VENICE.- Takahiro Iwasaki was born in the Hiroshima Prefecture where he is also currently based. This solo exhibition presents a selection of three-dimensional works created using everyday familiar objects including towels, books, and plastic rubbish. Characteristic of Iwasaki’s works is his fine handiwork by which he transforms his materials, such as creating steel towers from the threads pulled out of towels. These small interventions like making a stack of towels look like mountains in nature use the traditionally “Japanese” technique of “figurative representation.” For his works Iwasaki has selected motifs of both old and new buildings in the coastal regions of Japan, including a traditional shrine built above the sea, chemical plants that stand along Hiroshima’s coast, as well as oilrigs. From issues of nuclear energy and the development of resources, to chemical plants that despite supporting the high growth of the postwar economy had been a serious cause for pollution, Iwasaki’s works serve to shed light on the various challenges and situations confronted by Japan’s rural regions.

Takahiro Iwasaki was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1975, and currently lives and works in the same prefecture. He received his Ph.D., Art from the Graduate School of Arts, Hiroshima City University, and completed the M.F.A. program at the Edinburgh College of Art.

Iwasaki held a solo exhibition at the Asia Society in New York in 2015, and solo exhibitions at the Kurobe City Art Museum and the Oyama City Kurumaya Art Museum in the same year. He has also participated in international exhibitions including the 10th Lyon Biennale (2009), Yokohama Triennale (2011), 7th Asia Pacific Triennale (2012), 2013 Asian Art Biennale (National Taiwan Museum of the Arts), 8th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale (2014), as well as numerous group exhibitions including the Roppongi Crossing 2007 – Future Beats in Japanese Contemporary Art (Mori Art Museum, 2007), Happiness in Everyday Life (Contemporary Art center, Mito Art Tower, 2008), trans×form (Aomori Contemporary Art Center, 2013), and Nissan Art Award 2015 (BankART Studio NYK).

Meruro Washida, curator at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, was born in Kyoto in 1973. He completed the Master’s program in art history at the University of Tokyo.

Washida plans contemporary art and architecture exhibitions based on themes such as local communities and participation. Major projects include Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA (2005), Atelier Bow-Wow (2007), solo exhibitions for Jeppe Hein (2011), Shimabuku (2013), and Mitsunori Sakano (2016), and group exhibitions such as Kanazawa Art Platform 2008 (all of which were under the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa).