Solo exhibition by Nelo Akamatsu
24 May – 23 June 2024
Vernissage: Friday, 24 May 2024, 4pm – 8pm
Artist-led exhibition walkthrough (conducted in Japanese with English interpretation): Friday, 24 May 2024, 6pm – 7pm
Mizuma Gallery is pleased to announce Polycosmos Everywhere, a solo exhibition by Nelo Akamatsu.
For young children, blowing on dandelions and watching the fluffy seeds float away, or witnessing a line of ants carrying food back to the nest spark fascination. As the children grow older, they begin to make friends. When they start going to school, their social circle, which was once confined to their home, expands exponentially. Every child builds their own little world from what they have seen and heard. Even as adults, there are as many small worlds as there are people, as natural environments and social structures vary depending on the country or region we live in, and people may perceive those surroundings differently. This applies not only to humans but also to animals. The same ants observed by children have unique sensory organs and form societies, creating a unique little world that only the ants themselves can see. From this perspective, rather than imagining a singular universe encompassing everything, it can be thought that countless individual worlds exist side by side, expanding infinitely.
In his writings, French philosopher Gilles Deleuze explores the concept of boundaries created by the rhythm of sound. He describes how frightened young child walking home alone in the dark at night finds solace in humming a song to himself. The rhythm of the song forms a safe territory around him, a comforting space separate from the fearful outside world, allowing the child to return home without fear. Whilst this anecdote serves to illustrate his philosophical ideas, Japanese culture also contains numerous boundaries established between the mundane and the extraordinary, such as the torii gates at Shinto shrines. One example of the rhythmic function of boundaries is the suikinkutsu, an Edo-period garden ornament placed in front of traditional Japanese teahouses. Before entering the special world of the tea ceremony, participants listen to the sound of water dripping into a ceramic pot sunk into the earth, signalling their transition into a sacred space.
This exhibition includes artworks that evoke such awareness when traversing these small worlds. The artist found himself intrigued by the boundaries that separate them, and wanted to see what would happen if he placed his artworks on the boundary’s surface.
Polycosmos Everywhere, Nelo Akamatsu’s first solo exhibition in Southeast Asia, features artworks from his Chijikinkutsu series, Chiji-ki series, Chozumaki series, as well as the most recent Coloured Planet series. His practice engages with a variety of media including installation, performance, video, sculpture and painting, extracting the rhythms that pulse unnoticed within our daily lives and transforming them into his works.
The exhibition will run from 24 May to 23 June 2024 at Mizuma Gallery, 22 Lock Road #01-34 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108939. The gallery will open from 11am–7pm on Tuesdays to Saturdays, and 11am–6pm on Sundays. The gallery will be closed on Mondays and Public Holidays. In conjunction with the launch of the exhibition, a vernissage will be held on Friday, 24 May 2024, from 4pm to 8pm. An artist-led exhibition walkthrough (conducted in Japanese with English interpretation) will take place on Friday, 24 May 2024, from 6pm to 7pm. To confirm your attendance, kindly RSVP to info@mizuma.sg by Thursday, 23 May 2024. A digital publication with images of the artworks and a text by Nelo Akamatsu will be available.
About the Artist
Nelo Akamatsu (born in Tokyo, Japan) graduated from Tokyo National University of the Fine Arts and Music, MFA in Intermedia Art in 2005. In 2015, Akamatsu was awarded the Golden Nica at the international new media arts competition Prix Ars Electronica held in Austria. As well as installations, his practice engages with a variety of other media including performance, video, sculpture and painting, extracting the rhythms that pulse unnoticed within our daily lives and transforming them into his works. His recent exhibitions include “Imagine. fantasies, Dreams, Utopias” (Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art, Riyadh, 2023), Takamatsu Contemporary Annual vol.11 Fragile/Calm Landscape (Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan, 2022), and Interaction: Souls in Synchronicity (Toyama Glass Art Museum, Japan, 2020). Nelo Akamatsu lives and works in Kanagawa, Japan.
