UK Japan Projects
Selected UK-Japan Exhibition Project's From 2006-2019, the primary focus of my activities was to raise further awareness of contemporary Japanese art, post-war art history and its relationship to international art movements. Through exhibitions, advisory, research, symposia, talks, lectures and publishing, projects created a dialogue between historical work and emerging artistic practices UK-Japan. A small sample of recently compiled exhibition projects can be found here.
Keith Whittle Selected UK-Japan Projects
Mari Katayama Broken Heart 24 January – 2 March, 2019
A solo exhibition of photography and sculpture at White Rainbow by Japanese artist Mari Katayama (b. 1987, Gunma, Japan). The artist’s first UK solo show. In Katayama’s evocative, self-portraits and embroidered textile sculptures the artist attempts to objectify her own physical condition by constructing an alternative narrative around the image of the stigmatized body. Using her body as the site where representations of difference and identity are inscribed, Katayama explores the tensions between her lived bodily experiences and the cultural meanings inscribed on the female body. Exposing the challenges ascertaining to her physicality and identity, by forcefully pulling the viewer into staged scenes or events, where fixed historical, social, and cultural norms are exposed as ideals to be challenged and redefined. The accompanying catalogue on Mari Katayama includes a newly commissioned essay by writer and critic Alice Bulter, and a new conversation between Mari Katayama and Simon Baker, director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris and installation photographs.
Meiro Koizumi Battlelands 22 November 2018 – 12 January,
A solo exhibition of film, photography and sculpture at White Rainbow by Japanese artist and filmmaker Meiro Koizumi (b. 1976, Gunma, Japan). The artist’s first UK solo exhibition. In his compelling and challenging body of work, Koizumi examines a range of complex issues: power dynamics on scales both familial and national; the tension between staged and authentic emotion; and the conflict between duty and desire. Koizumi’s artistic practice is shaped by and often directly addresses the political and military history of his native Japan, and its impact on culture and society in the present. Japan’s Peacetime Constitution – a reaction against the brutal militarism of Japanese imperialism – has seen pacifism become central to Japanese identity. Yet the imagery of war looms large over the Japanese psyche today, with on-going debates in the media over how long the peacetime order will hold. This is the context in which Koizumi has worked for the last ten years. The accompanying catalogue on Meiro Koizumi includes essays by Dr Isobel Harbison an in- conversation between Meiro Koizumi and Jason Waite, and installation photographs.
Taro Izumi My eyes are not in the centre 14 September – 3 November, 2018
An expansive new installation at White Rainbow by Taro Izumi. The artist’s first UK solo exhibition. Comprised entirely of new work, Izumi’s exhibition constructs a complex web of interactions mediated through technology, evoking digital and new media’s dissociative effects on the senses. How does perceptible reality change when first hand experience is outsourced to a lens? Minor actions are captured on camera, then broken down and reconstituted – original footage is isolated, reversed, compartmentalised and made strange. Based in Tokyo, Izumi (b. 1976, Nara, Japan) is one of Japan’s leading artists working with multimedia and collaborative practice. Izumi’s large structural works are often made up of simple, familiar objects, constructed in such as way as to transform the everyday into the absurd. His playful, almost childlike works often conceal undertones of dark humour and irony. The accompanying catalogue on Taro Izumi includes essays by writer and critic Philomena Epps, and installation photographs.
Chim↑Pom Why Open? 18 May – 7 July, 2018
A solo exhibition at White Rainbow by the renowned artist collective Chim↑Pom (formed 2005, Tokyo, Japan). Comprising Ryuta Ushiro, Yasutaka Hayashi, Ellie, Masataka Okada, Motomu Inaoka, and Toshinori Mizuno, Chim↑Pom’s work includes interventions through performance, video, painting, installation, curating and organising events. Sharp social critique underpins the group’s work, and the collective is unafraid to cause controversy in the service of their message. As Christopher Y. Lew, Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum, New York, has stated: ‘the group negotiates a difficult line – they do not make the direct assertions of activists but rather offer an ambiguous voice that is both complicit and critical. Why Open? testifies to the group’s openness to the world around them – in their 13 years as a collective, Chim↑Pom have continually placed themselves in complex situations and contested territories, in order to ask those difficult questions that others might not. The accompanying exhibition catalogue on Chim↑Pom includes a newly commissioned essay by writer Joseph Constable, interviews with Ryuta Ushiro, Yasutaka Hayashi and Hsiao-Yu Lin, and installation photographs.
Aki Sasamoto Clothes Line 19 July – 4 August, 2018
A solo exhibition of drawings and films of performances at White Rainbow by Aki Sasamoto (b. 1980, Kanagawa, Japan). The artist’s first presentation at a UK gallery. Based in New York, Sasamoto works in performance, sculpture, dance, and whatever other media required to get her ideas across. Sasamoto’s performance/ installation works revolve around gestures on everything and nothing. Her installations are careful arrangements of sculpturally altered found objects, and the decisive gestures in her improvisational performances create feedback, responding to sound, objects, and moving bodies. The constructed stories seem personal at first, yet oddly open to variant degrees of access, relation, and reflection.Why Open? testifies to the group’s openness to the world around them – in their 13 years as a collective, Chim↑Pom have continually placed themselves in complex situations and contested territories, in order to ask those difficult questions that others might not. The exhibition ran from 19 July – 4 August 2018 and the accompanying catalogue on Aki Sasamoto, includes a newly commissioned text by the writer and critic Chris Fite-Wassilak, and a new conversation between Aki Sasamoto and Jennifer Krasinski, writer and Senior Editor, Artforum.
