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Manami Uetake "Vorbei ist nicht vorüber"
Laboratory of Art and Form (LOAF)
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Manami Uetake
In the last thirty years, 9,512 Stolpersteine have been laid in 76 Berlin districts (as of June 2022). Each stone commemorates the life and death of a person who was persecuted, deported, and murdered during National Socialism. In front of each former home of the victims, a 10 x 10 cm concrete stone with a brass plate is set in place and the name, the dates of life of the murdered person as well as the place of their death are communicated.
Manami Uetake visited forty of these places of residence for her project Vorbei ist nicht vorüber and documented the Stolpersteine photographically. From 5 February 2022 to 16 March 2022, she visited a different place each day. The date of the victims’ deaths coincided with the day Uetake commemorated them through her visit. Each stone was touched by her own hand, cleaned, and photographed. In this way, the artist makes a connection with the people. Uetake then collects information about those murdered and shares personal details of their lives with the viewer. Each life commemorated by a stumbling block thus acquires an individual character. The photo series is complemented by a star map that shows the exact constellation of the stars on the day and place of each person’s murder. Uetake’s approach investigates to what extent an official culture of remembrance can be expanded so that the individuality of the victims but also the universality of the tragedy of their fate become recognisable to the viewer.
Pointing to the intertwining of past and present by commemorating the anniversary of the death of one of the forty victims and using her video installation to refer to their individuality and lives, in which every person can find themselves today, moving away from a rigid and fact-based culture of remembrance that superficially knows names and dates. Empathy and the willingness to apply the past to today’s wars and conflicts presents itself as a desirable encounter with a present culture of remembrance, which seems particularly important due to the renewed war in Europe and also other conflicts worldwide.
The title of the work Vorbei ist nicht vorüber is a quotation from the Bulgarian-Jewish writer Elias Canetti (1905-1994). The cultural and literary scholar Aleida Assmann chose this very quote for the title of an essay published in 2013 in which she examines the concept of «culture of memory» in Germany. These reflections are a valuable starting point for Manami Uetake, outlining her approach to her work and her reflections on history and remembering.
Manami Uetake is an artist who creates installation works using photography and video. She received an MFA from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2018. While at school, she studied as an exchange student at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London. From 2021 to 2022, she stayed at Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany) as an overseas researcher of Pola Art Foundation. Currently based in Tokyo and expanding her activities in Japan and abroad. Her major solo exhibitions include, "Vorbei ist nicht vorüber" (Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2022), "Imagining Something Unknown" (Decameron, Tokyo, 2022).
Manami Uetake visited forty of these places of residence for her project Vorbei ist nicht vorüber and documented the Stolpersteine photographically. From 5 February 2022 to 16 March 2022, she visited a different place each day. The date of the victims’ deaths coincided with the day Uetake commemorated them through her visit. Each stone was touched by her own hand, cleaned, and photographed. In this way, the artist makes a connection with the people. Uetake then collects information about those murdered and shares personal details of their lives with the viewer. Each life commemorated by a stumbling block thus acquires an individual character. The photo series is complemented by a star map that shows the exact constellation of the stars on the day and place of each person’s murder. Uetake’s approach investigates to what extent an official culture of remembrance can be expanded so that the individuality of the victims but also the universality of the tragedy of their fate become recognisable to the viewer.
Pointing to the intertwining of past and present by commemorating the anniversary of the death of one of the forty victims and using her video installation to refer to their individuality and lives, in which every person can find themselves today, moving away from a rigid and fact-based culture of remembrance that superficially knows names and dates. Empathy and the willingness to apply the past to today’s wars and conflicts presents itself as a desirable encounter with a present culture of remembrance, which seems particularly important due to the renewed war in Europe and also other conflicts worldwide.
The title of the work Vorbei ist nicht vorüber is a quotation from the Bulgarian-Jewish writer Elias Canetti (1905-1994). The cultural and literary scholar Aleida Assmann chose this very quote for the title of an essay published in 2013 in which she examines the concept of «culture of memory» in Germany. These reflections are a valuable starting point for Manami Uetake, outlining her approach to her work and her reflections on history and remembering.
Manami Uetake is an artist who creates installation works using photography and video. She received an MFA from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2018. While at school, she studied as an exchange student at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London. From 2021 to 2022, she stayed at Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany) as an overseas researcher of Pola Art Foundation. Currently based in Tokyo and expanding her activities in Japan and abroad. Her major solo exhibitions include, "Vorbei ist nicht vorüber" (Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2022), "Imagining Something Unknown" (Decameron, Tokyo, 2022).
Schedule | Mar 11 (Sat) 2023-Mar 26 (Sun) 2023 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Venue | Laboratory of Art and Form (LOAF) https://www.loaf-jp.com/  | ||||
| Location | 286-13 Komeya-cho Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 602-8034 | ||||
| Access | 10 minute walk from exit 2 at Marutamachi Station on the Karasuma subway line, 11 minute walk from exit 2 at Nijojo-mae Station on the Tozai subway line. | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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