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NACT View 04　Reijiro Wada: FORBIDDEN FRUIT

January 24 (Wed), 2024 - June 10 (Mon), 2024

  • Now on View
  • Exhibitions

FORBIDDEN FRUIT, 2023, tempered glass, brass, fruits and plants
Installation view at Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
Photo: Nobutada Omote

The National Art Center, Tokyo launched the NACT View series, a project utilizing the Center’s public area in 2022. Notable for its spectacular impact, the space was designed down to the smallest detail by the architect Kurokawa Kisho. Emerging and mid-career artists, designers, architects, and filmmakers will be invited to present a variety of contemporary works in the space, which resembles a public plaza where many visitors pass through or linger and enjoy leisure time.

Born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1977 and currently based in Berlin, Germany, Reijiro Wada is a sculptor working with metaphysical concepts and themes such as the universe, life, and time, through a practice of his own, using physical phenomena and dynamics. The artist has built up an international reputation through a series of works, including the ISOLA installation, which is composed of floating glass modules on water surface, VANITAS depicting an abstract structure on brass canvas with traces of fruits decaying, SCARLET containing wine as a liquid suggestive of the passage of time, and STILL LIFE suspending raw fruits between transparent glasses. At times, Wada intervenes directly in the environment using nature. His sculptures, characterized by their multi-dimensional disposition, have an effect on viewer’s perspective and the space where they are settled. Wada shows FORBIDDEN FRUIT in this exhibition.

Overview
Period
January 24 (Wed), 2024 – June 10 (Mon), 2024
Opening Hours

Follows the opening hours of the National Art Center, Tokyo

Venue

The National Art Center, Tokyo in front of the main entrance
7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8558

Organized by

The National Art Center, Tokyo

With the cooperation of
SCAI THE BATHHOUSE

Admission (tax included)

Free

Inquiries

(+81) 47-316-2772 (Hello Dial)

Artist Profile

Reijiro Wada

Work Commentaries

FORBIDDEN FRUIT

2024, tempered glass, brass, bronze, fruits and plants


Wada’s sculptural installation FORBIDDEN FRUIT consists of multiple layers of tempered glass, fresh fruit, and fruit trees. Fruits of various types projected from a human-sized space in the center of the work are trapped between layers of tempered glass and suspended in midair. With the passage of time, the succulent fruits eventually fall and decay on the ground. The work’s title alludes to the Tree of Knowledge, in the story of the expulsion from the Garden in the Book of Genesis. In addition to various types of fruit with mythological connections, including apples, grapes, figs, and pomegranates, the work also incorporates pieces of bronze resembling bombs or opium poppies. The radially arrayed tempered-glass structure forms a sort of transparent panopticon (panoramic surveillance system), and the void in the center of the structure hints at human conflict lurking within the paradises of mythology. Integrating elements of architecture and gardening, this installation crystallizes primal themes of life and time in landscape form.

About the “NACT View” Series

What Is NACT View?

NACT View is a new series of small projects made by young to mid-career creators working in a variety of genres, such as fine art, design, architecture, and film, that are presented in the Centerʼs public spaces. The name of the series is made up of the English acronym for the National Art Center, Tokyo, and the word “view,” whose meanings include “gaze,” “landscape,” “viewpoint,” and “way of thinking.” The Center’s public spaces are places that are accessed by a wide range of people, including not only visitors to the exhibitions, but also patrons of the facility’s café, restaurant, and library as well as those who are merely pass through the building. By displaying works in these spaces, NACT View strives to give all of the facility’s visitors an opportunity to become more familiar with contemporary expressions in a casual manner. Plans are also underway to hold related workshops and talk events.

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