pikapika

an amazing example of lightwriting which was part of the art festival in Kanazawa

http://tochka.jp/pikapika/

salon des refusés

Some decided to brush off old art history practice and created salon des refusés at www.public-image.org which presents emerging artists from Japan who obviously did not make it to Yokohama Triennale. I won't argue whether they should be there or not but one thing I agree on though - certainly Hiraki Sawa work Hako would fit Triennale's theme Time Crevasse better than most of the works presented. Hako is a six channel video installation which combains images and subtle digital animation. The title means 'box' and refers to the box garden therapies used by psychologists. In this form of treatment a doctor gives a patient an empty box and a set of miniature objects of which each one has a symbolic meaning. The patient is then asked to furnish the box with these elements, to create personal garden, which the doctor then analyses.

Hiraki Sawa, Hako, 2007, six channel video installation
(from top to bottom) 'talking to the wall', 'for a moment', 'fragments'

Similarly, Sawa builds such a garden himself - a blend of fantasy and reality with its own time frame set by the toy wall clock and then allows the viewers to experiance it as we would be experiancing someone's other memory or subconsiousness.
It's really a pitty that this year Triennale curators overlooked this work which was displayed in NACT as part of Artist File 2008 exhibition only this spring and the artist has already built up his reputation being part of few international shows such as EastInternational or Lyon Biennale.

To see Sawa previous works go to: www.softkipper.com