Exhibition Archives

6th Rencontres International de La Photo de Fès

*Megumi Matsubara participates in 6th Rencontres International de La Photo de Fès.

Dans le cadre de la Saison Culturelle France-Maroc 2012,
l’Institut français du Maroc présente:

La 6 ème édition des Rencontres Internationales de la Photo de Fès
Maroc: in and out

du 8 au 31 décembre 2012

Galerie de l’Institut / Galerie Kacimi / Musée Batha / Dar Batha / Le Jardin des Biehn / Complexe Culturel Sidi Mohammed Ben Youssef

Participants

Jean-Luc Monterosso Parrain de cette édition et commissaire
Simon Edwards Commissaire
Jean-Christophe Ballot Photographe
Scarlett Coten Photographe
Megumi Matsubara Photographe
Omar Chennafi Photographe

> Program

Sphères 5

at GALLERIA CONTINUA / Le Moulin

SPHÈRES 2012 with
– Città dell’Arte, Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy
– Dar al-Ma’mûn / Centre international de résidences pour artistes et traducteurs littéraires, Marrakech, Morroco
– Depart Foundation, Rome, Italy
– Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin
– Izolyatsia, Patform for cultural initiatives, Donetsk, Ukraine
– Mor.Charpentier, Paris, France
– SAM Art Projects, Paris, France

SALWA ALERYANI + SASHA ZUWOLINSKY, CORY ARCANGEL, DARREN BADER
SARAH BRAMAN, NIKHIL CHOPRA, JULIA COTTIN, AMY CROFT, YANN GERSTBERGER, ABDULNASSER GHAREM, ELIN HANSDOTTIR, VOLUSPA JARPA, ZHANNA KADYROVA, MEGUMI MATSUBARA, NICOLAS MOULIN, OSCAR MUÑOZ, MOHAMED NAMOU, EKO NUGROHO, JORGE PEDRO NUNEZ, YOSHUA OKÓN, LILIANA PORTER, ROB PRUITT, STERLING RUBY, WAEL SHAWKY, SLINKO, ABDELAZIZ ZERROU

solo shows
KADER ATTIA Kiteb
CARLOS GARAICOA L´Optimiste

special projects
MONA HATOUM Web
PASCALE MARTHINE TAYOU Les 4 Saisons, wall drawing

long term projects
DANIEL BUREN, LORIS CECCHINI, CHEN ZHEN, LEANDRO ERLICH
MESCHAC GABA, KENDELL GEERS, ANTONY GORMLEY, SUBODH GUPTA
LUCY + JORGE ORTA, MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO, NARI WARD, SISLEJ XHAFA

more info
> on galleria continua website
> on spheres exhibition website

Megumi Matsubara presents two projects that interact with each other: a series of photography A proposal for a textbook to learn Braille, English, and other languages and a site-specific installation A room for the colour blind.

POTTERY WORKSHOP WITH BLIND GIRLS / ARTBEAT CAIRO


In her latest solo show RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES in Marrakech (Morocco), Megumi Matsubara was strongly inspired by the relationship that she has developed with the blind children she met in Marrakech. Matsubara asked the children what they dreamt of in the night. Through those answers, where neither of them have visual control, she has woven a narrative that can be possessed by all.

The project included a pottery workshop with the children. On the occasion of Artbeat Music and Art Festival in Egypt, the artist brought this workshop for the blind children in Cairo. The workshop took place on 12th of October with 13 visually-impaired girls from Al Nour Wal Amal Association. The results are on view until 20th of November in the basement of the pottery klin standing in the garden of Darb1718.

The project was realised with a generous support of Darb 1718 (Egypt) and Pola Art Foundation (Japan).

Kime to Kehai: Texture and Sense

Assistant (Megumi Matsubara & Hiroi Ariyama) will participate in “Kime to Kehai: Textures”; a group exhibition combined with artist-in-residence at Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Japan.

Our project explores the parts of architecture as exhibiting pieces. A few selected parts of the House of 33 Years, a residence under construction in Nara planned to complete in Autumn 2012, will be built and verified by us in the exhibition space. After the show, those parts will be transferred to the actual site and be assembled to the house they should belong to. The project raises a question “Which is moving; people or architecture?”

*Megumi Matsubara will be in attendance on site from mid July until the show opening, as well as around the date of the workshop scheduled on 26th August.

