Nissan Art Award 2015 | Special page

The second "Nissan Art Award 2015" is being held at BankART Studio NYK in Yokohama.
The "Nissan Art Award" is given to Japanese artists who will lead the next generation.A five-member international jury selects seven finalists from among 33 artists recommended by art professionals. The grand prize winner will be decided after the final screening. In addition, the artist who wins the Grand Prix will receive a prize of 3 million yen and the opportunity to stay in London for two months, making it a unique art award in Japan. The seven finalists are Sayaka Akiyama, Tsuyoshi Hisakado, Takashi Ishida, Takahiro Iwasaki, Gifutushi Miya, Yuko Mori, and Tomoko Yoneda. On this page, we will introduce the exhibition with photos, and we will also publish an interview with Yuko Mori, who won the Grand Prix!

[NEW] An interview with Yuko Mouri has been released!

Introducing the exhibited works of the finalists

We would like to introduce some of the exhibiting artists and their works, including some photos. *The following text is quoted from the list of exhibited works distributed at the venue.

Sayaka Akiyama

http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/01/

Akiyama has lived in various places and creates works that explore the ``footprints of time'' by sewing the trajectory of her walks one stitch at a time. Akiyama stayed in Yokohama for two and a half months to create new works for this exhibition at BankART. The room-like piece made of translucent cloth has maps of Kannai, Bashamichi, and BankART, where Akiyama was located, printed on it. The "lines" sewn together by threads of various colors and shapes, and things found in everyday life, reveal psychological changes such as discoveries made in the land where Akiyama spent time, small daily joys, conflicts, etc. . On the walls and windows of the exhibition room, Akiyama's diary-like words are drawn like roads, blending with the Yokohama landscape outside the window to create a world. As for our future activities, we have decided to participate in the international exhibition "Saitama Triennale 2016" which will open in September 2016.

《Erosion 9.1 19 29 10.3 11.7 8 13》2015
Various things I encountered in Yokohama Various threads, cloths, pigments / Size variable (Central work: 3500 x 3600 x 3600 mm) *Photos are from the time of production

《Erosion 9.1 19 29 10.3 11.7 8 13》part

Tsuyoshi Hisakado
http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/02/

Hisakado uses sound, light, and three-dimensional objects to create a reenactment of memories deep in his mind throughout the space. Stepping into the space, the viewer becomes aware of the flickering light of light bulbs, the faint movement of curtains, and the echoes of various sounds over time. It's a scene that feels like something you've experienced somewhere before, but you're forced to relive the time and ambiguous feeling of not knowing whether the memory is your own or someone else's. By fusing BankART's architectural elements and the coincidences born from the surrounding environment with pre-set instrumental elements, Hisamon explores the history and context of places that we usually overlook, and the time that remains there. We are creating a place where people can pay attention to signs and symptoms. After this exhibition, he will be in charge of the stage design and sound for chelfitsch's new work ``Journey of Time in a Room,'' which will be performed around the world after its world premiere in Kyoto in March 2016. Nominated for VOCA Exhibition 2016.

《Quantize #5》2015
Sound, light bulb, aluminum, brass, wood, georgette, paper, clock movement, mechanical pencil lead, mirror, battery, etc./6000×12000×5000mm

《Quantize #5》 part

Takashi Ishida

http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/03/

Ishida, who has been active as a painter and videographer as well as a performer, focuses on the movement of the entire body of the painting, and by developing it into drawing animation, expresses the traces of the body and time. Masu. The new works in this exhibition are inspired by several short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and further explore themes that Ishida has repeatedly dealt with, such as "windows and walls," as well as "vortexes" and "repetition." doing. The moving lines of the painting, the body, and the trajectory of time emerge dynamically from the images that focus on seeing and drawing. In the future, it has been decided that there will be a live screening at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura in November 2015, ``Beginning with Kamakura. 1951-2016 PART 3'', and participation in ``Aichi Triennale 2016''.

“Square Window” 2015/HD video/6 minutes 30 seconds

Part of the wall used for “Square Window”

Takahiro Iwasaki
http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/04/

Iwasaki creates works that reconstruct familiar landscapes such as construction sites using everyday objects, and creates detailed three-dimensional works of historical buildings on various scales, expressing our world from multiple angles. In this exhibition, we will present a new work based on the half-destructed Rashomon gate that appears in Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon, and create a three-dimensional image of it, along with a virtual image reflected in a puddle, where reality and fiction blend together. The other piece of steel towers made of hair is reminiscent of the scene of an old woman and her hair in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's novel ``Rashomon,'' on which the film is based. They appear to be a mixture of the world of Rashomon, which was devastated by wars and disasters, and modern society, which is still in turmoil due to unprecedented disasters and the shadow of conflicts that smolder even 70 years after the end of the war. As for future exhibitions, we have created a window display for Hermès, which is currently being held at the reopened Seibu Ikebukuro main store, and will be exhibiting it at the collection exhibition at the Kawasaki Civic Museum from January 2016.

