Opening: Manon de Boer & Shitamichi Motoyuki

Opening
Free entry

Kunsthal Aarhus is pleased to invite you to the opening of the exhibitions Down Time by Manon de Boer and A Ship Went Up That Hill by Shitamichi Motoyuki.
Guest Curator: Haeju Kim.

Artists and Guest Curator are present.
Everyone is welcome.

→ Friday, 03.06.2022
→ 17:00 – 19:00
→ J.M. Mørks Gade 13, 8000 Aarhus

Kunsthal Aarhus is pleased to announce the first solo exhibitions in Denmark by internationally-acclaimed artists Manon de Boer (b. 1966, the Netherlands) and Shitamichi Motoyuki (b. 1978, Japan). Their practices are put in dialogue with each other through the orchestration by Guest Curator Haeju Kim (Artistic Director, Busan Biennale 2022, South Korea).

Both exhibitions present works in which teens are the main character. The artists slowly observe young adults and things around them scrupulously, with a quiet rhythm that inspires new ways for perceiving ourselves and our surrounding world. Reflecting upon forms of identity, belonging and dreaming, the exhibitions invite us to pay attention to stories often overlooked in a busy and adult-centred society.

De Boer’s film series From Nothing to Something to Something Else (2018 - 2019) features young adults between the ages of sixteen and twenty who play music, dance and spend time together. In Shitamichi’s work 14 years old & the world & borders (2013 - ongoing), the artist has invited teenagers world-wide, from South Korea to France to name a few countries, to reflect on the notion of border and of boundary as they experience it in their everyday life.

De Boer's and Motoyuki's practices also engage with processes that highlight time and movement. By means of angles and filmic frames reminiscent of still photography, Shitamichi’s video series Tsunami Boulder (2015 - ongoing) present scenes that capture the flow of movement through static moments. Similarly, scenes in de Boer’s film The Untroubled Mind (2016), which was shot with a 16mm camera, appear almost like still images. Seizing moments of her son’s playtime through absence and silent pauses in downtime, the artwork brings to life hidden and understated moments in life that are yet vital.

Left: Shitamichi Motoyuki, Floating Monuments, 2014 – ongoing (cropped). Medium: glass bottles, map. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Right: Manon de Boer, Caco, João, Mava, and Rebecca. From Nothing to Something to Something Else, Part 2 (cropped), 2019, HD video (colour, 16:9, sound, 49 min.). Courtesy of Jan Mot (Brussels) and the artist.
Left: Shitamichi Motoyuki, Floating Monuments, 2014 – ongoing (cropped). Medium: glass bottles, map. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.

Right: Manon de Boer, Caco, João, Mava, and Rebecca. From Nothing to Something to Something Else, Part 2 (cropped), 2019, HD video (colour, 16:9, sound, 49 min.). Courtesy of Jan Mot (Brussels) and the artist.