The National Art Center, Tokyo
Public Relations E-mail:pr@nact.jp
Summary
NOMURA Hitoshi is a contemporary artist who was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1945. He pioneered the use of photography in artistic expression, first coming to the attention of the public in the late sixties with huge works created out of cardboard or dry ice, that he photographed to record their shapes and aspects as they gradually changed, thereby manifesting invisible concepts, such as 'gravity' or 'time' . While observing changes in objects in this way, he began to question the meaning of the existence of an object in a particular place and time, or the significance of a world that is created through material objects and time. Eventually, his interest moved on from earthly phenomena, widening his scope to include the sky, space and DNA.
He discovered that the courses followed by the sun or moon create beautiful shapes and was attracted by the wonder of the fact that the light that reaches us from the Milky Way actually dates back to a time when plants that are now fossils, were still alive. He has devoted himself to expressing this through his work, not limiting himself to photography but using, video, sound and a variety of other media. For this reason, it is no exaggeration to describe him as one of the first multi-media artists.
The upcoming exhibition will look back over almost forty years of NOMURA Hitoshi's creative work, and will be the first large-scale retrospective of his to be held in Tokyo.
| Description of Exhibits | A total of 129 works (scheduled) comprising of photographs, three-dimensional and flat works, installations, video, etc. (books, music scores, CDs, etc.) | ||||||||
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| Dates | May 27 - July 27, 2009 Closed on Tuesdays |
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| Museum hours | 10:00 − 18:00 （Friday 10:00 − 20:00） Last admission 30 minutes before closing |
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| Venue | The National Art Center, Tokyo 7-22-2 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan |
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| Organizers | The National Art Center, Tokyo | ||||||||
| Enquiries | TEL: 03-5777-8600 (Hello Dial) | ||||||||
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Characteristics
The main characteristic of NOMURA Hitoshi's work can be said to lie in the way he subverts the ordinary way of perceiving or looking at things to present a completely new world.
- Ⅰ.Everything is in a State of Flux - Observing Things Change
- When we think about the existence of matter, we tend to have an image of concrete objects, that do not change shape, remaining motionless in one place. But is this really true? NOMURA Hitoshi photographs dry ice as it gradually evaporates, recording its changing form and eventual disappearance. The fact that matter exists does not mean that it is immutable. If you believe that the world outside your body comprises of the existence of objects then it must do so through the repetition and replication of time. NOMURA Hitoshi's works casts a new light on the “world” that we take for granted through what we see and experience in our daily lives.
- Ⅱ.Becoming Closer to Nature and Conforming to the Rhythms of the Universe
- As a result of his observations of the movements of the sun and moon, NOMURA Hitoshi gradually realized that their courses through space created beautiful forms, and moreover, these resembled the shape of the DNA that forms the building blocks of life. In addition, he also discovered that if the movements of the moon and flocks of birds flying in the sky are transposed to musical notes it results in a beautiful melody. What is the significance of this? NOMURA's work shows that not only do we live through the Earth's providence, but also that we are given life by a transcendent power that controls all things.
- Ⅲ.A Future Based on the Coexistence of Nature and Technology
- This being so, then perhaps it would be possible to come into direct contact with this vast power and communicate with it. NOMURA's endless curiosity led him to undertake two major projects. One was to receive electromagnetic waves from the Milky Way or Sun and convert these into music (COWARA, 1987), and the other was to capture the Sun's energy and use it to power a solar car across the American continent (HAAS Project, 1999). Both of these projects involved the combination of artistic conception with technology and represent a new form of art.
- Ⅳ.The Regeneration of Perception - A Proposal for a New Communication
- NOMURA Hitoshi's interest is not limited to the heavens; he also recognizes a vast power that controls the whole of creation. He became fascinated by the fact that all living things on Earth contain within them a small universe and no matter whether it be a plant or an octopus, they all possess an innate power to identify color. Realizing this, it led him to wonder whether humans would also be able to communicate through colors in the same way. Based on this concept, he produced a work consisting of various colors arranged on the surface of a piece of marble engraved with what appears to be an ancient form of pictographic script. We can see that this work, too, continues the theme of looking afresh at the world from a viewpoint detached from human perception in order to come contact with a great power.
