[WATOWA Co., Ltd.] A two-person exhibition “On Double-dealings, Demos,” featuring installations where you can participate in “activities” in the gallery.
and Discontent” will be held from 5/18 (Sat)
*View in browser* *WATOWA Co., Ltd. *
Press release: May 11, 2024
**
“On Double-dealings, Demos, and
Discontent” will be held from 5/18 (Sat)
The project production collective WATOWA GALLERY is led by Sakiko Fujishima from Japan and PEDRO from Brazil.
We will be holding a two-person exhibition with INOUE at Asakusa WATOWA GALLERY / THE BOX TOKYO.
*Event overview*
*Group exhibition ‘On Double-dealings, Demos, and Discontent’* * [Period]: * Saturday, May 18, 2024 – Monday, July 15, 2024 *Advance reservations required on weekdays / Saturdays and Sundays 12:00-19:00 *Last entry 18:30
* [Venue]: * WATOWA GALLERY / THE BOX TOKYO (3F, 1-2-10 Imado, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0024)
* [Admission fee]: * Free
* [Participating artists]: * Sakiko Fujishima / PEDRO INOUE
*Opening party*
* [Date and time]: * May 18th (Friday) 17:00-20:00 *Exhibition starts from 12:00 on the day
*Greetings from WATOWA GALLERY*
WATOWA GALLERY/THE BOX celebrates its third year in Asakusa
TOKYO will further expand the possibilities of artists, recognize the similarities and differences between Japan and other countries, and increase the number of projects that influence each other.
One of these is ART, which has the gallery and incubation functions that we had in mind from the beginning.
We will carry out various experiments as SPACE.
We hold irregular exchanges and collaborations with curators. This time, we welcome SHAI OHAYON as a guest curator, who considers this to be essential in this day and age.
We are planning an exhibition about expressions such as “activity” and “exercise.”
This time, it will be a two-person exhibition with PEDRO INOUE from Brazil, which is the other side of Japan, and Sakiko Fujishima from Japan.
I will.
Each is an artist who specializes in creating installations that address social issues, but in Japan,
What should we value? Analog and digital, information and confusion, what should we value?
What does it mean to raise?
This is an installation that invites viewers to participate in the “activities” from various angles.
Everyone came to experience the “demonstrations” that can be done in the gallery and the possibilities of ART.
I’m so happy.
WATOWA GALLERY Representative Takahiro Komatsu
Message from WATOWA GALLERY
Now in its third year since its establishment in Asakusa, WATOWA GALLERY/ THE BOX TOKYO aims to expand further the possibilities offered to artists and to embrace the similarities
and differences between Japan and abroad. Thus, we seek to develop projects that contributes to the connection between both places.
As one of such interactions, we will be enacting a variety of experiments in this art space to act both as a gallery and as an incubator – a vision we sought to promote since the inception of the space.
This is why we are keen on organizing exchanges and collaborations with a variety of curators, and on this occasion welcome SHAI OHAYON as guest curator. Jointly, we seek to present an exhibition that emphasizes “actions” and “movements” that are integral to present-day issues and trends.
This two-person exhibition invites PEDRO INOUE from Brazil, from the other side of the world, teamed with Japan’s SACCO FUJISHIMA to build a Correspondence through installations that examine social issues and change. They both have created new works and installations in which the viewers are urged to participate and engage with their different perspectives. The discourse features notions about life in Japan, the disparities between the analog and the digital, information and confusion. And asks, what should we value? What does it mean to raise one’s voice?
Please visit to experience the notion of “protest” inside the gallery and the possibilities that artcan bear.
WATOWA GALLERY Owner Takahiro Komatsu
* “On Double-dealings, Demos, and Discontent” *
* Curator: Shai Ohayon *
“Laws never make people free. People had to make laws for freedom.” -Henry David Thoreau
Over the past decade, the concepts of protest and civil disobedience have become increasingly popular on social media and on individuals in the public.
It flourished through the collective organization of the people, and took the academic world and mainstream media by storm. New work “On” Double-dealings, demos, and
The exhibition aims to analyze resistance mechanisms and features works by Japanese artist Sakiko Fujishima, who provides a Japanese perspective on social change, and Brazilian designer and activist Pedro Inouye, who provides a Western perspective. introduce. This exhibition will feature everything from new technologies such as the Metaverse and AI to classic methods such as posters and slogans. uses a wide variety of tools to encourage visitors to reflect on the aesthetics and mechanics of protest and to engage with society. It provides an opportunity to compare side-by-side the various ways in which change is possible.
Much of Sakiko Fujishima’s latest work features live demonstrations conducted by Fujishima on the Metaverse and animated by hashtags, often with tens of thousands of participants, but this work was designed specifically for this exhibition. A new demonstration piece highlights the equality and rights of women in Japan.
Through live footage from a video installation installed in the gallery, viewers can experience Fujishima’s digital demonstrations, as well as use an AI avatar that can ask questions in both Japanese and English, and a monitor that can post comments live. Other works by Fujishima include a painting that touches on the personal anonymity often associated with demonstrations, and a live station where participants can send petitions to Japanese government offices. Ironically, the petition is sent via fax, which is apparently still the most commonly used means of delivering civilian complaints to government offices in Japan.
Pedro Inouye is a seasoned social activist, and this exhibition reveals his tireless efforts to raise issues of sustainability, environmental protection, and anti-capitalism. Almost life-sized balloon “Okiagari Kobo” dolls with images of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg that participants can wrestle with; a collection of brazenly designed fake news publications; Front page, video work, poster with slogan
– A shrine made of retail products for participants to meditate on, a mainstream form of expression.
An installation of graphic images compiled with logos and logos will be exhibited.
The interactive nature of the exhibition encourages audience participation and breaks away from the mundane.
It provides an opportunity to experience thinking that goes beyond “art appreciation.”
* On Double-dealings, Demos, and Discontent*
*Curated by Shai Ohayon*
The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.
– Henry David Thoreau
In the last decade the notion of protest and civil disobedience has taken academia and mainstream media by storm, bolstered by social media and the communal organization of individual members of the public. This new exhibition On Double-dealings, Demos, and Discontent examines the mechanisms of resistance by showcasing the works of the Japanese artist Sacco Fujishima, who lends a Japanese perspective on social change, and the Brazilian designer and activist Pedro Inoue, who engages viewers with a western perspective.
The exhibition enables us to be careful on the aesthetic and apparatus of protest and to juxtapose different means to capacitate social change, using a variety of tools – from new technologies such as the metaverse and AI to traditional tactics such as posters and banners.
Much of Sacco Fujishima’s latest works defined by live demonstrations she hosts on the metaverse, often with tens of thousands of
fueled by hashtags, is presenting a new demonstration designed especially for this exhibition to highlight women’s equality and rights in Japan. Viewers will be able to experience her digital demo through a live-feed video installation at the gallery and interact with AI avatars they can question in both Japanese and English, as well as a monitor that allows the audience to upload live comments. Other works of Fujishima include paintings that allude to the individual anonymity that is often associated with demonstrations, and a live station where the audience can contact a Japanese governmental office to petition, ironically through fax, which is, Apparently, still the most common channel to express civil grievances with governmental offices in Japan.
Pedro Inoue who is a seasoned social activist, shares in this exhibition his relentless efforts to highlight issues relating to sustainability, the protection of the environment, and anti-capitalism. He will include nearly life-sized inflatable “roly-poly” figures bearing the image of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckenberg that visitors can wrestle with, cheekily-designed front pages of publications with fake news, video work, slogan-bearing posters, a shrine composed of retail products for visitors to meditate on, and an installation using graphic imagery compiled by mainstream representations and logos.
The interactive nature of the exhibition encourages audience participation and grants an opportunity for an experiential dialogue that goes beyond the ordinary “art viewing” experience.
* Sacco Fujishima*
Faceless Face Series “Reina”, 410 × 318mm, resin and acrylic paint on wood panel, 2022
IG: @sacco_fujishima
An artist who transcends the boundaries between analog and digital, 2D and 3D, reality and virtual reality. Expressing dense patterns with her own colorful “arbitrary order”, she has activated her art activities on the Metaverse and SNS since the coronavirus pandemic, and values communication with her audience. For her, phenomena born in the digital and real worlds are doors to new possibilities, and she believes that the fusion of games, art, and social issues will open up unknown realms of expression.
Pedro Inoue
World Killer Ultra Sale Wallpaper, 2024.
IG: @pedroinoue
Pedro Inouye is a Brazilian-born, self-taught graphic designer and artist. He has collaborated with clients such as David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Caetano Veloso.
He has participated in group and solo exhibitions in France, Czech Republic, Japan and South Korea. Since 2010 he has been a creative director.
#occupywallstreet in 2011 joined Adbusters magazine and sparked the global movement #OCCUPY
Participated in creating memes and posters. In 2019, he was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award(R). His latest work is APIB
(Brazilian Indigenous Council), Greenpeace, and creative work for Fridays for Future.
as well as activist and political work supporting civil society movements against the rise of the far right at home and abroad. *What is WATOWA GALLERY?*
WATOWA
GALLERY is an art project/producer that provides a place for art communication, centered on young artists with a new sensibility that incorporates modern Japanese street culture and fashion, original and advanced technology, and “Japanese Philosophy”. It’s a group. In order to create a society where art becomes a familiar culture like fashion and blends into each person’s lifestyle, we will produce and direct exhibitions with new sensations and art projects, and expand the touchpoints where people can come into contact with art.
Many of the major art movements that are still acclaimed both domestically and internationally are born outside of museums and through interactions between artists of diverse genres and their supporters. We do not have a specific art space; instead, we treat all spaces as galleries. We open art from museums to communities, cities, and living spaces, and we work with professionals from various fields outside of museums to conduct cross-disciplinary art projects. We will continue to send the message. Furthermore, we will support the success of young Japanese artists and the entry of young Japanese collectors, and promote exchanges between artists and supporters.
WATOWA
By fostering new communication and community through the gallery, we aim to create an art scene for the next era and revitalize the market. Since 2019, we have been working as a production group without a specific location, but from September 2022, we will hold the first WATOWA
WATOWA GALLERY / THE BOX TOKYO, the home of GALLERY, is launched in Asakusa/Imado.
HP: https://watowagallery.com
Instagram: @watowagallery
CONTACT: watowagallery@gmail.com
*About details about this release*
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000092.000015900.html
Copyright © PR TIMES Corporation All Rights Reserved.