Henie Onstad Art Centre, Project Room I & II
April 26 - May 20, 2007

Presented by Majken Kramer Overgaard



From 26th April – 20th May 2007 the Henie Onstad Art Centre will be presenting an exhibition of video art from Japan. Screening focuses upon the work of six Japanese video artists. Together, their work represents one perspective on the contemporary video art scene in Japan. The programme has been selected by the Danish curator Majken Kramer Overgaard. The participating artists are: Chikara Matsumoto and Daisuke Nagaoka, Mai Yamashita+Naoto Kobayashi, Mairo Koizumi and Yuki Okumura.

Chikara Matsumoto and Daisuke Nagaoka both work primarily with drawn animation. Daisuke Nagaoka’s animations are created over the course of 8 – 10 hour drawing sessions, during which he draws one scene, erases it and draws the next scene whilst the camera rolls. Chikara Matsumoto works in close collaboration with the Japanese electronic/pop group Organ-o-rounge, and is particularly well known for participating in their concerts with animated drawings, which are projected directly on to the wall.

Mai Yamashita+Naoto Kobayashi is a duo of artists who have been working together for a number of years. Their work entitled "When I wish upon a star" features the explosion of a firework played at slow speed - the female half of the duo recites all the big and small wishes she has for her life during the course of the explosion.

One of the three videos by Meiro Koizumi is entitled "Jap", 2004. It is a violent, but nevertheless structured portrayal of a western woman, brutally instructing a Japanese man about human rights.

Yuki Okumura works as both curator and artist, and in many of his artworks he focuses upon his own identity as an artist. In his most recent work, entitled "Transfer" he takes the city as his starting point, exploring its constant flux. The video was shot at well-known locations in Tokyo, as well as places that have a particular meaning for the artist himself.

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Henie Onstad Art Centre
Sonja Henies vei 31
NO-1311 Høvikodden
Norway
TEL : +47 67 80 48 80/81
post@hok.no
www.hok.no