Taro Izumi
My eyes are not in the centre
14 September – 3 November 2018
White Rainbow is proud to announce My eyes are not in the centre, an expansive new installation by Taro Izumi. This is the artist’s first UK solo exhibition.
Comprised entirely of new work, Izumi’s exhibition constructs a complex web of interactions mediated through technology, evoking digital and new media’s dissociative effects on the senses. How does perceptible reality change when first hand experience is outsourced to a lens? Minor actions are captured on camera, then broken down and reconstituted – original footage is isolated, reversed, compartmentalised and made strange. The exhibition’s title alludes to this disorientated vision; symptomatic of life lived increasingly through a screen.
Based in Tokyo, Izumi (b. 1976, Nara, Japan) is one of Japan’s leading artists working with multimedia and collaborative practice. Izumi’s large structural works are often made up of simple, familiar objects, constructed in such as way as to transform the everyday into the absurd. His playful, almost childlike works often conceal undertones of dark humour and irony.
Across the exhibition, familiar items and scenes don’t seem quite right. A bartender insistently chisels a block of concrete with an ice pick; a group of people sunbathe at a tropical resort. Yet look closer at this confected beach scene – the concrete stage set adorned with fake fruit and other synthetic props becomes a gross simulacrum. The figures on the adjacent monitor pursue a suntan that will never come, as the rays that land on them come instead come from the light of five projectors overhead. The setting is Black Mirror does Club Tropicana, chipping away at a lucid-seeming reality.
Across his practice, Izumi uses video as a recursive apparatus for exploring the mechanisms of art making, while also commenting on the materiality of video by combining it with structural and architectural interventions into the exhibition space. Made with disarmingly simple materials, these structures are often used in the production of the videos, creating a feedback loop between space and video, production and reception, recorded time and real time.
This exhibition sees Izumi focus for the first time on the impact of drone technology. The artist humorously bastardises the concept of the drone as unmanned and automated by reinserting a human presence into the chain. White Rainbow’s back room, attic and office space are taken over by sprawling installations, but have been walled off, and remain inaccessible to the viewer. A ‘human drone’ sits atop a theatrical wooden staircase in the main gallery space. This human drone is the only person permitted entry to these closed off spaces by means of a small aperture in one of the gallery walls. At the request of the audience, this drone – with a Go Pro camera attached to their prosthetic hand – enters these spaces, filming the installations as they go, before returning to the audience. The viewer’s only way to access these installations is by the video link subsequently handed to them by the human drone. This absurd extra step reintroduces human subjectivity into a technology designed to skirt the need for human involvement.
Izumi’s intricate technological constructions stimulate the senses – our eyes, our ears, our touch, leaving us caught somewhere between body and image.
Taro Izumi was recently the subject of a major retrospective at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, in 2017.
From September – November 2018, Izumi will be in residence at Delfina Foundation, London, concurrent with his exhibition at white rainbow.
White Rainbow will publish a new catalogue on Taro Izumi in November, which will include a new essay by writer and critic Philomena Epps, and installation photographs.
This exhibition has been organised in cooperation with Take Ninagawa, Tokyo.
Based in Tokyo, Taro Izumi (b. 1976, Nara, Japan) is one of Japan’s leading artists working with multimedia and collaborative practice. Izumi uses video as a recursive apparatus for exploring the mechanisms of art making, while also commenting on the materiality of video by combining it with structural and architectural interventions into the exhibition space. Made with disarmingly simple materials, these structures are often used in the production of the videos, creating a recursive loop between space and video, production and reception, recorded time and real time.
