Friday, October 11, 2013 – Sunday, January 12, 2014
Japan Society Gallery (333 East 47th Street)
Japan Society Gallery Presents Mariko Mori’s First Major Museum Exhibition in the U.S. in more than a Decade
On Friday October 11, Japan Society Gallery unveils an ambitious solo exhibition of works produced by the internationally acclaimed artist Mariko Mori over the course of the last decade, including an important light installation never before exhibited in the U.S. and a new video work.
On view through January 12, 2014, Rebirth: Recent Work by Mariko Mori paints a picture of an artist who has chosen to explore different themes, aesthetics, and technology since her last museum show in New York over ten years ago, when she was described by The New York Times as a “jaundiced but intensely engaged Warholian eye on the floating world of consumer culture.”
In collaboration with curator Miwako Tezuka, director of Japan Society Gallery, Mariko Mori has designed the upcoming exhibition to invite us to a journey through immersive environments, which reflects prehistoric view on the birth of the life force; the present-day rupture of humankind from nature; and the potential for the reemergence of creative energy. Initially conceived for the space at the Society, Rebirth first opened at the Royal Academy of Art in London last year, and now it travels to Japan Society Gallery in its full configuration as the curator and the artist have originally envisioned. Japan Society is the only North American stop of this transformative exhibition.
“Rebirth reflects Mori’s shift away from a preoccupation with Japanese pop culture and consumerism toward the creation of contemplative and participatory spaces, and a vision of art and technology as essential parts of the broader ecology,” says Tezuka.
Nearly 35 installations, sculptures, photographs, drawings, and videos are featured, many informed by Mori’s extensive explorations of ancient cultures, including the Jōmon (14,000–300 BCE) of Japan and the Celts in Europe. “Our life was inherited from our very remote ancestors and given to us now and we will transfer it to future generations…. The chain of life reaching back through history, and our ancestors’ reverence for the natural world, remind us how interwoven we are with our environment,” says Mori.
Upon entering Japan Society the visitor will encounter two works suspended above the Japanese pond and bamboo garden in the landmarked lobby: Ring (2012), a beautiful, seemingly iridescent halo; and Birds I (2013), an enigmatic, pearlescent, swirl-shaped sculpture. Ring at the Society gives a good idea of a larger version of Ring that will be installed permanently above a waterfall in Resende, Brazil in the future.
Many related programs during the exhibition period include:
Rebirth Explored
Mariko Mori performs “Oneness”
Mariko Mori’s Video Screening
For More: http://www.japansociety.org/event/rebirth-recent-work-by-mariko-mori