Trace Elements: Spirit and Memory in Japanese and Australian Photomedia
Organisational Partners:
Performance Space, Sydney
Tokyo Opera City Gallery, Tokyo
Artists: Philip Brophy, Jane Burton, Alex Davies, Genevieve Grieves, Sophie Kahn, Teiji Furuhashi, Seiichi Furuya, Chie Matsui, Lieko Shiga and Kazuna Taguchi
Curators: Bec Dean and Shihoko Iida
Trace Elements: Spirit and Memory in Japanese and Australian Photomedia encompasses both the traditions and the innovations of photomedia practice, from black and white photography to interactive video installation. It considers the ways in which contemporary artists are addressing the intrinsic relationship of photography to time, memory and the metaphysical association of the medium to phantasmagoria and the semblance of lived experience.
Curators Shihoko Iida of Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and Bec Dean of Performance Space in Sydney have collaborated towards an exhibition that explores the cultural resonance of the 'trace' in photography; from the photograph as a historical document and private memento; through popular cultural associations of the "Ghost in the Shell"; to photomedia technology's ability to construct alternative environments, review and revise images of the past and fabricate new memories and experiences. Trace Elements considers the influence of photomedia, both within and beyond our two cultures, on one's notion of self, one's consciousness as well as our personal and collective histories.
Trace Elements opened at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery on 19 July, 2008 and was attended by all Australian participants in the exhibition. Artists' floor talks and forum events were scheduled on the opening weekend. Information is available from the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery's website.
Trace Elements opened at Performance Space, Sydney on 19 February 2009 and runs until 21 March 2009. Further information is available from the Performance Space, Sydney website.
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Alex Davies Dislocation video installation, Tokyo Opera City Gallery |
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Genevieve Grieves Picturing the Old People series 2005, installation at Tokyo Opera City Gallery |
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Jane Burton Wormwood installation at Tokyo Opera City Gallery | ||
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Chie Matsui Hei’di 46-1 “brick house” (video still), 2006 | ||
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Teiji Furuhashi Lovers, installation at Tokyo Opera City Gallery |
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