Yokohama Triennale 2014
“ART Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the sea of oblivion”
Artistic Director MORIMURA Yasumasa
August 1, 2014 – November 3, 2014
First artists announced:
Kama Gei (Japan)
Michael LANDY (U.K.)
Melvin MOTI (Netherlands)
Gregor SCHNEIDER (Germany)
TAKAYAMA Akira (Japan)
WADA Masahiro (Japan)
YANAGI Miwa (Japan)
Exhibition Contents
Haven’ t we left behind something that is fundamentally important? Have we moved on without realizing it, or simply, left it behind, while knowing it all along?
There are artists and artistic expressions that respond acutely to this realm of oblivion.
Yokohama Triennale 2014 will be a “voyage into the sea of oblivion.” It will make us recall things that have been inadvertently lost from our lives, things that have been perpetually forgotten by human beings, and particular things that have been lost in the contemporary age.
Things that are quiet fail to be recorded, and are therefore, forgotten. Whispers remain unheard unless we pay close attention. This is a voyage to explore the richness of the vast world of untold information.
Thought control, a process in which things are forcibly obliterated, is a tragedy that has recurred throughout human history. This is a voyage to reflect on this phenomenon and to put it into perspective.
Things that are not useful are discarded and forgotten. But there is a splendid means of saving them: art. This is a voyage that takes us to the essence of art.
People discard childhood memories in order to become adults. But some are so enthralled by their memories that they do not grow up. Artists are the epitome of this type. They are children who have failed to grow up. This is a voyage that takes us back to when we were first born, to a place that we left behind when we became adults.
The voyagers (viewers) will come to a vast sea of oblivion at the end of their journey. The world that extends beyond the sea is so vast that memories and information cannot match its scale. The voyagers will finally drift into this sea of oblivion. And each of them will search for a destination and set out on a different voyage of their own.
Things that do not speak, things we must not speak about, and things we are unable to speak about. Things we do not see and things we must not see. Trivial matters and useless actions.
This is a voyage that focuses our attentions on the innumerable things that have been deemed worthless in the realm of memory. It is a voyage to cultivate our gazes.
Yokohama Triennale 2014 aims to present a story of such a voyage through the mind.
From left to right: TAKAYAMA Akira, Kama Gei (UEDA Kanayo), MORIMURA Yasumasa, Gregor SCHNEIDER, and WADA Masahiro. Photo : Ken KATO