Texture and Sense



The Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (ACAC) has conducted Artist in Residence programs since its founding in 2001. The theme for the 2012 year is “storytelling”. Artists are storytellers who describe and convey the present world through their art activities and productions by interpreting contemporary society from myriad perspectives and offering previously unforeseen values or posing challenging questions. Pieces are created clearly and logically, but sometimes a story world hides behind each piece, containing poetic beauty and completely novel ideas which transcend logic, which would otherwise remain incomprehensible by looking a piece’s structure alone.

In this exhibition, “Texture and Sense”, we focus on each piece’s subtleties, its story world in the backdrop. “Touch” suggests the intricate surface designs and patterns and corresponds with the word “texture” in English. The word “texture” holds many meanings; it can mean anything from “structure” and “composition” to “touch” or “feel” or “features”. The words of well-known 20th-century architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, “God is in the details,” tell of a strong awareness towards the most detailed textures.

Throughout the exhibitions, we hope you will sense the quiet story which dwells in the details of each of our artists’ pieces.

■Artists
Anni Leppälä
Assistant [ MATSUBARA Megumi + ARIYAMA Hiroi ]
NOMURA Makoto
HOKI Nobuya

■Exhibition
July 28 (Sat) – September 17 (Mon), 2012 10:00-18:00
Open every day during exhibition period / Admission free

■ Opening Event
Artist Talk by the Artists
July 28 (Sat), 2012 14:30-16:00 / Free
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Lounge

■Related Events

Anni Leppälä 
◎Lecture “Mystery of the visible”
Anni will discuss the state of photography in Finland in addition to introducing her own work.
August 12 (Sun), 2012 14:30-16:00 / Free
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Lounge

Makoto Nomura
◎Concert & Talk “Nomura Makoto / John Cage”
Nomura will hold a piano concert to commemorate the 100th birthday of the late John Cage.
September 5 (Wed), 2012
Doors open: 19:00 / Start: 19:30
◎Concert & Talk “Concert of Farm”
This is an original piano concert in which Nomura will present his own work in a space created especially by him.
September 8 (Sat) & 9 (Sun), 2012 Doors open: 14:00 / Start: 14:30 / Free
◎Concert & Talk “Piano of Vegetable”
It’s the concert made by the encounter of vegetables and piano. Final concert by the artist.
Capacity: 30 people (Applications accepted by order of arrival)
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Gallery B



Hoki Nobuya
◎Lecture & Workshop
“Lines and Borders”
After listening to Nobuya Hoki speak about his works and his pursuit of the distinct methods of drawing that characterize his work, we will experience his techniques for ourselves. 
August 19 (Sun), 2012 13:00-16:00 / Free
Eligibility: Junior high school students or above
Capacity: 20 people (Reservations required / Applications accept by order of arrival)
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Workshop Studio

Assistant [ Megumi Matsubara + Hiroi Ariyama ]
◎Gallery Tour & Workshop
In this workshop, we will experience Assistant’s exhibition space and pavilion while enjoying their work and the ACAC’s architecture.
August 26 (Sun), 2012 14:30-16:30 / Free
Eligibility: Open to anyone
Capacity: 15 people (Reservations required / Applications accept by order of arrival)
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Gallery A

Gallery Tour

In this tour, an ACAC staff member will navigate you through the exhibitions so that you can experience each one to the fullest.
August 18 (Sat), 2012 / September 2 (Sun), 2012 14:30-15:30
Reservations not required
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Exhibition Hall

RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES

 

RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES / DREAMERS DREAM DREAMS

– Did you dream last night?

This is the question that I asked the seven Moroccan children who are blind.
With this question, I was once rejected. With the same question, another time I was given a key to enter their secretive worlds.

They are studying English and computers. I joined their classes to know them. While talking, our eyes never meet. We constantly touch each other to confirm our mutual presence.

In one of the first English classes in my childhood, there was a phrase in a text book, “I touch you. You touch me.” Kids were laughing when they read this text. We don’t have a culture of casually touching each other’s body in Japan. This sounded like a useless phrase to us. But then what is it that tells you something is physically in front of you? While talking to them, I never move my eyes away from their faces. But my eyes begin to see through their physical presence. What am I seeing beyond things that are in front of my eyes?

