nca | nichido contemporary art

“Identity” - nca group exhibition - *Curated by Kentaro Ichihara

Place : nca | nichido contemporary art
Date : 2008. May 23trd - June 21st
Gallery hours : Tue - Sat 11:00 - 19:00 /　Closed on Sun, Mon and National Holidays
Reception : May 23rd 18:00 - 20:00

nca | nichido contemporary art is delighted to represent the fourth group exhibition, “Identity”.
This exhibition is curated by Mr. Kentaro Ichihara under the theme of “Identity” from his point of view.

"Who are we?" -・this question has been a central theme to human thought both in the East and the West, the ancient past and the present. This alone shows us the strength of the human fascination with the notion of 'identity'. However, there is an uncontrollable multiplicity of answers to that question, which reverberate all around the world. To put it another way, the question of how we perceive identity changes greatly according to the region, era, society or culture we come from.

In organizing an exhibition about identity, I decided not to go into a meticulous analysis of individual identities, but rather to exhibit works that would focus on the rationales and the motivations that underlie our theories about identity. In doing that, my aim is not to force people to swallow particular ideas and thus put a cap on all further consideration of identity, but rather to create a situation in which viewers can encounter works that reflect on the origins and backgrounds of these rationales and motivations and engage in a dialogue with them. Questioning the reasons for our identities might help people understand the legitimacy of their arguments about the subject, while taking a retrospective look at the underlying motivations might help people come to understand the desires that define who they are.

If mankind can achieve this level of understanding, then we might just be able to escape the cycles of violent marginalization and persecution that result when certain individuals or groups become too attached to a fixed sense of identity. Perhaps these artists' works can offer us a deeper understanding of those around us.

Questioning the notion of 'identity' is not about mere introspection with the aim of affirming one's own existence; a deeply important element of it is to understand the existence of others and project that understanding into the rest of the world.
Kentaro Ichihara
Artsits;
Bradley McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry / Emmanuelle Antille / Enne-Liis Semper / Nona Orbach
Masahito Koshinaka / Gou Watanabe / Pyuupiru / Miyako Masaki / Makito Okada

Kentaro Ichihara;
Critic of contemporary art and Professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
Has contributed to exhibition catalogues, newspapers and magazines such as Bijutsu Techo and Sprout. Publications include: Sigmar Polke - Disguised Sublimity; Mike Kelley - Anti-Aesthetic of Excess and Supremacy of Alienation; Gerhard Richter - The Painting of Schein (published by Wako Works of Art), and has also authored in Very New Art 2000 and World Artists Now! one-hundred very new artists in the twenty-first century (published by Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha). Has curated exhibition such as "After the Reality" (2004, hiromiyoshii).

Support; Israel Embassy / ARATANIURANO / magical ARTROOM