友達と – “tomodachi to”. With friends

Nakahara Masao
Gestell für schwere Gedanken, 2020
Photo: Christopher Nakahara

Some 8,400 Japanese people currently live in Düsseldorf—the largest Japanese community in Germany and the third-largest in Europe after London and Paris. In addition to numerous Japanese companies, institutions, businesses and initiatives, the Japanese influence is also evident in the city’s art scene: since the 1960s, more than three hundred artists of Japanese origin have completed their studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

The members of the Japanese community have established friendships with the people of Düsseldorf. In 2021, the Japanese-German friendship will also officially commemorate its 160th anniversary. In the context of this anniversary year, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf thus aims to celebrate friendship and invited five of its friends of Japanese origin to a joint group exhibition.

Each of these artists associated with the Düsseldorf Art Academy was in turn asked to invite an artist friend of his or her own to the group show.

Artists: Takeoka Yūji, Nara Yoshitomo, Murase Kyōko, Andō Yukako, Kinoshita Ryō, Karin Sander, Nakahara Masao, Anca Muresan, Magdalena Jetelová und Arakawa Sōya

The exhibition is curated by Alicia Holthausen and Gregor Jansen.

Images

Magdalena Jetelová
Essential is no longer visible, 2011
Photo: Katja Illner

Magdalena Jetelová
Essential is no longer visible, 2011
Photo: Katja Illner

Anca Muresan 
Der Riß, 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Anca Muresan
Der Riß, 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Andō Yukako
Wall Path, 2021 
Loan: Andō Yukako
Photo: Katja Illner

Andō Yukako
Wall Path, 2021
Loan: Andō Yukako
Photo: Katja Illner

Identities on Display, 2013
© Karin Sander, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Identities on Display, 2013
© Karin Sander, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Murase Kyōko
Winter Park (smoke), 2020 
© Murase Kyōko

Swimmer, 2016 
© Murase Kyōko, 
Courtesy: Taka Ishii Gallery

Photo: Katja Illner

Murase Kyōko
Winter Park (smoke), 2020
© Murase Kyōko

Swimmer, 2016
© Murase Kyōko,
Courtesy: Taka Ishii Gallery

Photo: Katja Illner

Nara Yoshitomo  
Dead Flower, 1994 
Loan: Private Collection, long-term loan to Toyota Municipal Museum of Art

Sprout the Ambassador, 2007
Loan: Preben Damgaard

Photo: Katja Illner

Nara Yoshitomo
Dead Flower, 1994
Loan: Private Collection, long-term loan to Toyota Municipal Museum of Art

Sprout the Ambassador, 2007
Loan: Preben Damgaard

Photo: Katja Illner

Arakawa Sōya  
Das Zentraal Theater – Boku Ha Unagi Da, 2021 
Loan: Arakawa Sōya
Photo: Katja Illner

Arakawa Sōya
Das Zentraal Theater – Boku Ha Unagi Da, 2021
Loan: Arakawa Sōya
Photo: Katja Illner

Takeoka Yūji
Absperrung II, 2012
Photo: Katja Illner

Takeoka Yūji
Absperrung II, 2012
Photo: Katja Illner

Nakahara Masao
Installation view
Photo: Katja Illner

Nakahara Masao
Installation view
Photo: Katja Illner

Nakahara Masao
Kopfbilder-Wolke aus 52 Teilen, 2019-2021 
Photo: Katja Illner

Nakahara Masao
Kopfbilder-Wolke aus 52 Teilen, 2019-2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Kinoshita Ryō, 
Let me love yellow, 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Kinoshita Ryō,
Let me love yellow, 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Kinoshita Ryō
Installation view, 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Kinoshita Ryō
Installation view, 2021
Photo: Katja Illner

Podcasts

Episode 1

Curator Alicia Holthausen talks to Konstantin Plett (Heinrich Heine University) about how Düsseldorf became a Japanese business location and how the Japanese community organised its own infrastructures.

Episode 2

In the podcast, Kunsthallen director Gregor Jansen speaks with the Japanese artist Nakahara Masao. He was invited to the exhibition by artist friend Nara Yoshitomo.

Episode 3

Curator Alicia Holthausen talks to Arakawa Sōya about his installation in the exhibition and the artist friend Kinoshita Ryō.

Episode 4

In conversation with Kunsthallen director Gregor Jansen, Anca Muresan talks about her friendship with Murase Kyōko and tells how her mural "The Crack" was created at the Kunsthalle.

Episode 5

Curator Alicia Holthausen talks to Kinoshita Ryō about his friendship with the artist Arakawa Sōya and he reveals his special technique of filigree, complex works on canvas.

Episode 6

In the final episode, graphic designers Gerrit Brocks and Nelly Nakahara present the catalog for the exhibition.

Video

Sup­port­ed by

Logo 160 Jahre Japan-Deutschland