In Marrakech, there is a belief transmitted over generations that seven guardians have been protecting the city. In both Islam and Christianity, there is a story of seven sleepers who have fallen asleep in a cave for more than 300 years. When they woke, they started telling their dreams. Their stories were treated as predicting the future; here is the ironic paradox of nostalgia for hidden memories.

Dreams only exist in your memory. Therefore, their possession is only limited to yourself. But once you start telling your dreams to others, through this act of storytelling, they begin to exist in someone else’s memory.

I know someone else’s dream because I asked for it.

“I never saw colours in my life,” one of the children told me. She explained the colours of the house she built in her dream. I asked, “How could you tell the colours of the house?”. She answered, “Because it was me who asked people to paint it in those colours.”

“My dream is my hope,” one of the children told me. She never saw anything with her eyes. She smiled and said, “I didn’t dream in the night but my dreams are my wishes.”

Where does this will to dream come from?

A boy told me, “I will be crazy if I remember all my dreams!” He said, “I usually get scared when I dream.”

With the first girl I talked to, I was very nervous. She could see a tiny bit and was wearing sunglasses. I could see her big beautiful eyes through the dark glasses. I had a recorder and a camera with me so I told her I had them in front of her. She said it was no problem. I documented our conversation. Later, when we met again, she said her dream became a secret. She told me the reason and I promised to seal her dream forever in my own memory.

She asked me, “Why do you ask about blind people’s dreams? What do you feel when they tell you?” I couldn’t answer this question immediately. I was curious to know how we would try to communicate in a territory where neither of us has visual control. I kept visiting, observing, exchanging conversations, waiting for the moment when suddenly things begin to unfold.

But the more I got to know their dreams, the more I realised the cruelty of my question. Sometimes they went deep down into their memory to tell me something, while at other times they tried to imagine their own dreams. The world I received an invitation to was a special terrain. In the world of dreams shared between us, there was no line I could draw between their sight and my sight, or their dreams and what I imagined from their stories.

To answer the question, I had to imagine their dreams like they imagine what I see. My dreams will begin to weave a pattern interconnected with their dreams. It is a territory where memory and future meet.

And here is what I feel: Rêveurs Rêve Rêves, as an architectural intervention to La Maison de La Photographie de Marrakech.

 

MEGUMI MATSUBARA

RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES is a Japanese artist Megumi Matsubara’s self-organised exhibition; seven-day intervention to La Maison de La Photographie, Marrakech. The project is warmly supported by organizations and individuals stated below and produced with the support of La Fondation Dar Al-Ma’mûn.

The exhibition consists of a series of architectural interventions, a proposal for a textbook to learn braille and other languages, an artist book, limited to 500 copies & numbered and 7 kinds of original postcards of morocco 2012 photographed by the artist.

Program:
– 15 June: Pottery workshop with the blind children, Berber Museum of Ourika
– 24 June: Vernissage, afternoon 13h00-16h00
– 28 June: Artist talk, book presentation 14h00-15h00
– 30 June: Closing, afternoon

With the support of:
Dar Al-Ma’mûn, IDMAJ (Cooperation for the integration of the visually impaired and handicapped, Marrakech), Université Cadi Ayyad, Berber Museum of Ourika, La Maison de La Photographie, American Language Center Marrakech

Special thanks to:
Salah Lahouircha, Khaoula Berry, Fatima Almzar, Khaoula Bahaqui, Safaa Ahroui, Sara Rostani, Meryem Boutmert, Brahim Tigharmin, Hamid Aitouznag, Aicha Jinoui, Younesse Oumghari, Abdelaziz Ait Mansour, Prof. Mohammed Bougroum, Hannah Barnes, Michelle Hank, Samya Abid, Ayoub Mouzaine, Béatrice De Bock, Omar Berrada, Yto Barrada, Carleen Hamon, Julien Amicel, Rheda Moali, Houria Afoufou, Kenneth Brown, Elena Prentice, Abdelaziz Zerrou, Michael Thorsby, Cameron Allan McKean, Hamid Mergani, Khalid Ben Yussef, Said Aozou, Mahjoub Ilzi, Mouhsine Beddad, Mohamed Assad, Patrick Manac’h

Press and communication:
Carleen Hamon / Dar Al-Maʼmûn:
<carleen.hamon@dam-arts.org> +212 (0)6 19 69 95 78
Said Aozou / La Maison de La Photographie:
<maisondelaphotographie@gmail.com> +212 (0)5 24 38 57 21

RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES

 

RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES

– Avez-vous rêvé la nuit dernière ?

Telle est la question que j’ai posée à sept enfants marocains non-voyants.
Dans un premier temps, ils m’ont rejeté. En reposant la même question, une autre fois, j’avais reçu la clé pour entrer dans leurs mondes secrets.

Ils étudient l’anglais et l’informatique. Je les ai rejoins dans les classes pour les connaitre. Tandis qu’on se parlait, nos yeux ne se sont jamais rencontrés. Nous nous sommes constamment touchés pour confirmer notre présence mutuelle.

Pendant mes premières années a l’école, on avait une phrase dans un livre scolaire en Anglais: « je te touche, tu me touches. » Les enfants riaient aux éclats quand ils lisaient ce texte. Au Japon, on n’a pas cette culture de se toucher le corps les uns les autres. cette phrase n’avait aucune importance pour nous, aucune utilite.
Mais alors qu’est-ce qui vous dit quelque chose est physiquement en face de vous? Tout en parlant à eux, je n’ai jamais déplacé mes yeux de leurs visages. Mais mes yeux commencent à voir à travers leur présence physique. Qu’est-ce que je vois au-delà des choses qui sont en face de mes yeux?

A Marrakech, il ya une croyance transmise de génération en génération que sept gardiens ont été protégeant la ville. Dans les deux cas, l’islam et le christianisme, il ya une histoire de sept dormants d’Éphèse qui se sont endormis dans une caverne pour plus de 300 ans. Lorsqu’ils se réveillèrent, ils ont commencé à raconter leurs rêves. Leurs histoires ont été traitées comme une prédiction de l’avenir, voici le paradoxe ironique de la nostalgie des souvenirs cachés.

Les rêves n’existent que dans la mémoire. Ainsi, ils n’appartiennent qu’à vous-mêmes. Mais, lorsque nous commençons à les partager, par le biais de l’histoire ou du conte, ils commencent à prendre forme dans la mémoire des autres.

Je connais le rêve de quelqu’un parce que je le lui ai demandé.

« Je n’ai, de ma vie, jamais entrevu les couleurs », me dit une enfant non-voyante.  Elle m’expliqua cependant les couleurs de la maison qu’elle construisait dans ses rêves.  Je lui demandai  « Comment peux-tu parler de ses couleurs ? » Elle répondit, « Parce que ce fut moi qui demandait aux gens de la peindre avec ces couleurs. »

« Mes rêves sont mes espoirs », me dit l’un des enfants. Elle n’avait pu jamais au travers ses yeux. Elle sourit et dit: « Je n’ai pas rêvé la nuit parce que mes rêves sont mes vœux. »

D’où vient cette volonté de rêver ?

Un garçon me dit « Je serai fou si je me rappelais de tous mes rêves ! », et il rajouta: « Normalement, j’ai peur quand je rêve. »

Avec la première fille à qui j’ai parlé, je fus très nerveuse. Elle pouvait voir un tout petit peu, et portait des lunettes de soleil. Je pouvais distinguer ses grands beaux yeux au travers de ses sombres lunettes.  J’avais emporté un enregistreur et une caméra avec moi, et l’avait prévenu que de la présence de ce matériel à ses côtés. Elle me dit que cela ne la dérangeait pas. J’enregistrais notre conversation. Plus tard, lorsque nous nous rencontrâmes encore, elle me dit que son rêve était devenu un secret. Elle m’en dit la raison et je lui promis de le sceller à jamais dans ma mémoire.

Elle m’a questionné: « Pourquoi demandez-vous concernant les rêves des personnes non-voyants? Que pensez-vous quand ils vous disent? » Je ne pouvais pas répondre immédiatement à cette question. J’étais curieuse de savoir comment nous allions essayer de communiquer dans un territoire où aucun d’entre nous n’a un contrôle visuel. J’ai gardé la visite, en observant, en échangeant des conversations, en attendant le moment où, soudain, les choses commencent à se déployer.

