MENU
川辺 ナホ
Naho KAWABE
1976 Born in Fukuoka, Japan
Currently lives and works both in Germany and Japan
profile photo by Volker Renner
WORKS EXHIBITIONS NEWS STATEMENT CV

WORKS

  • Blooming Black
    2019
    Charcoal, string, light bulb, battery
    Collection : Boxes Museum, Guangzhou (CN)
  • Aufenthaltswahrscheinlichkeiten
    2019
    Single channel video, sound, 17min.4sec.
  • Solo Exhibition “In Other Words”
    2018
    installation view
    Venue: Konya2025(Fukuoka) / Photo by Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
  • Solo Exhibition “Save for the Noon”
    2018
    installation view
    Venue: WAITINGROOM (Tokyo) / Photo by Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
  • Eine echte Frau löst jeden Knoten
    2018
    Single channel video, sound, 49min.13sec.
    video still
  • Circle of Everyday Life
    2018
    Charcoal powder, concrete, thread, motor, lead, feather, tree, aluminum, wire, Dimension variable (charcoal 1350 x 1350 mm)
  • LOL Memory
    2018
    All I’s from the novel: The ship who Sang (Anne McCaffery, 1961), acrylic, copper wire, linen strings, binding glue, paper, 305 x 220 mm each
  • LOL Memory – The Ship who killed
    2018
    All I’s from the novel: The ship who Sang (Anne McCaffery, 1961), acrylic, copper wire, linen strings, binding glue, paper, 305 x 220 mm
  • Division/2010s
    2018
    Charcoal, lacquer spray, glass, 500 x 400 mm
  • Division/1950s
    2018
    Charcoal, lacquer spray, glass, 500 x 400 mm
  • Circle of Everyday Life
    2018
    Charcoal, lacquer spray, glass, 500 x 400 mm
  • Solo Exhibition “The Children of Icarus”
    2017
    installation view
    Venue: WAITINGROOM (Tokyo) / Photo by Keiichi Amano
  • Argon Navis
    2017
    Wood, iron, fishing wire, plastic, paper, clay, aluminum, acrylic lacquer, LED, Earthmeter, Dimension variable
  • Continent of Africa
    2015
    Paper, pin, Approx. 100 x 140 mm each
  • Continent of Africa (Ver. A) #6
    2015
    Paper, pin, 100 x 140 mm
  • Continent of Africa (Ver. A) #5
    2015
    Paper, pin, 100 x 140 mm
  • Solaris
    2016
    All I’s from the novel: Solaris (Stanislaw Lem, 1961), linen strings, glue, 650 x 200 x 150 mm
  • The Black Cloud
    2107
    Wood, fishing wire, plastic, paper, aluminum, acrylic lacquer, flashlight, 1500 x 300 x 450 mm
  • Metasequoia
    2017
    Inkjet print, 300 x 450 mm
  • Patterns of Concealment
    2017
    2 pages from the book, tin, charcoal, glass, 300 x 400 mm
  • wise men's stone
    2017
    A page from the book, acrylic, tin, 60 x 60 x 60 mm
  • Nachts
    2016
    Plastic, glass, mirror, metal, thread, wood, LED, Dimension variable
    Installation view, Venue: Ermekeilkasernen (Bon, Germany)
  • Breaking Memory
    2016
    Installation view
  • Breaking Memory
    2016
    Single channel video, 7min.52sec.
    video still
  • Routes of migratory
    2015
    Paper, pin, Approx. 180 x 180 mm each
  • Fall, float evenly
    2010
    Single channel video, 7min.22sec.
    Installation view
  • Restrict
    2014
    Charcoal powder, 1000 x 3500 mm
    Installation view, Venue: 8. Bremer Kunstfruhling (Bremen, Germany)
  • Expurgation
    2014
    A page from a book, tin, 150 x 200 mm each
  • Swimming the wall
    2012
    Charcoal powder, glass, wood, 400 x 500 x 50 mm
  • Curtain
    2010
    Single channel video, 9min.30sec.
    video still
  • We are the Strangers!
    2012
    Paper, linen, 150 x 250 mm
  • sealed! #2
    2012
    Charcoal powder, light, 1500 x 1500 mm
    Installation view, Venue: Markisches Museum (Witten, Germany) boesner art award 2012 winning work / Photo by Ina Riepe
  • Song for the forbidden zone
    2011
    Single channel video, sound 5min.30sec.
    Online performance, June 11th 2011 / FOLD Gallery (London)
  • Solo Exhibition “Open Secret”
    2011
    Installation view
    Venue: Shiseido Gallery (Tokyo)
  • Der Weg I
    2008-2009
    Single channel video, sound, 31min.18sec.
    video still
  • Wash Your Blues
    2007
    Single channel video, sound, 4min.
    video still
  • Sugarhouse
    2004
    Single channel video, 4min.
    video still
/37

