nca | nichido contemporary art

Place : nca | nichido contemporary art
Date: 22nd November – 26th December
Gallery open: Tue – Sat　11:00 – 19:00 （Closed on Sun, Mon and National holidays）
Opening reception: Thursday, 22nd November 18:00 – 20:00

nca | nichido contemporary art is pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by Janaina Tschäpe, entitled “Endless”.
Drawing on her own personal experiences and physical bodily expression, Janaina Tschape uses a variety of materials including film and photography, drawing and painting, offering us experimental depictions of the origin of life and a sense of harmony with nature.
This exhibition will be Tschäpe’s fourth solo exhibition at nca, showcases a selection of new drawings and video work.

About 60% of our body consists of bodily fluids, and their concentration is about the same as that of seawater.
Tschäpe’s first name, Janaina, means “water god” to Brazilian people of African descent. Having been bestowed this name, Tschäpe regards water, the sea, and their flows and currents as important motifs. Her works obey the ceaseless flow of seawater and bodily fluids that constitute vital phenomena for the human body. At the same time, this tendency mingles with the desire to control and direct this flow.
In biology, the process of exchange between cells known as metabolism, as well as the heredity and reproduction of these same individual particles, are thought to be the origin of life. The smallest possible units that possess these qualities are cells, which are also the smallest possible units of life. Tschape’s drawings seem to depict the movements of primordial, unicellular organisms like ocean plankton and amoebae, as well as the continuous motions of membrane-enclosed mitochondria and lysosomes that support life.
Above all, these drawings, which conceal bluish patterns that resemble seawater on their inside while the paper that hides them protrudes outwards, hint at the mysterious presence of some person who presides over the ocean and confers a sense of purpose to the myriad life forms that live inside it. This stance also recalls the attitude of the biologist who takes a scalpel to the membrane of these life forms in an attempt to shed light on their inner structure. Even as Tschape recounts to us the myths of the ocean, she also observes, like a scientist, how it harbors the origins of life.
The distinct appeal found in all of Janaina Tschape’s work lies in how it blends myth and natural science, tying a European rationalism to an exotic, mystical philosophy that is incompatible with it. Perhaps this quality is intimately linked to the fact that she was born in Munich to a German father and a Brazilian mother, and grew up in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Viewers who come face to face with her works – with all their mythical elements, the ocean, universe, shifts in the natural world, evolution of creatures, and sex – cannot help but recall the fact that human beings are just another life form that evolved out of microorganisms originating from the ocean.
-Takashi Azumaya

Artist short CV
Tschäpe was born on 1973 in Munich, Germany and was raised in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Currently she lives and works in Brazil and New York
She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Hochschule fur Bilende Kuenste, Hamburg and her Master in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Tschape’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout the world including New York, Tokyo, Sao Paolo, London, Madrid, Paris and Berlin. Recent projects include Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Paco das Artes, Sao Paulo, Jeu de Paume, Paris, Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio, University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa,(2004) The 59th Minute with Creative Time in Times Square, New York, The Centre d’Art a Albi, Tolouse(2003), The Fotomuseum, Winthethur(2003), The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid(2001), “Chimera” The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2008) Kunstmuseen Krefeld: Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany(2008), Contemporary Museum of Art, St. Louis, US(2006), Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya, Tokyo(2006), Kasama Nichido Museum, Kasama(2010), Busan Biennale 2010, Korea(2010), Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2010) Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo, Brasil, Contemporary Art Museum of Soracoba, Brazil (2012) and others.

Takashi Azumaya – Independent curator-
Born in Yokkaichi City, Mie Prer. Japan in 1968. Lives and works in Tokyo.
Azumaya received M.A painting from Tokyo University of the Arts. After working at Setagaya Art Museum for five years, he has been working at Opera City Art Gallery, and Mori Museu. Currentry he is working as an independent curator and a writer. Azumaya participated in various projects in Japan and abroad such as “ART/ DOMESTIC”, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo(1999), “OP TRANCE”, KPO Kirin Plaza, Osaka, Japan (2001), “GUNDAM-Generating Futures-” Suntory Museum, Tempozan, Osaka, (The exhibition toured to The Ueno Royal Museum, and othersix places) Busan Biennale 2010 (Artistic Director) , Busan, Korea, and others.