01-04-2000

by Marieke van Hal

In Japan, the collective standard of living is high, witness the quality of a great many public institutions and facilities: attractive department stores, monumental museums, new airports, high-speed trains, etc. In the postwar era, the successful economic growth has resulted in a society that gives the visitor from the West, walking around in such huge cities as Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka, the impression of being very modern, comfortable and efficient. Besides, Japan is pre-eminently the country of origin of the most recent technological developments, where the latest gadgets can always be found. From the outside, Japanese society seems to be focused on letting everything run lightly, smoothly and by advanced methods. This 'lightness' not only shows in the flexibility and good organization of public life, but also in other characteristics, such as, for example, the food, the harmony with nature, the tolerant nature of shintoism and the far-reaching automation. And yet, there is also a very different side to this country, which does not immediately become apparent from a walk around a random Japanese city. It is often said that Japan is a rich country full of poor people, in the sense that the collective is thriving at the expense of the immaterial development of the individual. The compelling group ethics, the high pressure of work (the Japanese work more hours than anywhere else in the industrial world), and the pressure to achieve that is brought to bear from early childhood, would seem to leave precious little space for leisure activities and personal development. The exhibition Japan medium light brings together a number of Japanese artists from the new generation. With their work they represent, on the one hand, the ‘lightness’ of the modern Japanese existence and, on the other, their critique.


Wandering around Japanese department stores, you could fancy yourself to be in a comfortable fantasy world where you can momentarily forget every notion of everyday reality. They are designed magnificently and seductively, to satisfy the customer’s every need. Apart from the architectural design, the pleasant atmosphere is also determined by the presence of lift girls. These beautifully-groomed young ladies in tailored suits can be found at the entrance, the escalators, or at the lifts leading to the various floors. Always with a friendly smile on their faces, they welcome the visitors, and with their charming presence they will do their utmost to help everyone on their way through an artificially harmonized world full of treasures. These obliging-looking ‘shop geishas’ also feature in the digital photo montages and video works by Miwa Yanagi (Kobe, 1967). They have been multiplied on the computer and turned into almost identical clones. They have been robbed of any hint of individuality. In the photographic diptych Elevator Girl House 1F (1997), they are standing in red suits on either side of an escalator to which there seems to be no end. Or they are sitting on the escalator without any loss of dignity, while they are looking at thousands of flowers in the window. They also appear in the video installation Kagome Kagome (1998), where they are moving along a long, deep corridor. Subtle digital changes bring about small metamorphoses, both in the girls’ appearance (nurse transforming from lift girl into air hostess) and in the architecture (door changing from lift into display window). These works represent Yanagi’s commentary on the Japanese consumer society, in which she grew up and to which she belongs. Her staged images full of sparkling temptation surrealistically show us the facade and ambiguity of Japanese modernity. The West seems to be perfectly copied in the department store, and is even provided with extra glamour. But under this radiant varnish lurks tradition, expressed in the uniformity and superfluity of the lift girls, who fulfil their tasks with a subservient attitude and an acquired timid smile.


In the images created by Rika Noguchi (Tokyo, 1971), gravity simply does not seem to exist, and man shrinks into insignificance compared to his surroundings. Noguchi took photos on Mount Fuji, a symbol of Japan and much worshipped by many Japanese. The works entitled Seeing Birds (1997/98) show Mount Fuji as an immense, empty plain, separated from the clear blue sky by the horizon. In the distance, a number of human figures can be seen, whose presence in the vastness of the landscape seems to be of minor significance. These photos evoke a feeling of doubt and relativization about man and his environment. The series A Prime (1999) also takes place on Mount Fuji. Here, the landscape is more rugged and strange, almost unearthly. Noguchi says that, by means of photography, she wants to make contact with the universe. These works, too, conjure up a sense of unease about space, with man sometimes reduced to nothing more than an insignificant silhouette. Noguchi’s photos are never staged. What those people are doing in those places is left to the viewer’s imagination.