EXHIBITIONS

NEWS

STATEMENT

My focus is on the materials used in artwork. Especially after Fluxus and Arte Povera, the applied material became a significant issue for visual artists. In the process of production, understanding, the social context of the materials was very important and the choice had to be careful and precise.

I am using charcoal dust for many of my artworks. Charcoal (carbon) is a “primary matter” and is akin to the energy of coal generated and stored over hundreds of thousands of years in the depth of the earth. Charcoal is made by cooking wood in a low oxygen environment, while coal derives from compressed trees and plants, each finding their source in sunlight. I employ charcoal powder, scattering it through permeable templates, in order to visualize the shapes of borderlines (silhouettes) and large images of black plants, flowers and ornaments. My charcoal installations are meant to be temporary.

By creating flower fields with deep black charcoal powder, disassembling letters into balls in space, in making paper-cut silhouettes from borderlines, cutting out all the letters ‘I’ from books and joining them together, transferring conversation to music, or pulling out the blue from a video, my art creations take in principal the character of "material-transformation". Therethrough I try to seek out an answer to the question: Where is the actual boundary on different levels, social, geological, physical and phycological.

The phenomenon “borderline” is a reflection of the various boundaries in our society.
In a way they represent the outline of an era. From this perspective, a boundary is a chaotic and oscillating space where dynamic ‘transformation’ happens all the time. I see my work in trying to grasp the contour to this fluid space with adequate materials.

(Oct. 2016)

CV

EDUCATION
2006

University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Diploma

1999

Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Bachelor

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021

Black and Green, TOM REICHSTEIN CONTEMPORARY, Hamburg, Germany

Solo Exhibition, Paper Gallery, Kosovo

2019

Blooming Black, Boxes Art Museum, Guangzhou, China

2018

Save for the Noon, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

In Other Words, konya-gallery, Fukuoka, Japan

2017

The Children of Icarus, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2016

delikatelinien, Ermekeilkaserne, Bonn, Germany

2014

piece, piece (with Jane Brucker), Port Gallery T, Osaka, Japan

2013

Observer Effect, Wassermühle Trittau, Germany

Observer Effect, Galerie du Tableau, Marseille, France

relation, unscharf, STORE contemporary, Dresden, Germany

2012

Blüthenstaub, Port Gallery T, Osaka, Japan

2011

Shiseido Art Egg / Open Secret, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2010

Most things happen in the interval, Port Gallery T, Osaka, Japan

2005

Helgoland, Gallery IAF SHOP*, Fukuoka, Japan

2004

dem Anschein nach, Einstellungsraum e.V., Hamburg, Germany

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022

Himekore x Sasakore Enjoy with your five senses! Contemporary Art Collection Exhibition, Susaki Machikado Gallery / Former Miura House, Kochi

New Collection Exhibition, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

2021

OUT FOR ART Jugend kuratiert, Haerder Center, Lübeck, Germany

ISOLA, Galerie Hengevoss-Dürkop, Hamburg, Germany

Artist in Quarantine, nachstpeicher23 e.V., Hamburg, Germany

2020

10TH, WATINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

LRRH_Contribution, ZERO FOLD, Cologne, Germany

Aufenthaltswahrscheinlichkeiten, 8. Salon e.V., Hamburg, Germany

2019

Aufenthaltswahrscheinlichkeiten / Stochasric Effect, The Blend Apartments & Artist in Residence, Osaka, Japan

Naho Kawabe + Neil N Alone, Posture Training, FLAG studio, Osaka, Japan

RADICAL TWILIGHT, Frappant, Hamburg, Germany

Naho Kawabe + Daniela Wesenberg, drawings and objects, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg, Germany