Mais plus j’ai appris à connaître leurs rêves, plus je réalisais la cruauté de ma question. Parfois, ils sont allés en profondeur de leur mémoire me dire quelque chose, tandis que d’autres fois, ils ont essayé d’imaginer leurs propres rêves. Le monde auquel j’ai été invitée était un espace spécial. Dans le monde des rêves partagés entre nous, il n’y avait pas de ligne que je pouvais dessiner entre leurs regards et le mien, mais seulement leurs rêves et ce que j’ai imaginé à partir de leurs histoires.

Pour répondre à la question, je devais me projeter dans les rêves de ces enfants comme si j’imaginais ce que je voyais moi-même. Mes rêves ont commencé à avoir une impression interconnectée avec les leurs. C’est un territoire où mémoire et futur se croisent.

Ce que je ressens est le suivant: Rêveurs Rêve Rêves, comme une intervention architecturale pour la Maison de La Photographie de Marrakech.

 

MEGUMI MATSUBARA

RÊVEURS RÊVE RÊVES est le travail de Megumi Matsubara, artiste japonaise, qui organise cette exposition: sept jours d’interventions à la Maison de la Photographie de Marrakech. Le projet est fortement appuyé par les organisations et les particuliers énoncés ci-dessous. Le travail a été produit avec le soutien de La Fondation Dar Al-Ma’mûn.

L’exposition se compose d’une série de interventions architecturales, une proposition d’étudier Braille et autres langues a travers un livre, une présentation d’un livre d’artiste, limitée à 500 copies et numérotées et 7 types de cartes postales originales du Maroc 2012 photographiée par l’artiste.

Programme:
– 15 Juin: Atelier de potterie avec des enfants aveugles, Berber Museum of Ourika
– 24 Juin: Vernissage, après-midi 13h00-16h00
– 28 Juin: Mot d’un artiste, présentation du livre 14h00-15h00
– 30 Juin: Fermeture

Avec le soutien de:
Dar Al-Ma’mûn, IDMAJ (Cooperation for the integration of the visually impaired and handicapped, Marrakech), Université Cadi Ayyad, Berber Museum of Ourika, La Maison de La Photographie, American Language Center Marrakech

Mes sinceres remerciement pour:
Salah Lahouircha, Khaoula Berry, Fatima Almzar, Khaoula Bahaqui, Safaa Ahroui, Sara Rostani, Meryem Boutmert, Brahim Tigharmin, Hamid Aitouznag, Aicha Jinoui, Younesse Oumghari, Abdelaziz Ait Mansour, Prof. Mohammed Bougroum, Hannah Barnes, Michelle Hank, Samya Abid, Ayoub Mouzaine, Béatrice De Bock, Omar Berrada, Yto Barrada, Carleen Hamon, Julien Amicel, Redha Moali, Houria Afoufou, Kenneth Brown, Elena Prentice, Abdelaziz Zerrou, Michael Thorsby, Cameron Allan McKean, Hamid Mergani, Khalid Ben Yussef, Said Aozou, Mahjoub Ilzi, Mouhsine Beddad, Mohamed Assad, Patrick Manac’h

Contact presse:
Carleen Hamon / Dar Al-Maʼmûn:
<carleen.hamon@dam-arts.org> +212 (0)6 19 69 95 78
Said Aozou / La Maison de La Photographie:
<maisondelaphotographie@gmail.com> +212 (0)5 24 38 57 21

Interventions to Maison de La Photographie

Megumi Matsubara is preparing a series of intervention for Maison de La Photopgraphie de Marrakech.

Residency & Show: Aomori Contemporary Art Centre

Assistant (Megumi Matsubara & Hiroi Ariyama) is invited to develop a new architecture piece at Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Japan, during Spring/Summer 2012. The artist-in-residence will be followed by an exhibition. The program focuses on a combination of residency program and the show, exploring the quality of ever-evolving dynamics in creating a new work.

Participating Artists:
– Nobuya Hoki (Painter, Kyoto)
– Makoto Nomura (Composer/Pianist, Kyoto)
– Assistant (Architecture unit, Tokyo/Morocco)
– Anni Leppa”la” (Photographer, Finland)

Residency invitation period: 15 May – 21 Sep, 2012
Exhibition period: 28 Jul – 21 Sep, 2012

*Megumi Matsubara will be in attendance in July/August.