Exhibition/event has ended.
Masaru Iwai “Perspective of Familiarity”
Takuro Someya Contemporary Art
Finished
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Artists
Masaru Iwai
Masaru Iwai has developed his video works, installations, aand performances to date by placing the themes of “cleansing” and “purification” at the core of his research. Though based in Tokyo, he takes a unique approach in his work whereby he travels around the world and places himself in obscure communities, depicting the significance of shared lifestyles and values.
The video work “Motorcycle washing” presented in this exhibition was created in Ratchatburi province, Thailand in 2016 through an art initiative program where Iwai participated in a workshop with Burmese immigrant workers. Due to the stringent labor market during the rapid economic growth of the 1980s, Thailand accepted many immigrant workers from neighboring Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. However, the flow of immigrants into the country was not only comprised of those with legal rights, for the number of illegal immigrants increased simultaneously. In Ratchatburi, a large proportion of the population of Burmese illegal workers rides motorcycles despite the fact that driver’s licenses are not issued to them. Through his involvement with such workers, Iwai examines how the “illegal” acts that take place in a community can in fact create deeper intimacy. This time, he gathers the immigrant workers at Wat Nong Pho Temple and instructs them to wash their motorcycles, the motorcycles that symbolize the layers of illegality in the community. While chatting in Burmese, they continue the process of washing, and the instructions given in Thai by the art initiative member in charge gradually become audible. The second work to be presented in this exhibition is “The White Building Washing,” created in Phnom Penh in 2012, set in the “White Building.” The “White Building” was originally a modern residential housing complex built for middle-class families, however the civil war forced them out of their homes and when the war finally ended, the building became a place where people without homes gathered, the site gradually turning into a slum. Just like the Burmese workers in Thailand, the people who continue to live in this building despite receiving depositions from the government are the people that form a community by their illegal acts. Iwai established his cleaning project in this building for 2 months, from 2011 to 2012. In this exhibition, “The White Building Washing” will be exhibited as a new installation; this will be an opportunity to reexamine the local environment that has undergone dramatic change since the time this was was produced. In both works on exhibit here, Iwai enters the lives of various people and, through his “participatory methods,” takes a look at each individual communities from various perspectives, such as legal systems, cultures, and family relations.
The video work “Motorcycle washing” presented in this exhibition was created in Ratchatburi province, Thailand in 2016 through an art initiative program where Iwai participated in a workshop with Burmese immigrant workers. Due to the stringent labor market during the rapid economic growth of the 1980s, Thailand accepted many immigrant workers from neighboring Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. However, the flow of immigrants into the country was not only comprised of those with legal rights, for the number of illegal immigrants increased simultaneously. In Ratchatburi, a large proportion of the population of Burmese illegal workers rides motorcycles despite the fact that driver’s licenses are not issued to them. Through his involvement with such workers, Iwai examines how the “illegal” acts that take place in a community can in fact create deeper intimacy. This time, he gathers the immigrant workers at Wat Nong Pho Temple and instructs them to wash their motorcycles, the motorcycles that symbolize the layers of illegality in the community. While chatting in Burmese, they continue the process of washing, and the instructions given in Thai by the art initiative member in charge gradually become audible. The second work to be presented in this exhibition is “The White Building Washing,” created in Phnom Penh in 2012, set in the “White Building.” The “White Building” was originally a modern residential housing complex built for middle-class families, however the civil war forced them out of their homes and when the war finally ended, the building became a place where people without homes gathered, the site gradually turning into a slum. Just like the Burmese workers in Thailand, the people who continue to live in this building despite receiving depositions from the government are the people that form a community by their illegal acts. Iwai established his cleaning project in this building for 2 months, from 2011 to 2012. In this exhibition, “The White Building Washing” will be exhibited as a new installation; this will be an opportunity to reexamine the local environment that has undergone dramatic change since the time this was was produced. In both works on exhibit here, Iwai enters the lives of various people and, through his “participatory methods,” takes a look at each individual communities from various perspectives, such as legal systems, cultures, and family relations.
Schedule | Sep 9 (Sat) 2017-Oct 14 (Sat) 2017 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | http://tsca.jp/exhibition/#works | ||||
| Venue | Takuro Someya Contemporary Art http://tsca.jp/ | ||||
| Location | 3F, 5F Terrada Art Complex, 1-33-10 Higashi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0002 | ||||
| Access | 9 minute walk from exit B at Tennozu Isle Station on the Rinkai line, 10 minute walk from the South exit of Tennozu Isle Station on the Tokyo Monorail line, 9 minute walk from the North exit of Shimbamba Station on the Keikyu line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6804-3018 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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