Izumi was recently the subject of a major retrospective at Palais de Tokyo.
b. 1976, Nara, Japan
Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 My eyes are not in the centre, White Rainbow, London, UK
2017 A Child Suddenly, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
2017 ←contact, Take Ninagawa, Tokyo, Japan
2017 Night Lie, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, France
2017 Pan, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2015 Wa Ra Doki Po kai No Jyutu, Art Center Ongoing, Tokyo, Japan
2014 The Combine PI, The Liberty PO, Take Ninagawa, Tokyo, Japan
2014 No Night, Day Neither, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany
2013 contact→, HIGURE 15-17 cas, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Dizzy Footing / Eel Getting Close to Numbed Legs, hiromiyoshii roppongi, Tokyo, Japan
2013 CSLAB EXHIBITION Vol.2 Taro Izumi: Kaizuka to Seikatsu, Tokyo Zokei University CS-Lab, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Check, Arts Initiative Tokyo [AIT], Tokyo, Japan
2013 The Source of Wrinkles, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, France
2011 Taro Izumi, SPROUT curation, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Brave Yawn, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Cloud, looks like a spider, NADiff Window Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Taro Izumi, Tamagawa Art Gallery, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan
2010 Kneading, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2010 Manhunt & Sneak Dating, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2010 Hide in a Whale’s Stomach, Mouse, Asahi Art Square, Tokyo, Japan
2009 My Attempt to Build a Mountain Ended up with a Hole Wide Open, NADiff a/p/a/r/t, Tokyo, Japan
2009 Helsinki, Galerie Georges – Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, France
2008 Magician’s Bread, Solar Eclipse, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2008 junglebook, gallery stump Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
2007 Game pedestal (warehouse), buro013 by hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Trolly, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2005 GENIUS EPISODE 1&2, HIROMI YOSHII FIVE, Tokyo, Japan
2003 Zilent, Kojimachi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2002 Bargain (Fictitious), Pepper’s Loft Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 Japanorama – A new vision on art since 1970, Centre Pompidou-Metz (curated by Yuko Hasegawa)
2017 Japanese Connections, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017 Mercedes-Benz Art Scope 2015-2017: Wandering to Wonder, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Une Forme olympique, Campus HEC, Paris, France (curated by Jean-Marc Huitorel)
2016 Paradoxa. Japanese Art Today, Casa Cavazzini, Udine, Italy
2016 Paris Champ & Hors Champ, Galerie de l’Alliance Française, Mendoza (Argentine); Recife (Brazil); Joao Pessoa (Brezil); Medellin (Columbia); Pereira (Columbia); Manizales- (Columbia)
2015 Paris Champ & Hors Champ, Galerie de l’Alliance Française, Buenos-Aires (Argentina); Cordoba (Spain)
2015 In Our Time: Art in Post-industrial Japan, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
2014 Paris Champ & Hors Champ, Galerie des bibliothèques de la Ville de Paris, France
2014 Collection 2, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2014 Twentieth Anniversary Special MOT Collection: Chronicle 1995-, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2014 Japon, Contemporary Art Center, Meymac, France
2014 PORTRAIT DE 3/4, Galerie Georges – Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, France
2013 DOUBLE MESSAGE, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Roppongi Crossing 2013: OUT OF DOUBT, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Rokko Meets Art 2013, Mount Rokko National Park, Hyogo, Japan
2013 HUMOR and LEAP of THOUGHT, Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi, Japan
2013 Identity IX, nca | nichido contemporary art, Tokyo, Japan
2013 MOT Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan
2013 Why not live for Art? II – 9 collectors reveal their treasures, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Dea Syuturumu (The Storm, Der Sturm) – The Storm For Art and Popular Culture, Nagoya Citizens Gallery Yada, Nagoya, Japan
2012 But Freash, Tokyo Wondersite Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
2012 VOICE OF IMAGES, Palazzo Grassi – Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy
2012 THE ECHO 2012 BERLIN, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Projektraum, Berlin, Germany
2012 Real Japanesque: The Unique World of Japanese Contemporary, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2012 Humour, parodie et vidéos: créations vidéo du Japon contemporain, Maison de la Culture du Japon, Paris, France