Mariko Mori (Tokyo, 1967) makes video installations and photos that she manipulates with the technical perfection of the computer. She began her career as a model, and then started designing her own clothes which she demonstrated in photographed situations, in which she herself, as a beguiling creature, played the lead against a background of imaginative hyper-reality. Time and again, she magically transforms herself into different personae. The use of various identities and artificial transformations provide her with the possibility and freedom to be completely herself, something she found difficult in her own country. Mariko Mori left Japan because she could not conform to the straitjacket of the Japanese community spirit. Mori: Japan is an unified society which does not allow for individualism. I was looking for freedom - freedom to express myself on the outside and as a whole. In Japan, people try not to behave outside common standards. You are constantly being reminded not to step out of line. Particularly in Mori’s earlier work, we can see a blending of East and West. Elements from Western pop culture are styled with a Japanese sense of detail and refinement. Mori constantly hovers between reality and fantasy, visibly making use of the latest technology. Initially, we usually saw this artist as a cyber star in some futuristic urban environment, but lately her attention has shifted towards nature, towards the elements, and we can see her venturing onto a more spiritual level. The digital video Kumano (1998) exudes a meditative aura of enlightenment, partly due to the soft colours and ‘esoteric’ music. Like a supernatural apparition in a glorious kimono, Mori flutters past in a misty forest, and arrives at a dream temple where peace and harmony reign supreme. Kumano is a reference to Alaya, the eighth level of consciousness in Buddhist philosophy.

Takehito Koganezawa (Tokyo, 1974) lives and works in Berlin, having abandoned his mother country just like Mariko Mori. His work revolves around the factor of time. Sluggish movements of liquid substances generate changing images and compositions, while time elapses and the video is ‘running’. The movements in the images of the video presentation Untitled (1997) are abstract and minimal. In a set-up of three projection screens placed side by side, we can see an indefinable liquid flowing in slow-motion from three windows. This work by Koganezawa has its roots in the minimalist tradition, which implies a radical abstraction of form and a proportional reduction of content. This almost monochrome video painting, extremely simple in form, has a purely contemplative effect due to the almost negligible changes and its non-narrative course. Koganezawa’s works come into their own with the passing of time, gradually and transiently.

During the exhibition Japan medium light, a project in collaboration with Carsten Nicolai, entitled On the way to the peak of normal (2000) will also be presented, which, at the moment of writing, is in the making.

Miwa Yanagi (Kobe, 1967)
lives and works in Kyoto.
Exhibitions include:
2000: ‘Elysian Fields’, Centre Pompidou, Paris
1999: ‘Signs of Life’, Melbourne International Biennial, Melbourne, Australia
1998: Art Space Niji, Kyoto (solo exhibition)
1997: ‘Cities on the Move’, Secession, Vienna, travelled to: Musée de Bordeaux, PS1, New York, Hayward Gallery, London, Kiasma Helsinki.

Takehito Koganezawa (Tokyo, 1974)
lives and works in Berlin.
Exhibitions include:
2000: ‘Continental Shift’, Ludwig Forum Aachen
1999: Galerie Wohnmaschine, Berlin (solo exhibition)
1998: ‘Art is Fun’, Hara Museum ARC, Japan
1997: European Media Art Festival Osnabrück

Mariko Mori (Tokyo, 1967)
lives and works in New York and Tokyo.
Exhibitions include:
1999: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (solo exhibition) travelled to: County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Serpentine Gallery, London, Brooklyn Museum, NY
1997: ‘The Desire and the Void’, Contemporary Japanese Photography, Kunsthalle Wien
1997: Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
1996: ‘Made in Japan’, Deitch Projects, New York (solo exhibition)

Rika Noguchi (Tokyo, 1971)
lives and works in New York and Tokyo.
Exhibitions include:
1999: Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo (solo exhibition)
1999: ‘Private Room’, Mito Art Museum, Mito, Japan
1998: ‘Gel’, d'Amelio Terras Gallery, New York
1996: ‘The 5th New Cosmos of Photography by Canon’, P3 Art and Environment, Tokyo

The exhibition Japan medium light is organized in the context of the celebration Amsterdam - Japan 400 years.

Translation: Olivier & Wylie

Special thanks to:
With thanks to: the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Bonn, and the Mondriaan Foundation