2001.10.6 [Sat] - 12.24 [Mon]

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery will hold an exhibition EGOFUGAL with a specially selected group of highly acclaimed work from this year's 7th International Istanbul Biennial. The exhibition will consist mostly of video and image-based art and roughly coincide with the Biennial, which runs during autumn (21 Sep - 17 Nov) in the Turkish city of Istanbul. This 'highlights' exhibition, which will present a condensed 'essence' of the Biennial, will itself constitute an attempt to realize one of its key concepts: co-existence. Istanbul is a thriving city situated at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. Not surprisingly, then, the first six of the city's Biennials (international contemporary art exhibitions held every two years) have been based on such themes as "The Meeting of East and West", and "Fusion". In this the 7th Istanbul Biennial, a curator of Asian origin has for the first time been chosen as artistic director. Under the direction of Japan's Ms. Yuko Hasegawa, a summation of the art of the 20th century and a vision of the future will be presented from an Asian perspective. The theme of the Biennial is "egofugal", a term that encompasses a call for rethinking the modern concept of the 'ego' and also the suggestion of hope and possibility through the secession ('fugal') from that ego. The term was coined especially for the Biennial. "Egofugal" presents the three Cs of "Co-existence", "Collective intelligence" and "Collective consciousness" as promising visions for the 21st century. >From the total of 60 artists (representing 25 countries) scheduled to participate in the Biennial, 13 artists from 10 countries have been selected for inclusion in the Tokyo exhibition. This autumn two exhibitions will unite two separate parts of the globe - Tokyo and Istanbul - and we will witness the birth of a lively dialogue that peaks in "a fugue towards symbiosis". ->Official web site of "7th International Istanbul Biennial"

What is "egofugal"?

The theme of the exhibition is "egofugal". This slightly unfamiliar term, which was coined as the theme for this year's Biennial, consists of the words 'ego' (self) and 'fugal', meaning 'secession' in Latin. In the 20th century emphasis was placed on the ego and the "pursuit individual freedom". However, that century has left us with a number of significant problems, such as materialism, avarice, competition, and ethnic conflict. As a means of overcoming these problems, we will find that the question of "How can we liberate ourselves from our egos?" becomes a crucial issue for the 21st century. Of course, for those who have lived through the age of modern individualism, the ego is an important core of the individual that we are unable to deny. And so we will see that the focus of the age will become, "how to maintain the importance of, and at the same time achieve freedom from, the ego". This new possibility is the territory of egofugal. It incorporates a shift in direction from the 'three Ms' - Man, Money, and Materialism - that fuelled the 20th century, to the 'three Cs' of "Co-existence", "Collective intelligence", and "Collective consciousness".

Chris Cunningham All is Full of Love 1999 Courtesy Anthony d'Offay Gallery and BJORK

The Three Elements of the Exhibition

"Egofugal" will be illustrated in the exhibition through the establishment of three different elements: "new collaboration", "creation of new myth and allegory", and "sleep". Each of these elements represent ways of achieving distance from the self - what we might call the centrifugal force of the ego. The overall exhibition space will consist of these three narratives and as visitors follow them they will encounter works of video, photography, and installation, interpreting works as they go and using their entire bodies to perceive them. 1. New Collaboration Evgen Bavcar (Slovenia) Maja Bajevic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) Philippe Parreno (France) Yutaka Sone (Japan) Occupying the position of greatest importance in the exhibition is 'New Collaboration'. Here a new form of collaboration is presented: 'intellectual collaboration'. This is a hitherto unseen form of artistic production, where there is a sharing of the most intimate sensibility. The photographs to be shown by blind photographer Evgen Bavcar are the results of collaborations with models, friends and assistants. Bavcar relies on the voices of his models and the help of his assistants, illuminating his models' bodies with artificial light in order to take his shots. Afterward, he makes a final selection of the completed photographs on the basis of his friends' explanations of them. The production process itself is a collaboration based on intimate trust, and the photographs we are shown have a freshness resulting from the fact that they have been fixed not by the eye of the artist (ie., sense of sight), but by the 'hand of light' (ie., sense of touch).

Evgen Bavcar Vue tactile Courtesy the Artist

Meanwhile, with the city as a backdrop, Maja Bajevic creates beautiful video work by means of collaborative performance with refugee women. Philippe Parreno brings back to life the long forgotten animation character Ann Lee in his video work. And finally, Yutaka Sone brings together 19 UCLA students for a project where, having made skis, skateboards, and surfboards, they travel on these 'vehicles' from California's mountains to the sea in one day. Like the work of Bavcar, Bajevic and Parreno, his video of the project, A Beautiful Day, reveals a new world made possible by collaboration.

Maja Bajevic men at Work 1999 Courtesy the Artist and City of Kanazawa Philippe Parreno Anywhere Out the World 2000 Courtesy the Artist and Air de Paris

2. The Creation of New Myth and Allegory Magnus Wallin (Sweden) Evgen Bavcar (Slovenia) Jane & Louise Wilson (Britain) David Noonan and Simon Trevaks (Australia) Chris Cunningham (Britain) Motohiko Odani (Japan) The second element is the creation of new myth, or allegory. Myth is what is created after numerous stories or images have been narrated; it is the new narrative that is told by humans who possess a unique sensibility, one that is different in nature to what we call our five senses. In CG animations possessing a unique vision, speed, and color, Magnus Wallin investigates physical disability, and the notion that without the unique stance afforded by disability, creative production would not be possible. Photographer Evgen Bavcar may also be placed in this category.

Magnus Wallin Limbo 1999 Courtesy the Artist

Meanwhile, through the creation of a peculiar screen space, in which the viewer gets the feeling of leaving their own body, Jane & Louise Wilson's Star City shows the inside of a unmanned astronaut training complex. David Noonan presents a fresh perspective on the isolation of man in space and also the connection between man and space. Chris Cunningham, the beloved son the MTV world, who worked on Aphex Twin and Bjork's video clips before suddenly switching to contemporary art, uses the latest special effects and sound to grotesquely yet freshly portray images of physical catabolism. And finally, Motohiko Odani mercilessly shows a similar kind of grotesqueness, but adds humor. These works can be viewed as romantic allegories as narrated by aliens or perhaps mutants.

Jane & Louise Wilson Star City 2000 Courtesy the Artist and Lisson Gallery David Noonan 99 2000 Courtesy the Artist Chris Cunningham Come to Duddy 2000 Courtesy Anthony d'Offay Gallery

3. Sleep Francis Alys (Belgium) The third element is "sleep". While we search the corners of the world for information using the internet, the world of sleep is one in contrast, like a common, deep ocean that we quietly share below the level of consciousness. Work like Francis Alys's slide projection Sleeping Things, depicting people and animals sleeping on the streets of Mexico City.

Francis Alys Sleepers 2000 Courtesy the Artist and the Artist

Information

Dates: 6 October [Sat] - 24 December [Mon] 2001 Opening Hours: 12:00 - 20:00 (to 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, entry up to 30 minutes before closing) Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if the Monday is a public holiday) Admission: Adults 1,000 (800) yen / Senior High School and University students 800 (600) yen / Junior High and Elementary School students 600 (400) yen * Admission fee includes entry into the Terada Gallery and Project N.; ( ) indicates group admission fee for over 15 people. * Discount for late entry, senior citizens and children on weekends. Please ask for details. Organizered by the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation / Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Sponsored by Nippon Life Insurance Company / Odakyu Railway Co.,Ltd. Supported by Panasonic Patronized by Embassy of the Republic of Turkey Special support by For further information: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery Tel. +81-3-5353-0756