MATTER'S WHISPER . Group exhibition in a Buddhist temple in Kyoto

With the support of the Franco-Japanese Sasakawa Foundation, Daigo-ji Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, Japan Legacy and the Bureau du Design, de la Mode et des Métiers d'art in Paris. Project managers : Nina Fradet and Xavier Prevot Exhibition period : November 9 to December 3, 2023 Matter's Whisper is the encounter between four French and Japanese artists in the heart of a Buddhist monastery in Kyoto to create a unique immersive exhibition in a dialogue between video art, electronic music and traditional woodworking and glassmaking skills. This project is the culmination of work we both began in 2020, and which has been at the heart of our artistic research ever since. After successfully gathering several grants and support for the project, we need your help today to give it the final push it needs to see the light of day. Find out more : > Matter's Whisper Press Release > Daigo-ji temple website Who are we? Nina Fradet _ HINN STUDIO _ Instagram Visual arts and craftsmanship. Conception and realization of works in woodworking and Takezaiku & Xavier Prevot _ Instagram Digital arts and illustration - VJing, video performances in live shows For several years, Nina has been working on building a relationship between cabinet-making and takezaiku - Japanese bamboo basketry. As for Xavier, his practice as a video artist is oriented towards performance in live shows or as a VJ. Our artistic collaboration began with a chance encounter in Iceland four years ago, with the shared desire to bring our respective techniques together in creations combining traditional gestures and digital art. For both of us, the meeting of our respective imaginary worlds is a means of creating works that establish a sensory relationship with matter. The Project At the end of September, we'll both be heading off to Japan to Daigo-Ji temple, near Kyoto, a thousand-year-old site belonging to the Shingon Buddhist movement. There, we'll begin a six-week artistic residency at the heart of the temple, sharing the life of the monks who live there. During this period, we'll be working alongside two Japanese artists: Yuri Urano, an electronic music composer, and Keiji Okushima, a glass artisan. Together, we will create the works for the exhibition - woven wood sculptures, glass objects, video projections and musical composition - which will become the elements of an immersive journey through which visitors to the temple will be invited to wander. These creations will also be presented in the form of live performances during evening events. IMMERSIVE SCENOGRAPHY The exhibition is designed to take visitors on a journey through a living, immersive installation. Plunged into semi-darkness, the exhibition will reveal itself as it progresses, with zones of light along the way. Masses of large dried plants suspended vertically will in places alter the visitor's visibility, encouraging him to approach the exhibition through his senses. SCULPTURES IN WOVEN WOOD Nina's work focuses on the creation of large sculptural volumes in solid wood, woven using traditional Japanese bamboo basket-making techniques. The geometric patterns created by the intertwining lines of wood are designed to conjure up organic shadows from these frozen works, in dialogue with the video. Visitors are invited to wander around the sculptures, contemplating the woven material and its projected shadows. VIDEO PROJECTIONS Xavier works on a process of projecting images filmed in real time from fragments of plant objects, glass or liquid surfaces filmed under a microscope and then transformed by digital image alteration processes. The public will be able to observe this process in real time during performances, while witnessing the projection of these images, transforming minute details of matter into dreamlike landscapes. ELECTRONIC MUSIC Yuri Urano takes part in the project by creating a soundscape in the theme of ambient electronic music. His compositions, combining recordings of monastery sounds and traditional Japanese instruments, will accompany visitors as they stroll through the site. As well as composing music, Yuri will take part in the performances, improvising on the themes of his music in an instinctive exchange with Xavier's creation of video media. GLASS OBJECTS Keiji Okushima joins the project, bringing several of his creations in the form of hand-blown or hand-formed glass pieces. His works will be presented as luminous objects in their own right, revealing the rich colors and details of the material they are made of. Through this play of light, the glass will interact in space with the woven sculptures, and serve as a support for video capture. Who are the collaborating artists ? Yuri Urano _ Instagram Electronic music - soundscape composition and musical performances Japanese electronic music artist and composer Yuri Urano is an interdisciplinary creator. Her output includes electronic recordings and vocal arrangements, but also extends to collaborations, installations and augmented reality experiences. More recently, her work has also focused on ambient arrangements. Keiji Okushima _ Instagram Visual arts and crafts - Creation of works in blown and molded glass Japanese glass artist Keiji Okushima lives and works between the mountains and Lake Biwa, near Kyoto. His works are inspired by the richness of nature. He makes hand-blown glass pieces and molded glass artworks. Since establishing himself as an independent glass artist in 2010, Keiji Okushima has held solo and group exhibitions throughout Japan, and has exhibited in Taiwan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and America. Atelier Pivoto _ PARTNERS _ Website Cabinetmaking workshop in Kyoto, part of the GENETO Tokyo-Kyoto architecture firm Why Matter's Whisper? To speak of the whisper of matter is to attempt to show the subtle relationship that links the object to the hand that worked it, to the culture from which it comes, and to the rest of the world through the traces it carries within it. Composed in the spirit of Japanese aesthetics, Matter's whisper calls for a full appreciation of the irregularities of matter, the minute and the detailed.