Berklee College of Music (Boston) with a degree in composition, Ikeda now goes back and forth between Tokyo and New York to pursue his career. He exhibited his video at the exhibition, "Desert of Desires" (1994), held at the Tokyo Spiral. Meanwhile, he has also collaborated with such illustrious artists as David Lynch and Hiroshi Sugimoto (see below). In January, his first solo music album, "Tzuki [moon] (Touch)," placed second on BBC's New Room charts for underground music.

(7) Isaac Julien (b. 1960, U.K.)
"VAGABONDIA" (2000) (video, 12 mins., 21 secs.)
Having studied fine-art and films at Central St. Martin's College (London), Julien since moved to London, where he is active in both the art and film scenes. His videos, which combine theoretical sophistication with lush sensuality, intelligence, wit and emotional complexity, always create a hubbub at the London Film Festival, particularly on account of their esthetic perspective. He was a strong candidate for the 2001 Turner Prize (eventually won by Martin Creed for his room with lights going on and off), one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.

(8) William Kentridge (b. 1955, South Africa)
"felix in exile: geography of memory (extract)" (1994) (video, 8 mins., 43 secs.)
Based in South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg, Kentridge produces videos that treat the defunct apartheid policies of his country, giving form to the memories of people and the land, as well as violence and the irrationalities of that system. His chosen method of expression is to draw lines on film, creating animated scenes that were not originally there. He has participated in several exhibitions outside South Africa, including documenta in Kassel, Germany, and the 1st Yokohama Trienale (autumn 2001), thus gaining international exposure.

(9) Harmony Korine (b. 1974, U.S.)
"The Diary of Anne Frank (Part II, 1997) (video, 30 mins.)
Having viewed as many as 5,000 films between the ages of 18 and 21, Korine helped write, at age 20, the screenplay for Larry Clark's "Kids" (1995). In 1997, he made his directorial debut with the film "Gunmo," a sad tale about a town that never quite recovered from a giant tornado. He received huge acclaim from Werner Herzog for that effort. Two years later, he directed "Julien Donkey-Boy," a portrait of the effects of schizophrenia on family life. His many talents extend beyond the world of movies, having exhibited works at museums and galleries in such cities as Los Angeles and Paris.

(10) Collier Schorr (b. 1963, U.S.)
"Die Zwei (Spring Break)" (1997) (set of five photographs)
New York serves as the base of Schorr's artistic activities, although her photographs have been exhibited broadly at art museums and galleries overseas, including Le Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. She focuses on the theme of flexible gender identity, exploring the new significance of gender, both privately and in society at large, often flipping the sexuality of males and females. Schorr currently serves as contributing editor to the British art magazine, "Frieze."

(11) Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948, Japan)
"Theatre Series" (1976-1996) (14 photographs from the collection of the Tokyo Museum of Photography)
Sugimoto, a Japanese photographer based in New York, has captured a wide variety of themes with his camera, including: (1) dioramas that recreate scenery and revive stuffed animals in the Museum of Natural History (N.Y.), by "re-killing" them with photography, (2) royal family members portrayed in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and (3) the Theater series, in which he leaves his camera shutter open throughout a whole film or dramatic play, portraying the resulting luminance as the cumulative projection of the entire performance. He has exhibited his works at many famous art museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

(12) Koki Tanaka (b. 1975, Japan)
"Perfect Life" (2001), "Just on Time" (2002)
Based in Tokyo, Tanaka concentrates on producing videos and installation works inspired by the great Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63). Through his artistic productions, he attempts to highlight the contrast between the consumption of images and the impossible phantasm resulting therefrom. He is a rising star who has somehow escaped the pervasive youth culture of Japan.

(13) John Waters (b. 1946, U.S.)
"grace kelly's elbows" (1998) (photograph)
"swedish film" (2000) (photograph)
"straight to video" (2000) (photograph)
"bus riley" (2000) (photograph)
The king of "mondo movies," Waters is renowned for such bad-taste, shocking or kitschy classics as "Pink Flamingos" (1972), "Polyester" (1981) and "Serial Mom" (1994). His artistic side was first introduced to Japanese audiences in 1996 at the "Ideal Standard Life" exhibition put on at the Tokyo Spiral. He also garnered acclaim for his photographic works displayed at the 4th Lyon Biennale in 1997. He has begun to expand his activities in the non-movie artistic context.

(14) Jane & Louise Wilson, (b. 1967, U.K.)
"Crawl Space" (1995) (16mm film transferred to DVD, 9 mins., loop)
Identical twins Jane and Louise Wilson work as a unit from their studio in London. They attracted widespread attention in 1999, having been short-listed for the Turner Prize that year after holding an exhibition of their video installations and photographs in the Serpentine Gallery in Britain's capital. They also participated in the Carnegie International in 1999. Their works employ the techniques of horror movies to bring out the magical consciousness inherent in all human beings

(15) Cerith Wyn Evans (b. 1958, U.K.)
"Later that day" (2001) (neon)
"Meanwhile... across town" (2001) (neon)
Upon graduation from the Royal College of Art, Evans began his career as a filmmaker as an assistant to the idiosyncratic British movie director, Derek Jarman (1942-94). In the 1990s, Evans produced his first art installations, based on the themes of time, language and feeling. His works appearing at the Venice Bienale and the "Sensation" exhibition at the Royal Academy won high acclaim.

(16) Tadanori Yokoo (b. 1936, Japan)
New Works (2002) (painting & others)
One of the rare artists who has already attained an iconic status in his own lifetime, Yokoo first gained international fame in the turbulent political and cultural days of the 1960s by fusing the emotional sensibilities of Japanese settings with modernist thought in his graphic works. He is famous for having been a close friend of Yukio Mishima's during that period. He has planned many major exhibitions in the future, with a slew of new works to be announced.


ATM Contemporary Art Gallery's
Pass for Adults
© Hiroko Ichihara
A pass has been designed for adults aged 20 and older, letting the holder make an unlimited number of visits to the Contemporary Art Gallery's exhibitions for one year from the date of purchase.
The price is ¥2,000. The artwork on the pass has been designed by Hiroko Ichihara, an artist who incorporates words in her works. The logo on the pass reads: "Contemporary art -- as easy as pie." The pass is on sale at the ticket counter in Art Tower Mito.


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Translated by Paul T. Narum
(official names of exhibitions and artworks are furnished by the artists and planners themselves)

Copyright ©2002 MITO ARTS FOUNDATION. All Rights Reserved. Created by TK.
Mail to: webstaff@arttowermito.or.jp