Exhibition/event has ended.
Sayaka Murata’s Utopias - Violence and the Structure of Normality David Shrigley & Teppei Kaneuji in Dialogue with Murata’s Worldview
Gyre Gallery
Finished
SHARE
Artists
David Shrigley, Teppei Kaneuji, Sayaka Murata
This exhibition brings out Sayaka Murata’s worldview—a view of violence and the structure of normality—through a dialogue between the work of Sayaka Murata, winner of the Akutagawa Prize for Convenience Store Woman (2016), and two contemporary artists. In Convenience Store Woman, the protagonist depicts her daily life, in which she only feels assured that she has become a normal part of the world when she is working at a convenience store and following its manual to the letter, and eventually comes to see herself as a convenience store animal. And, in Murata’s 2015 novel Shometsu Sekai (Dwindling World), the story is set in a world in which giving birth to children through artificial insemination has become perfectly normal. Sex is in the process of disappearing, and humanity propagates through the “Eden System” rather than the family unit in the experimental city of Chiba. In her 2019 book Seimeishiki (Ceremony of Life), the protagonist’s sentiment that normality is a kind of insanity reverberates in a powerful way in the hearts of readers.
For this exhibition, British artist David Shrigley and Teppei Kaneuji, a Japanese artist who is active throughout the world and provided the artwork for the cover of the Japanese edition of Convenience Store Woman, have been invited to present works that resonate with Murata’s distinctive world.Shrigley creates drawings, as well as animation, sculpture, and photography, depicting everyday situations in humorous ways. He produces art using a wide variety of methods, and has received acclaim throughout the world. In addition to being nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013, he is particularly well known for Really Good, a seven-meter tall bronze thumbs-up gesture that was selected for the 2016 Fourth Plinth Commission, a public art project in London’s Trafalgar Square.Teppei Kaneuji is known for installations and three-dimensional works that are collages of objects such as figures, sundries, and everyday items containing images of ordinary things. Since 2011, he has also worked on stage design. His solo exhibitions include “Teppei KANEUJI: Melting City / Empty Forest” (Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan, 2009), “Towering Something” (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China, 2013), and “Teppei Kaneuji’s ‘ZONES’” (Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, Japan, 2016). Kaneuji also won Kyoto City’s Best Young Artist Award for 2012.
This exhibition poses questions about visions of the future of contemporary society, such as what constitutes a utopia or dystopia, and shines light on the social violence and oppression lurking within the ‘normality’ presented in the novels of Sayaka Murata.
For this exhibition, British artist David Shrigley and Teppei Kaneuji, a Japanese artist who is active throughout the world and provided the artwork for the cover of the Japanese edition of Convenience Store Woman, have been invited to present works that resonate with Murata’s distinctive world.Shrigley creates drawings, as well as animation, sculpture, and photography, depicting everyday situations in humorous ways. He produces art using a wide variety of methods, and has received acclaim throughout the world. In addition to being nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013, he is particularly well known for Really Good, a seven-meter tall bronze thumbs-up gesture that was selected for the 2016 Fourth Plinth Commission, a public art project in London’s Trafalgar Square.Teppei Kaneuji is known for installations and three-dimensional works that are collages of objects such as figures, sundries, and everyday items containing images of ordinary things. Since 2011, he has also worked on stage design. His solo exhibitions include “Teppei KANEUJI: Melting City / Empty Forest” (Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan, 2009), “Towering Something” (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China, 2013), and “Teppei Kaneuji’s ‘ZONES’” (Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, Japan, 2016). Kaneuji also won Kyoto City’s Best Young Artist Award for 2012.
This exhibition poses questions about visions of the future of contemporary society, such as what constitutes a utopia or dystopia, and shines light on the social violence and oppression lurking within the ‘normality’ presented in the novels of Sayaka Murata.
Schedule | Aug 20 (Fri) 2021-Oct 17 (Sun) 2021 Opening Hours Information
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://en.gyre-omotesando.com/artandgallery/sayaka-murata/ | ||||
| Venue | Gyre Gallery https://en.gyre-omotesando.com/art/ | ||||
| Location | 3F Gyre, 5-10-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 | ||||
| Access | 4 minute walk from exit 5 at Meiji-jingumae Station on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin lines. 5 minute walk from exit A1 at Omotesando Station on the Hanzomon, Chiyoda and Ginza lines, 6 minute walk from the Omotesando exit of JR Harajuku Station. | ||||
| Phone | 03-3498-6990 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
Back to Articles
SHARE
No comments yet