Yokohama Triennale 2008: A Journey To Contemporary Art

1 Oct 2008 Category: Events & Exhibitions, Japan

Yokohama Triennale 2008: A Journey To Contemporary Art

"I am waiting for the day when art gains dictatorship," says German Jonathan Meese with his work currently on display at Yokohama Triennale.

Yokohama Triennale is one of the largest contemporary art festivals in Japan. So until November 30th, this year’s event is gathering 72 artists from 25 countries under the theme of “Time Crevasse,” curated by the likes of Mizusawa Tsutomu, Daniel Birnbaum, Hans Ulrich Obrist or Hu Fang. Since it is spread over seven venues across town, PingMag takes you on an art tour to the must-sees from the three main venues, Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall, NYK Waterfront Warehouse and the Red Brick Warehouse No.1. Welcome to the Yokohama Triennale!

Written by Chiemi
Translated by Natsumi Yamane

Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall

Just a 10 minute walk from Bashamichi station on Minatomirai line, the largest of the main sites, had been completed this August and boasts a floor area of 4300 m² where 30 artists are on display:

The flags of the Triennale flying in the wind (left) and the newly completed Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall (right.)

Mike Kelley was born in 1954 in Detroit and is famous for addressing themes of abuse and sex in American pop and sub-cultures. With his displayed work, Kelley brings up racial and discrimination issues America is facing: It features a Catholic altar on the right, a Jewish altar on the left and an auditorium in the middle. A screen behind the altars shows a chubby blond girl, a lean brunette girl and two rappers dressed in Nazi regalia, singing that they prefer the chubby girl.

Mike Kelley’s “Candle Lighting Ceremony” depicts a strange atmosphere.

“A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N” is by Cerith Wyn Evans with Throbbing Gristle. He studied filmmaking at RCA and used to work as Derek Jarman’s assistant. This work is a giant mobile consisting of disc-shaped mirrors that also double as speakers on the reverse side. The work incorporates a technology called audio spotlight developed by Joseph Pompei, which delivers directional sounds that can only be heard by people standing in its direct path, and it emits faint sounds to visitors who walk in-between the discs of the mobile.

“A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N:” Visitors could experience the spontaneous aspect of the technology when walking through the giant mobile.

Beside these, we also have to mention some of the many visually powerful works including Jonathan Meese and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

“Seventeen less one” by Michelangelo Pistoletto, which was created from a performance of crashing 17 mirrors in frames with a wooden hammer.

NYK Waterfront Warehouse (BankART Studio NYK)


Watch out for the green flags!

Close by, the NYK Waterfront Warehouse is one of the five facilities comprising the BankART that we introduced to you before. At Yokohama Triennale, this venue mainly featured video works by 21 artists including Matthew Barney, Douglas Gordon and Saburo Teshigawara.

Marina Abramović is a Serbian artist famous for her dangerous physical performances. At this exhibition, she presented three operation tables, entitled “SOUL OPERATION TABLE.” By lying down on the tables, each with different ladders strengths, height and brightness of the lightings, the work wants to stir the visitors’ imagination and forces you to think about the relationship between mind and body.

Kinda chilly: Marina Abramović’s “SOUL OPERATION TABLE.”

Also pioneering female performer, Joan Jonas from New York presented a work inspired by research on Native Americans by art historian Aby Warburg. You can see the Californian scenery in the screen on the right hand side and a performance of a coyote over the neon of Las Vegas in the left screen, while the centre area depicts the changing landscapes of the United States.

Joan Jonas’ “The Shape the Scent the Feel of Thing (Berlin Version) 2004/2006” displayed on the second floor of the NYK Waterfront Warehouse.

“Caribbean Pirates Pirate Party” by Paul McCarthy and Damon McCarthy – who also collaborate with earlier mentioned Mike Kelley – is a sort of scary video work. Like Kelley, McCarthy’s works evolve around sex, violence and elimination and once again he sheds light on society’s darker sides.

Grotesque… the “Caribbean Pirates Pirate Party/Houseboat Party” video work.

Red Brick Warehouse No.1


Looking familiar: the red bricks of the Warehouse.

The last of the main venues, Red Brick Warehouse No.1, is near the Shinko Pier Exhibition hall and also a couple of minutes walk away from Bashamichi station. Besides an exhibition by eight artists, this is also the venue for talk shows with various artists this month, including architect Ryue Nishizawa (on October 4th) and Toshiki Okada of Chelfitsh (on October 25th) and also showcases some hot interactive works and videos of performances that were adopted at this year’s Triennale.

Born in Guangzhou, Cao Fei hails from the Chinese contemporary art scene, which has been becoming the centre of international attention. Influenced by pop culture coming into China via Hong Kong from her early days, this time her work involves a virtual Yokohama city in Second Life. For that, she replied to participants’ queries to the city and constructed the city accordingly.

Based on Second Life, by Cao Fei.

Miranda July is a Los Angeles-based artist, known in Japan mainly for her Me and You and Everyone We Know movie which she wrote, directed and starred in herself. In Yokohama, she presents 49 panels placed in a hallway of 90cm in width and 30m in length. You read through a story written on the panels and the story gradually shifts to questions to yourself. So far, this has been the most popular work at this year’s Triennale, and we very much recommend you to take a look at it yourself.

“The Hallway” by Miranda July. This is the Japanese version…

… and the English version that starts on the other side.

Yokohama Triennale is on until November 30th, 2008. Folks, take the Toyoko line to Yokohama and do a little art trip!

70 Comments

  1. “Joy” is so cute. >w<

    Posted by: Kym on October 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm

  2. Is it just me or is “the English version” not the actual English version of the Japanese version of the sign with the red cup and drawing?

    Posted by: Matthias on October 1st, 2008 at 8:42 pm

  3. huh? why are we creating more waste?

    Posted by: hitormi on October 1st, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  4. Some Artworks are really cool. I like this blog, keep up the good work :)

    Posted by: Gianni TheJunction on October 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 am

  5. i am definitely not with hitormi!

    x.joy

    Posted by: joy on October 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 am

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    Posted by: jared on October 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 am

  8. Lost in translation…

    Posted by: REi on October 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am

  9. Oh my god, I never comment but I just had to on this post. That last one was SO GOOD. I was laughing so hard.

    Posted by: J on October 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 am

  10. The Japanese translation about the cup and the drawing is completely different from the English original. Why?

    Posted by: Pearl on October 2nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm

  11. I hope there won’t be a dictatorship of THIS kind of art

    Posted by: otakugirl on October 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm

  12. the translations are different because they are actually totally different panels! the cup appears twice in the corridor, and the japanese panel shown in this article is not the same as the english panel shown - they are two separate panels, but both with cups and similar themes, both featured in the work. That’s why the English one shown says “it’s the cup and dirty picture AGAIN” - this is the panel from the second time they appear.

    having seen it in person, the translation was actually really good!

    Posted by: m^m on October 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 am

  13. Also, the way the hallway works is that it is in English if you walk one direction and Japanese if you walk the other direction. So, maybe the pictures are not of the same panels?

    Posted by: Japan Art Fan on October 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 am

  14. it’s a wonderful piece of work - my favourite!

    Posted by: Paul on October 7th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

  15. This is highly interesting. I hope one day I’ll get to go and see this annual show.

    Posted by: Provi on October 16th, 2008 at 3:03 am

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