Fuzzy Dark Spot, Deichtorhallen Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Germany

2018

Transitons, Frappant, Hamburg, Germany

Landschaft. Gebrochene Idylle, Schloß Agathenburg, Agathenburg, Germany

2017

NEWSPACE, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

wie es sich ereignet – Naho Kawabe + Hendrik Lorper, Take Maracke & Partner, Kiel, Germany

2016

LIFESTYLES – KUNST aus FUKUOKA, JAPAN, WESTWERK, Hamburg, Germany

QMAC Collection Exhibition ON THE WALL, Operation Table, Fukuoka, Japan

Grenzenlos - Himmlische Perspektiven, Schlosskirche, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

The Material of Memory, Frise, Hamburg, Germany

ort-m migration memory, Frappant, Hamburg, Germany

FIELD of OUR IMAGINATION, Westwerk, Hamburg, Germany

2015

Von Wörtern und Räumen, Galerie im Marstahll, Ahrensburg, Germany

Sudden Change of Idea, Union Art Museum, Wuhan, China

presente - Interchange & Commentary III, Frappant, Hamburg, Germany

2014

IN SEARCH OF CRITICAL IMAGINATION, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

Notausgang am Horizont, 8. Kunstfrühling, Bremen, Germany

How Modular Is Now?, Künstlerhaus Sootbörn, Hamburg, Germany

Can I ask you personal question?, Sichuan University Art Gallery, Chengdu, China

Bien Merci, Galerie Le Couer, Cologne, Germany

Subreale Welten. Photography from Hamburg, Port Gallery T, Osaka, Japan

2013

… und Hamburg, was glaubst Du? Kunsthaus, Hamburg, Germany

ONE YEAR, Galerie Marstall, Ahrensburg, Germany

2012

boesner art award 2012, Märkisches Museum, Witten, Germany

Moving Surface, Künstlerforum, Bonn, Germany

Video Violence, Kunsthaus, Dresden, Germany

Thermal noise (The Bee to Bee Net, solo), FRISE, Hamburg, Germany

Out of Space, Gallery SUZUKI, Kyoto, Japan

Toi, Port Gallery T, Osaka, Japan

2011

Archive und Geschichte(n), Hamburger Kunsthalle/Galerie der Gegenwart, Germany

JCE: Jeune Création Européenne, with The Bee to Bee Net, Paris and other cities in Europe

2010

Versus Whiteout, with The Bee to Bee Net, Kunsthaus, Hamburg, Germany

come into sight, Port Gallery T, Osaka, Japan

2009

The Bee to Bee Net, Künstlerhaus Sootbörn, Hamburg, Germany

Twinism. 20 years partnercity Hamburg/Osaka, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany / AD&A Gallery, Osaka, Japan

StipendiatenArt, Johann-Friedrich-Danneil-Museum, Salzwedel, Germany

2008

The Bee to Bee Net meets hulahoop, Gallery hulahoop, Hong Kong

Einlandung, Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow, Germany

Wir nennen es Hamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany

2007

Lebe wohl. Suizidalität, Kunst und Gesellschaft, Kunsthaus, Hamburg, Germany

2006

Migration Addict, Sculpture squer, Singapore

Joint the dots, Ben Kaufmann Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Plattform#3, Kunstverein Hannover, Germany

2005

Wintergarden, Raboisen, Hamburg, Germany

Migration Addict, Warehouse, Shanghai, China

2003

Sweet Tune, Hotel Stadt Altona, Hamburg, Germany

2000

KROM, Setagaya Art Museum Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1998

World Wide Network Art, Asahi Super Dry Hall, Tokyo, Japan

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2019

15th Workshop Projekt, Boxes Museum, Guangzhou, China

2016

Project grant, the city of Hamburg

2013

Nomura Foundation Fellowship

2012

Wassermühle Trittau, Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Stormarn

boesner art award 2012, Jury's Special Award

2011

Shiseido Art Egg Award 05

2009

Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists

2008

Hamburger Arbeitsstipendium für bildende Kunst

Artist in residency, Salzwedel, Sachsen-Anhalt

2006

Artist in residency, Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow

2005

Leistungsstipendium für Ausländische Studenten, University of Fine Arts of Hamburg