Photo right《Reflection Model (Rashomon Effect)》2015
Hinoki, Chinese veneer, ink, wire/1800×1850×900mm

《Out of Disorder (Have plants not grown in 70 years?)》2015
Human hair/600×2400×2400mm

Futoshi Miyagi
http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/05/

While confronting his own memories and experiences, Miyagi presents works using a variety of expressions, including photographs, videos, objects, and texts, on themes such as nationality, race, and identity. The new video installation is part of the research project ``American Boyfriend,'' which Miyagi has been working on since 2012 and deals with Okinawa and sexual minorities. For his new work, Miyagi conducted research and interviews in Okinawa and the United States. The core video work features landscapes shot in Okinawa and the United States, a song played by an American violinist and an Okinawan pianist in the story, the process by which the two men connect, and the uniqueness of the locations of Okinawa and America. It talks about history and complex relationships. As for future activities, the exhibition ``Others' Time'' will be toured around the world to the Singapore Art Museum (November 2015 to February 2016) and the Queensland Art Gallery | Museum of Contemporary Art (June to September 2016). "Crossing 2016" exhibition (Mori Art Museum).

Photo left "About raindrops" 2015 / Single channel video (color, sound) / 7 minutes 25 seconds
Photo right "17 Notes from the South" 2015 / Envelope, postcard, stamp, digital print, found photo, CD, ink on paper / Size variable

“17 Notes from the South” section

Yuko Mohri

http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/06/

Mohri, who creates installations that create a sense of invisible forces such as magnetism, gravity, and light by aligning three-dimensional objects made of everyday objects and machines with the environment, focuses on water leaks that can be seen in station premises. Since 2009, I have been publishing a fieldwork series called ``Moremore Tokyo,'' which includes photographs of how to deal with this problem. Mohri, who sees the origin of artistic ideas as the "beauty of use" in the pre-collage (dexterous work) of station workers trying to stop water leaks by improvising combinations of everyday items, developed this series for this exhibition. I worked on a new piece in Yokohama. By using a two-dimensional composition that deals with water leakage, we take a humorous and critical look at aspects of cities that we have not yet paid attention to. As for future activities, we plan to participate in the exhibition "THE BEGINNINGS (or Open-Ended)" (Potluck Building Gallery) and "Roppongi Crossing 2016" (Mori Art Museum).

《Molemole: Given Falling Water #1-3》2015
Wood, umbrella, hose, plastic bottle, rubber gloves, bucket, wheel, rag, sponge, pump, acrylic resin, etc. / 2725 x 1758 x 500 mm each (x 3)

《Molemole: Given Falling Water #1-3》 part

Tomoko Yoneda

http://www.nissan-global.com/JP/CITIZENSHIP/NAA/FINALIST/07/

Through careful research into history and places, Yoneda projects not only what is visible in reality, but also the memories lurking within, focusing on the fundamental role of photography: recording. For this exhibition, Yoneda researched landscapes, people, and objects related to the history of World War II, and visited Britain, South Korea, and Japan, including the B-29 crash site, the military demarcation line that divided the Korean peninsula into the north and south, We shot a new work based on the motif of Tsuguharu Fujita, who painted war records and was denounced after the war. In addition to these, by arranging old works inspired by Yasukuni Shrine and Hiroshima, etc., we have developed a series that looks back at the past and present from various historical fragments. As for future activities, in addition to the "Uneven Harmony" exhibition (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art) starting in December of this year, in 2016 there will also be an exhibition at Guandu Art Museum, Taiwan, and "REAL DMZ" exhibition (Art Sonje Center, I am planning to participate in Korea).

From the left of the photo
“Two pines intertwined on the other side of the border (northeast front line between North and South Korea, Goseon, South Korea) (from the DMZ series)” / 2015 / Chromogenic print / 830 x 650 mm
“Cannonball holes on the wall of an ice warehouse during the Japanese colonial period (Korean War fierce battle site Cherwon, near the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea) (from the DMZ series)” / 2015 / Color development method print / 650 x 830 mm
[Tsuguharu Fujita's glasses - telegram sent to the shaman GHQ civil administrator who helped him leave Japan (from the "Between Visible and Invisible" series)] / 2015 / Gelatin silver print / 1200 x 1200mm

Photo left [Bikini Atoll nuclear test photo reconnaissance plane B-29 crash site/Peak District, UK] 2015/Color development method print/1030 x 1300mm

Photo right: From Tomoko Yoneda's exhibition view

As you can see, all the works by the seven finalists are worth seeing! Admission to the exhibition is free. Please take this opportunity to experience the current state of Japanese contemporary art.