![Kenji Kojima, [I-MY] / Dual Noh Dancing of Vision and Reality” (2016)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/524b4cc2e4b0f37df6b7bbc2/1463064715961-NXNE4DJTZ81178Q1I42C/I-MY-1.jpeg)
Light Year 14: Japan Parade Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 7-10:00 PM
The Triangle at Pearl Street and Anchorage Place
Curated by Kyoko Sato
Editing Director: Mami Kosemura
Supported by the Consulate General of Japan in New York
In Cooperation with Hiroshi Kono
Opening Party
Thursday, June 2nd, 2016
8:45 PM -10:15 PM
Archway Café
57 Pearl St
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Come and celebrate the debut of LIGHT YEAR 14: “Japan Parade,” a selection of new videos from some of Japan’s best video artists, with curator Kyoko Sato and team from 3_Search! Have a drink and watch the videos from Archway Café, who will be providing discount drinks, or check out the Manhattan Bridge Projections from the Triangle at Pearl and Anchorage place. It should be a wonderful night with lots of things going on earlier in the Manhattan Bridge Archway, too. The Light House Bar will be serving beer and wine, as well.
If you haven’t been to First Thursday’s Art Walk in DUMBO, now is the time to discover diverse public art in one of NYC’s most amazing settings.
Hope to see you there!
videos: Kenji Kojima, Momoyo Torimitsu, Kenji Toma, Mami Kosemura, Motoko Wada, ON megumi Akiyoshi, Who-Fu, Yuki Ideguchi + Suguru Ikeda + Masatora Goya
The participating artists are all Japanese artists who are based in New York, widely active internationally, and who each bring a unique style of videography to the project: Momoyo Torimitsu, who is known for works featuring Japanese businessmen, Motoko Wada, who worked on the 3D Snoopy movies, Who-fu, an active figure on the videography scene, Kenji Toma, a photographer who has taken many photos for luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior, Mami Kosemura, an associate professor at Wako University in Tokyo, Kenji Kojima, who is known for his ‘techno synesthesia’ art, ON megumi Akiyoshi, known for her flower-themed works, and Yuki Ideguchi, who has just finished his first solo show in New York (in collaboration with Suguru Ikeda and Masatora Goya).
The theme of the video is centered on Japanese culture. They will use modern animation and high-tech methods to express traditional Japanese culture such as fusuma (sliding door) paintings, woodblock prints and unique Japanese customs.
Kenji Kojima
“[I-MY] / Dual Noh Dancing of Vision and Reality” (2016)
In 2007, Kojima developed a computer software program named
“RGB Music Lab” that enables color on the screen to covert to 12
levels of music tones through a mathematical algorithm. [I-MY] is a
music video work that was composed from digital data of light and
shades made by Noh dancing. Noh was created in the 14th century in
Japan. His series of ‘Techno Synesthesia’ videos with music has been
archived in the New Museum, New York, ACM Siggraph, and
presented in many other cities such as Berlin, Istanbul, Spain, Brazil,
Finland, China, and Copenhagen. Kojima lives in New York. The Noh performer in the video is Mayo Miwa.
Kenji Toma
“Flower Encyclopedia” (2016)
Based in New York, Toma has long been shooting commercial photos for luxury brands such as Apple, Tiffany & Co., Chanel, Dior and Laurent-Perrier. He has been working on his own project called “Flower Encyclopedia” and will present brand new footage for this show with his signature rich expression inspired by traditional Japanese aesthetics.
Mami Kosemura
“Frozen” (2011, 2016)
Kosemura has a PhD from Tokyo Art University in oil painting (2005), and is now staying in New York for a year on a Gotoh Memorial Foundation Scholarship. She creates animation films by applying the structure of painting, combining photographs that look like paintings and enormous amounts of drawing-photos. The work “Flowering Plants of the Four Seasons” (2004-2006, 2016) is currently being shown at the Asia Society, New York until January 2017. For this work, she photographed flowers as they might appear on a Japanese screen. She will present a modified version of the video “Frozen” to fit the outdoor installation. The original work is in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. She serves as the editing director of this exhibition.
Momoyo Torimitsu
“Business as Habitual” (2011) Torimatsu is well known for her works based on Japanese businessmen. She joined P.S.1 International Studio Program in 1996, and has been living in New York since. She presented in many exhibitions including Deitch Projects (NY), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), National Museum of Singapore, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (Sydney), ZKM| Museum of Contemporary Art (Karlsruhe), Gwangiu Biennale, Swiss Institute, Kunsthale KAdE (Amersfoort) and Tate Gallery (London). She produced this video work after watching a TV news program showing Tokyo Electric Power Company executives apologizing after the nuclear disaster. This animation is her sarcastic view of them as if they are incommunicable aliens in a puppet show.
Motoko Wada
“The night parade of a hundred monsters” (2016)
Wada works for Blue Sky Studios, which has been producing many 3D animation big hit films such as “The Peanuts Movie” and “Ice Age”. She will present a 3D animation of Japanese monsters shown in traditional Japanese scrolls such as the skeleton of Gyosai Kawanabe (1831-1889). She is planning to produce a hundred monsters in the near future. She received a BA in literature at the Kyoto University, and an MFA in Graphics Animation from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.
ON megumi Akiyoshi
“Blooming Bubbles in Circulation”(2016)
She received her BFA from Tokyo University of The Arts in 1997, and MFA from School of Visual Arts, New York in 2002. Her flower themed mural is already in Leo Kuelb’s collection. Pouring water into a cup, bubbles appear and disappear. Akiyoshi sees these bubbles as a symbol of life, wishing all living things bloom fully. Her works were presented at Brooklyn Museum (NY), Singapore Art Museum, MOCA Shanghai, Japan Society (NY), and other venues worldwide.
Who-Fu
“Ninja Star/ Hibi no Neiro” (2009-2016)
Based in New York, Who-Fu is a directorial duo by Magico and Masayoshi Nakamura, active since 2008. Their promotional videos have been shown on Nickelodeon (kids channel), Verizon, Subway and School of Visual Arts. Their music video “Hibi no Neiro” for Japanese rock band SOUR, is well known and invited by many film festivals around the world. The duo won many awards including Best of Show from One Show in the U.S., Grand- prix in entertainment from the Japan Media Arts Festival organized by the Japanese Cultural Agency.
Yuki Ideguchi + Suguru Ikeda + Masatora Goya
“Great Ruler” (2016)
Ideguchi has a MFA in Japanese traditional painting from the Tokyo Art University (2013). Hailing fresh from Japan, he was scouted by Kyoko Sato, the curator of this show, for his debut in New York in group and solo exhibitions. His painting “Does the World Go Pop?” (2015) is already in the Leo Kuelbs Collection. He will create a video work for the first time by showing his signature wave and sun flowers. Ikeda collaborates with Ideguchi on making animation, while Goya adds music to the video. Goya received a BA from Kyoto University in Integrated Human Studies and a DMA from Five Towns College in Music Composition (2016).