Yusuke SHIBATA "BGM"

3/15, Sat. - 4/20, Sun, 2014
Opening Reception: 3/15, Sat. 6-9pm

*Open on Friday through Sunday 1-7pm and Monday 5-11pm
*The exhibition will open at 1pm before the opening reception on Saturday, 3/15.
The artists will attend the reception at 6-9pm.
Installation View
Works
Narration - a man who battles with the devil & a woman who come from outerspace without her memoty-
2014
single channel video with sound, cardboard, 17min.
handmade
2013
single channel video with sound, 16min. 51sec
Localized Shower
2013
single channel video with sound, pot, 7min.3sec.
夕景 Ver.01
2014
LEE filter, sound file
Press release
PDF

Tokyo, Japan – waitingroom is pleased to announce the solo exhibition, “BGM” by Yusuke SHIBATA from 3/15 (Sat.) to 4/20(Sun.) SHIBATA is a contemporary artist who has been recently attracting attention for his performance “Cleaning Disco” at Roppongi Art Night in 2013 and his solo exhibition, “Planet” at Art Center Ongoing. It is his first time exhibiting at our gallery, and the theme of his work is: “The escape from the ‘Good Story’ –the world interpreted to our own advantages.” He will be presenting his latest installations composed of videos and photographs that focus on the relationship between fiction and reality.

About the Artist

SHIBATA was born in 1980 in Fukuoka prefecture. After graduating from Musashino Art University Department of Oil Painting, he finished his graduate studies in the printmaking course. He has been actively presenting works inside and outside the country that center around the topic of ambiguity and uncertainty of the real world. His recent exhibitions include, “Dribble” (Centro Cultural Borges / Buenos Aires), “Planet” (Art Center Ongoing / Tokyo), and performance art, “Cleaning Disco” presented at “Roppongi Art Night 2013” in 2013. In 2012 he presented the solo exhibition, “Visual Planet,” (FAB Gallery / Alberta, Canada) and a group exhibition “The Fine Art od Schmoozy,” (Latitude53 / Alberta, Canada) and “The House that one must not enter.” (Koganecho bazar / Kanagawa)

The reality itself exists before our eyes as chaos that simultaneously carries truth and false.

SHIBATA’s works focus on the truthfulness and falsehood of people, objects, and events for he is interested in the fact that, “relationship between reality and fiction seems to be polarizing, but in actuality, the two are always two sides of the same coin.” He states that in the modern-day world, the boundary between truth and false is blurred, and the question of what is real and unreal cannot be established. For example, Hollywood directed the stage for the U.S. conference after the 9/11. SHIBATA also says that as one can see in the fact that same history can be told in various ways depending on the speaker, reality is restrained by people’s interpretations made to be most advantageous for them. Through his works, SHIBATA takes apart the tremble of truthfulness and falsehood that exists within reality, and the distance and gap between the distorted reality and the reality itself. By revealing that distortion, he creates a situation where “reality itself exists before our eyes as chaos that simultaneously carries truth and false.” What will we see in the depths of chaos in the real world through his works?

The Escape from the "Good Story" - the world interpreted to our own advantages.

One of the main themes of his works is the escape from the “good story” which represents the world interpreted in the way that is most advantageous to the speaker. He aims to create works that will be a breakthrough to deepen the understanding of the incomprehensible chaotic nature of reality as it is.

“In my works, I create a condition where a story is shared within the restricted area. This process of suddenly bringing a fictional story into reality is rather a coercive process, as if I’m hurling myself at reality. This story is different from the ‘good story’ that is unconsciously shared among us; it’s an isolated story that cannot be understood by all and carries the sense of uneasiness which enables us to objectively recognize the existence of the story. To escape the unconsciously shared notion of the “good story,” I’m trying to determine the range and the kind of relationship this story can establish by realizing the standpoint of it. At times, I approach reality as the way it is by capturing the climax of the encounter of the independent story with reality, which I strive to achieve by at times accelerating the story that is already within reality, shaking up the relationship between the coincidence and the inevitable of an actual event that took place, or writing out a conversation and trying to capture the moment when acting replaces truth. (Yusuke SHIBATA)”

Please come and discover SHIBATA’s installations of multiple medias, such as photographs, videos, and sculpture, that deeply cut into the real world.

Cooperation: Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya & Hongo, “ASIA ANARCHY ALLIANCE”
Satellite Project “AAA TOKYO ALLIANCE”

 
 

Left: PLANET (installation view), 2013
photos, decorative gypsum boards, fluorescent lights, light stands, woods, plywoods etc., dimension variable
Middle: Cleaning Disco, 2013, 60min., Performance, Roppongi Art Night 2013
Right: Prepare for yesterday (installation view), 2010
photos, frames, paper, cardboards, cottons, styrofoam, watercolor etc., dimension variable

Artist
柴田祐輔
Yusuke SHIBATA