Yuko Mohri: Moré and Moré / Studio Visits

Yuko Mohri: Moré and Moré
Yuko Mohri deciphers formal differences among objects of similar functional use across cultures and regions. The newly commissioned installation Moré Moré (Leaky): Variations is inspired by Mohri’s observation of water leaks in Tokyo’s subway stations. Starting in 2009, she has been intrigued by the subway staff’s witty implementation of such objects as buckets, tarps, and umbrellas to mitigate infrastructural failure. In Japan, where earthquakes are rather common, these ad hoc responses to smaller crises also reflect the agency and creative potential of ordinary individuals. Taking it as a point of departure, the artist intentionally constructs small-scale crises and corresponding repair mechanisms in her installations. The trickling water and quivering hose, both witty and unsettling, serve as metaphors for social and ecological dilemmas while underscoring the human presence.

Through the process of re-assemblage, Mohri also narrates stories about the circulation of local and foreign day-to-day products. Her appropriation of the ready-mades encourages viewers to deliberate over their utilization in regard to the use of mass produced goods.

The uncertainty and contingency in Mohri’s work are also intimately tied to her interest in experimental and improvisational music. Hence, sound is a common element in her work. The commissioned work Untitled (Rotary Speakers), on view in the atrium, is the artist’s first outdoor sound sculpture revolving around thoughts about energies arising from rotating movement.

Moré and Moré is organized by Damien Zhang, Director of the Aranya Art Center, and Curatorial Assistant Gao Liangjiao. The exhibition is on view from July 14 through October 13, 2024.

This exhibition is supported by the Japan Foundation, Beijing.

Group show: Studio Visits
Artists: Orawan Arunrak, Michelle Chang Qin, Erwan Sene, Hiroshi Sugito

Studio visits are an integral aspect of a curator’s work. Being present in the context in which artworks are created, and observing their development process, provides an intuitive and direct understanding of an artist’s practice. However, with the evolving materiality of art forms, as well as the growing uncertainty of global mobility, and rising rental fees due to gentrification, artists are gradually adjusting their conventional relationship with studios. This exhibition sheds light on this shift through four case studies, transforming the galleries into temporary spaces that exist between creation and display. Viewers are invited to step directly into the creative process of artists.

Thai artist Orawan Arunrak, who has traveled and lived in many countries, often transforms various sites (temples, food markets, and others) into temporary workspaces. Having moved to Berlin in 2016, Arunrak has yet to find a long-term studio. Taking this exhibition as an opportunity, she envisions a mobile studio composed of foldable furniture. Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugito perhaps maintains a more traditional approach to the studio. He brings both his workstation and the cardboard boxes he collects on a daily basis (a primary source of his paintings) into the gallery to reveal his thoughts and artistic process in the studio.

Chinese artist Michelle Chang Qin and French artist Erwan Sene extend their studios into urban spaces. Qin reorganizes local materials collected in Amsterdam and Beidaihe, addressing present-day environmental complexity, as well as questions of precariousness and artificiality. On the other hand, Sene finds discarded materials from the streets of Paris, collects sound recordings, and simulates his imagined urban ecology with fragments of the metropolis, inviting the viewer to zoom in on the forgotten landscapes of the city’s underbelly.

For this exhibition, the Aranya Art Center also opens Gallery 1 as an ad hoc studio to the public, inviting visitors to create, display, and exchange their works freely. At the same time, we present a selection of works by children who participated in our drawing workshops in the past.

This exhibition is organized by Aranya Art Center’s exhibition coordinator, Wu Yiyang, and curatorial assistants, Wang Jiaming and Jiang Ruoyu.

This exhibition is supported by Ambassade de France en Chine and Japan Foundation, Beijing.

Read more here.

Media contact
Liangjiao Gao, gaoliangjiao@aranya.cc / T +86 138 1143 1757