2012 Veranda, Tightrope Walking, Compulsive Plot, TALION GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2012 Marsupials, TALION GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2012 Koganei Artfull-Jack! BERMUDA TRIANGLE, Chateau Koganei, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Omnilogue: Alternating Currents – Japanese Art After March 2011, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), Perth, Australia
2011 Yokohama Triennale 2011: OUR MAGIC HOUR – How Much of the World Can We Know?-,
NYK Waterfront Warehouse (Bank ART Studio NYK), Yokohama, Japan
2011 Invisibleness is Visibleness: International Contemporary Art Collection of a Salaryman – Daisuke Miyatsu, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwans
2011 Silent Narrator: On Plural Stories, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2011 JAPANCONGO: Carsten Hollers double-take on Jean Pigozzis collection,
Centre national d’art contemporain, Grenoble, France; Moscow Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia; Palazzo Reale di Milano, Italy
2011 Shifting Surfaces: Experience, Perspectives and Media, Artsonje Museum, Gyeongju, Korea
2010 Violence and Universe, Island, Kashiwa, Japan
2010 Trust: Media City Seoul, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2010 MOT Collection: Enter Here – What do you see?, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan
2010 CITY 2.0: The Evolutionary Theory of City on the Web Generation, EYE OF GYRE, Tokyo, Japan
2010 Media Landscape – Zone East, Contemporary Urban Centre, Liverpool, U.K
2009 Everyday Life, Another Space, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2009 TWIST & SHOUT: Contemporary Art form Japan, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
2009 Extra/Ordinary: Video Art from Asia, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas,U.S.A
2009 POST. O: The Reverse of TOPOS, Garden City Space of Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2009 CREAM International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009, Nogeyama Animal Park, Yokohama, Japan
2009 Summer Museum for All Ages: Art Everyday!!, Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Japan
2009 Re:Membering – Next of Japan, Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul, Korea
2009 Waiting for Video: Works from the 1960s to Today, National Museum of Modern Art,Tokyo, Japan
2009 UNLIMITED, A+, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Between Art and Life: Performativity in Japanese Art, Centre d’Art: Contemporain, Geneve, Switzerland
2008 TOKYO NONSENSE, Scion Installation L.A., Los Angeles, U.S.A
2008 THE ECHO, ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
2008 Landmark project 3: Let’s Cross Route 16←Let’s Go to Noge!, Yokohama, Japan
2008 Food and Contemporary Art 2008, BankART1929, Yokohama, Japan
2007 Techniques of Storytelling – speaking of unspeakable, SSamize Space, Alternative space Loop, Seoul, Korea
2007 Out of the Ordinary: New Video from Japan, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, U.S.A
2007 COLLECTOR’S CHOICE: Collection 2, Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2007 The Door into Summer – The Age of Micropop, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
2006 After The Reality, Deitch Project, New York,U.S.A
2006 FUKUTAKEHOUSE in Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Niigata, Japan
2006 THEORY OF EVERYTHING: VIDEOART FROM TOKYO, Caochangdi Workstation Art Center, Beijing; tank.tv; Location One, New York; New York University
2005 The World is Mine, HIROMI YOSHII FIVE, Tokyo , Japan
2005 Gallery Artist Show, hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2004 Field of Dreams, Project Room / Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2001 Gallery LE DECO, Tokyo, Japan
Selected Performances
2014 JINS ART PROJECT, JINS Kichijyoji, Tokyo, Japan
2013 hubn’t, (as a member of Orrorin) Art Center Ongoing, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Walking Roof, (participate as Taro Izumi + Orrorin), Roppongi Art Night, Tokyo, Japan
2012 campfire, blanClass, Yokohama, Japan
2012 Sumida River Art Project, Asashi Art Square, Tokyo (with Zakuro Yamaga), Japan
2010 Azumabashi Dance Crossing, Asashi Art Square, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Performance with Zakuro Yamaga, TOYOTA CHOREOGRAPHY AWARD 2008, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Performance with Zakuro Yamaga, HARAJUKU PERFORMANCE Plus, Laforet Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan
Scholarships and Residencies
2017 SAM ART PROJECT, Paris
2015 Merdedes-Benz Art Scope 2015-2017, Berlin
2014 The Follow Fluxus – After Fluxus Grant, The Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
2013 The Japan-UK Residency Exchange Programme
2013, Cove Park, Helensburgh
Selected Public Collections
Le Fonds départementale d’art contemporain de la Seine-Saint-Denis (FDAC)
François Pinault Foundation;Jean Pigozzi Collection
Le Fonds municipal d’art contemporain de la ville de Paris (FMAC)
M+ Museum for Visual Culture, Hong Kong
Kadist Art Foundation
Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas
The Japan Foundation
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Tokyo National Museum of Art, Osaka
JINS
Dallas Museum of Art