International Dialogue

biscuit gallery, a contemporary art commercial gallery located on Shibuya Ward’s Shoto Culture Street (Shibuya Ward, Shoto), will hold the group exhibition “International Dialogue” starting May 18, 2024.
With the cooperation of curator Jens Petersen, we will introduce the “dialogue” between Japanese and overseas artists through the exhibition.
The exhibition period runs from May 18, 2024 (Saturday) to June 9, 2024 (Sunday).
This exhibition will also be held simultaneously at biscuit gallery karuizawa (Karuizawa).

An opening reception will be held on May 18 (Saturday) from 16:00-19:00.

Preview: May 17 (Friday) 16:00-19:00

Opening Reception: May 18 (Saturday) 16:00-19:00
※The opening reception will be attended by curator Jens Petersen, artists Hanna Zelleke Collin, Rentaro Kawamoto, Sawako Nasu, Emumoto, andTakuro Goto. ※Anyone is welcome to attend.

We are living in an era when humanity is rejecting science and humanism. Those in power are unable to take appropriate measures against man-made climate change and do not understand that oppression and violence only generate further violence. Polarization between groups with different values is expanding, and arguments based on intellect are being ignored.

In such circumstances, it is essential to cultivate spaces where people with different backgrounds can interact and get to know one another. The art world should welcome all voices, explore new ideas, and challenge the status quo.

In International Dialogue, four Japanese artists are paired with four foreign artists. Each pairing shares commonalities in form of expression, media, style, motif, and motivation. The goal is to create dialogue between their respective works. What can we learn when diversity meets? How do artists from different cultural backgrounds approach the same questions? The three floors of biscuit gallery Shibuya and the space in Karuizawa provide four different venues for paired works to engage in dialogue.

On the first floor in Shibuya, there is a conversation between Korean and Japanese threads; on the second floor, expressive figurative paintings from Tokyo welcome their counterparts from Mexico; on the top floor, abstract paintings from Sweden and Kyushu engage in philosophical discussion. At the Karuizawa gallery, landscape paintings from Yamagata and Taiwan share memories.

Observe how brushstrokes and colors resonate with one another. Listen to the faint whispers of ambiguously depicted figures. Feel the warmth of interconnected textiles. And imagine a world where all humans seek to understand one another on equal ground.
Jens Petersen

Curator Profile

Jens Petersen

Jens Petersen is a Swedish art enthusiast and collector who has lived in Tokyo for the past 15 years. During the pandemic, his growing interest in art led him to begin studying curation, including taking courses at Node Center in Berlin.
International Dialogue is his first exhibition.

“Through curation, I want to increase opportunities for overseas artists to exhibit their work in Japan and help Japanese artists display their work overseas. For International Dialogue, I decided to pair four foreign artists who have never exhibited in Japan with four domestic artists who are rarely seen in the overseas art scene.”

“The pairs are categorized into textiles, figurative, abstract, and landscape painting, each displayed in one different space. While it may appear as four separate exhibitions, I want visitors to see the connections between them. First, through the exhibition’s title, dialogue progresses between the works. Second, it is art that questions what the human eye perceives. I am drawn to such works. Layered paintings that change their nature according to light, works that take viewers beyond the canvas—literally into physical space or into the realm of the mind—or works whose meaning is not immediately apparent. I believe all eight artists possess this quality.”

Jens Petersen

 

Participating Artists

biscuit gallery (Shibuya) Participating Artists

Seongeun Lee
Rentaro Kawamoto
Elizabeth Ibarra
Sawako Nasu
Hanna Zelleke Collin
Emumoto

biscuit gallery karuizawa (Karuizawa) Participating Artists

Fu Ning
Takuro Goto

 

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