Chikako Yamashiro Shapeshifter 15 March – 28 April, 2018
The first UK solo exhibition at White Rainbow by acclaimed performance and video artist Chikako Yamashiro (b.1976, Okinawa, Japan). Yamashiro, the winner of the Asian Art Award 2017, dramatises the lesser-known aspects of Okinawa’s contemporary reality, while questioning dominant historical accounts of Japanese and American occupation of the islands. The site of fierce battles between the US and Japan at the end of World War Two, Okinawa still has a high concentration of American military bases, occupying around 20 per cent of the land — despite the wishes of many of its indigenous inhabitants. Yamashiro’s practice engages with political and social histories of Okinawa to create provocative and haunting works, drawing on oral accounts and often utilising her own body. The exhibition ran from 15 March – 28 April 2018 and the accompanying catalogue on Chikako Yamashiro includes installation photographs alongside a newly commissioned essay by Isabella Maidment and an artist response by Claire Potter.
Satoru Aoyama Division of Labour 6 April – 7 May, 2016
A solo exhibition at White Rainbow by Satoru Aoyama (b. 1973). The focus of the exhibition was a new series of work: ‘Map of the World (Dedicated to unknown embroiderers)’ (2012-). The works reference the Afghan craftswomen who assisted in the making of Alighiero Boetti’s ‘Mappa’ For his new series, Aoyama has embroidered four world maps, along with a map of Europe. Reflecting the passage of time since Boetti’s works, new countries such as Ukraine and Serbia are now visible on the contemporary world map. Aoyama’s maps are embroidered using a fluorescent thread. In daylight, they reveal little detail, but when shown in a darkened space each country and border is revealed. With this theatrical presentation, the artist offers a suggestion of the often immaterial and intangible quality of borders and the geopolitics that underpin them. The accompanying publication on ‘Map of the World (Dedicated to unknown embroiderers)’ includes a newly commissioned essay by White Rainbow, advisor and associate curator Keith Whittle.
Yuko Mohri Moré Moré [Leaky] 9 February – 11 March, 2017
An exhibition at White Rainbow by Yuko Mohri (b.1980, Tokyo). The artist’s first presentation at a UK gallery.Alighiero Boetti’s ‘Mappa’ series (1971-1989). Mohri recently completed two residencies at established London institutions: the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Camden Arts Centre. The focus of Mohri’s debut UK solo exhibition was an installation of her project Moré Moré [Leaky], a long- term research project into the Tokyo metro. Mohri exhibited her first iteration of the project at the prestigious Nissan Art Award 2015, which she consequently won. The exhibition ran from 9 February – 11 March 2017 and the accompanying catalogue on Yuko Mohri includes a newly commissioned essay by artist Richard Wentworth, an in conversation with Mark Rappolt, Editor, Art Review, and installation photographs.
Sutapa Biswas Mata Ne 18 July – 27 September, 2015
A solo exhibition of video and mixed media at Fujiya Gallery, Beppu Japan by British Indian artist Sutapa Biswas (b. 1962, Shantiniketan, West Bengal,). The artist’s first presentation at a Japanese gallery. Produced during a two-month residency in Japan, Mata Ne, (See you Soon), is inspired by the oral histories of women of Beppu, Japan, who recount important moments in their lives. A method of recovering neglected histories, through a methodology exploring autobiographical practice centred on the subjectivity of the narrator. Oral histories focused on women’s experiences that demand revision of the historical. From these oral history’s, Sutapa aims to decenter patriarchal national narratives in Japan, through collaborations that make space for women’s narratives – their voices, experiences, and stories. Mata Ne, (See you Soon) was commissioned and produced as part of Kashima Artist in Residence 2015, supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.
Erika Tan & Mio Shirai A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling 3 October – 15 November, 2008
A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling An international residency two-person exhibition at the Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art and BankART NYK by London-based Singaporean artist Erika Tan and Japanese artist Mio Shirai, that marked and explored the 150th anniversary of formal links between the two countries. The artists each spent the summer of 2008 in the others country of residence. The resulting commissioned film, video and photographic installations formed part of The British Councils UK- Japan 2008, and the Japan-UK 150, two major festivals marking the anniversary of trade and cultural links between the two countries. The commissioned works subsequently toured to BankART 1929, NYK, Yokohama in 2009 A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling was co-curated and produced by Keith Whittle and Alistair Robinson, in partnership with BankART 1929.
Keith Whittle Keith Whittle is a British curator, programme director, producer and art advisor, and Fellow at Central Saint Martin's, University of the Arts London. With over two decades of experience encompassing research, commissioning and presentation of contemporary art. He has realised projects working with emerging and Keith Whittle with Yuko Hasegawa, Lewis Biggs, Koki established names that span the mediums of Tanaka and Mark Rappolt, Editor, Art Review. © The video installation, experimental film, Japan Foundation. Courtesy The Japan Foundation photographic and object based installation, new media and performance. Projects include and solo shows of work by Adel Abdessemed, monographic, thematic and inter-institutional John Akomfrah, Sutapa Biswas, Mari national and international travelling shows. Katayama, Michael Landy, John Meada, Yuko With a recent focus on championing the work Mohri, Laure Prouvost, and Jane and Louise of emerging and mid-career East and Wilson. Southeast Asian artists working in a range He is the recipient of a Cultural Leadership of media. Programme Award. A UK government-funded Projects include commissions, residencies, award for excellence in leadership to emerging gallery exhibitions and site-specific to established world-class, dynamic and installations, publications, talks and events. diverse leaders for the 21st Century. Tokyo Through commissions, Whittle has worked on and London. Academic awards include a Japan projects with Turner Prize winner Mark Foundation Fellowship that supports Leckey, nominees Issac Julian and Janice outstanding scholars, researchers, and Kerbel, and Venice Golden Lion winner Sonia professionals in the field by offering the Boyce, and national and international group opportunity to conduct research in Japan.