2001

DAAD

FESTIVALS AND VIDEO SCREENINGS
2018

VOLTA 14, Basel, Switzerland

2017

Smart Illumination Yokohama 2017, Zou no Hana Park, Kanagawa

2015

Performance, Artville/Dockvillefestival, Hamburg, Germany

Transit. Über Medialität und Bewegung (kuratiert von Elke Kania), Via Pietro Garzoni 5, Venedig, Italy

2013

Schwanken und Verschwinden (kuratiert von Ludwig Seyfarth), Via Pietro Garzoni 5, Venedig, Italy

MEDIA MATTERS (kuratiert von Elke Kania) Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

2011

Online-Performance-Session, FOLD Gallery, London

INDEX 11, Hamburg, Germany

2010

Kongress für Anders, medibüro, Michaelis-Krankenhaus, Hamburg, Germany

2007

loop pool, Lounge for shortfilms, Oberhausen, Germany

INDEX 07, Hamburg, Germany

2005

Berliner Kunstsalon with The Bee to Bee Net, Berlin, Germany

Juan Media Festival, Inchon, Korea

2004

Stand der Dinge, Metropolis Kino, Hamburg, Germany

2003

International Short Film Festival, Hamburg, Germany

2000

Mukojima EXPO, Tokyo, Japan

PUBLICATIONS
Aufenthaltswahrscheinlichkeiten, 2019, Catalog, Japan
DELIKATELINIEN, 2016, Germany
Observer Effect, 2012, Revolver Publishing, Germany
CATALOGUES AND BROCHURES
Belinda Grace Gardner “Transitorisch: Strategien gegen die Vergänglichkeit”, 2017, tranccript Verlag
Lifestyles, Jan. 2017, Lifestyles Exhibition Executive Committee, Germany
ort_m (migration memory), Feb. 2017, Revolver Publishing, Germany
Von Wörtern und Räumen, Oct.4 2015, Stiftungen der Sparkasse Holstein, Germany
Kunst Frühling 2014, May 16 2014, BBK Bremen e.V., Germany
IN SEARCH OF CRITICAL IMAGINATION, Feb. 10 2014, Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
BOESNER ART AWARD 2012, 2013, boesner GmbH holdings + innovations, Germany
Moving Surface, 2012, ML Moving locations e.V., Germany
Shiseido art egg vol.5, May 25 2011, SHISEIDO, Japan
INDEX 11, Nov. 2 2011, Index, Germany
EXTRA 3, May 11 2010, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany
The BeetoBee.Net, 2010, The Bee to Bee Net, Germany
TWINISM, 2009, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany
WIRNENNEMES Hamburg, Oct. 11 2008, Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany
28. Hamburg Arbeitsstipendium für bildende Kunst 2008, 2008, Hamburg City, Germany
index 2007, Dec. 6 2007, Index, Germany
EINLANDUNG, 2007, Förderkreis Schloss Plüschow e.V., Germany
VierTakter + X, 2005, EINSTELLUNGSRAUM e.V., Germany
ARTICLES
Sachiko Shoji "New experiences and perceptions encountered at the museum", Fukuoka Art Museum Blog, Apr. 22, 2022, https://www.fukuoka-art-museum.jp/blog/36622/
Frank Keil “Visible behind the barrier tape”, taz, Jan. 23 2021, https://taz.de/!5745484/
Sachiko Shoji, Curator’s note “Local Prospects 4 / The Past and Present Within Us: Kazutomo Tashiro, “Ulleung-do” and Terue Yamauchi, “Crossing Tides” / Naho Kawabe In Other Words”, artscape, Dec.1 2018, http://artscape.jp/report/curator/10150995_1634.html
Rie Kiguchi “Tracing the transparent outline”, Ikebana Ryusei, No.704, Dec. 2018, Ryusei-ha institute
Exhibition information, POPEYE No.859, Nov. 2018, p.214, Magazine House
Shohei OGAWA “Suspecting a fuzzy borders”, Nishi-Nihon Newspaper morning issue, Nov. 15 2018
Shohei OGAWA “Showing Boundary as A Swinging Thing”, Nishi-Nihon Newspaper morning issue, Jun. 15 2017
Maren Kruse “Hinter die Dinge geschaut”, Kieler Nachrichten, Jun. 2 2017
Sachiko Shoji “We exist a lot in the universe”, REVIEWS, Bijutsu Techo, No.1053, May 2017, p.163, Bijutsu Shuppan Sha
Kyo Yoshida, review of the exhibition, The Children of Icarus: Will the “first contact” change our conscious of the bor-der?, TOKYO ART BEAT, Apr. 3 2017, http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.ja/2017/04/naho-kawabe-the-children-of-icarus.html
“The Children of Icarus”, Bijutsu Techo, No.1032, Mar. 2017, ART NAVI p.15, Bijutsu Shuppan Sha
Chr. zu Mecklenburg “Schweben und Schwingen“, General-Anzeiger, Jun. 1 2016
Hayo Schiff “Geschichten von Geschichte“, TAZ, Mar. 5 2016, https://taz.de/!5280816/
Cem Akalin, “Kunst und die Absurdität von Grenzen“, General-Anzeiger, Jan. 14 2016,
http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/bonn/stadt-bonn/Kunst-und-die-Absurdität-von-Grenzen-article1802898.html
Jens Asthoff “Von Wörtern und Räumen”, KUNSTFORUM INTERNATIONAL, No. 237, Dec. 2015, p.314
Akiko Sakamoto, IN SEARCH OF CRITICAL IMAGINATION, Rumor Project, artscape, Jan. 15, http://artscape.jp/report/curator/10095396_1634.html
Yoko Minami “Gullible Uncertain Things”, Nishi Nihon Newspaper, Feb. 3 2014
Hayo Heye “Wo Kunst Entsteht“, Mar. 22 2013, p.36, Revolver Publishing
Sabine Burbaum-Machert ”Grzymala erste Preisträgerin beim art award”, boener Kunstportal、Feb. 18 2016, https://www.boesner.com/kunstportal/boesner-art-award/baa-2012/monika-grzymala-gewinnt-ersten-boesner-art-award-christian-henkel-peter-pumpler-naho-kawabe/
Patrick Niemeier ”Beobachter-Effekt mit Blick von außen“, Stormarner Tageblatt, Apr. 2 2013,
https://www.shz.de/lokales/stormarner-tageblatt/beobachter-effekt-mit-blick-von-aussen-id28386.html
“Eine Welt aus Kohlestaub und Glas”, LN online, Mar. 20 2013,
https://www.ln-online.de/Lokales/Stormarn/Eine-Welt-aus-Kohlestaub-und-Glas
Laura Treskatis, Trittau inspiriert zu Neuem, Hamburger Abendblatt, Jul. 19 2012,
https://www.abendblatt.de/region/stormarn/article108327974/Trittau-inspiriert-zu-Neuem.html
Bettina Albrot “Kluger Kamerablick auf das Schöne“, Lübecker Nachrichten, Jul. 19 2012
Patrick Niemeier ”Ein Jahr voller Möglichkeiten für die neue Stipendiaten in Trittau“, Stormarner Tageblatt, Jul. 19 2012, https://www.shz.de/lokales/stormarner-tageblatt/ein-jahr-voller-moeglichkeiten-fuer-die-neue-stipendiatin-in-trittau-id197013.html
Shigeru Takashima ”A strong and ephemeral question thrown by the light”, Peeler, Jan. 2012, http://www.peeler.jp/review/1201osaka/
Ursula Meyer-Rogge “Metamorphosen Künstlerinnen in Hamburg“, Dölling und Gallwitz Verlag, 2011, p.209-216
Karin Schulze “Naho Kawabe“, MONOPOL, Jul. 2009, p.23
Aomi Okabe ”Jumping Suicside”, Bijutsu no Mado, No. 297, May 2008, p.37, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
Belinda Grace Gardner “Lebe wohl“, DIE WELT, Nov. 1 2007, https://www.welt.de/welt_print/article1319214/Lebe-wohl.html
PUBLIC COLLECTION
Boxes Museum (Canton, China)
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany)
Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Stormarn (Ahrensburg, Germany)
Sichuan University Art Gallery (Chengdu, China)
Brodtmann/Berenberg Bank (Hamburg, Germany)
ARTIST WEBSITE
VIEW PAGE