Beginning at opposite ends of a long distance, the trajectories of the two artists resemble a series of paths traveling towards one another following parallel lines, passing as they reach out for ends that are simultaneously shared and separate.
The theme of the exhibition is communication through artworks and the resulting expansion of said artworks. For each exhibition, the artist will first send a piece of work to the other artist based in the respective city, who then interprets it and proposes a venue configuration. The plan is then shared among all participants. The exhibition space is constructed interactively, incorporating each artist's response, including adding new works and updates to the installation. By actively incorporating unexpected elements that arise between the artists and others, elements such as misunderstandings and discrepancies brought about by their interpretations, we hope that others will intrude into the work and that this will ultimately trigger an organic metamorphosis of the work that transcends the artist's original intentions.
Ikuhisa Sawada (b.1970, based in Tokyo, JP) is a photographer and the director of the alternative space "The White" from 2014 to the present.
Sawada uses the recording and mechanical properties of the camera to discover new ways of looking at things unrecognized by everyday vision. He has been working continuously on the "closed circuit" project since 2011. He makes large prints of photographs taken in public places (train stations) familiar to many people. He displays them in a layered manner in the exhibition space. As viewers walk among the photographs, the images interfere with each other. The artist attempts to create a new landscape by deconstructing and reconstructing relationships.
Significant exhibitions include "αM Project 2017 - Mirrors and Holes - Photography into Sculpture." vol. 2 (curator: Yuri Mitsuda / 2017 / αM / Tokyo), "space/guide/volume" (2021 / CAVE-AYUMIGALLERY / Tokyo),
"Export / Import" supported by the Royal Netherlands Embassy (2021 / The White / Tokyo and ps. K_o_t_ /
Amsterdam and the Royal Netherlands Embassy / Tokyo) a year-long series of monthly exhibitions titled "closed circuit, monthly vol.1- vol12" (The Gallery / Tokyo) and ”Biennale de l'image tangibles" (2021 / Paris).
He participated in "New York Art Book Fair" in New York (2018), “Hong Kong Art Book Fair” in Hong Kong (2019), and “SWAB Art Fair" in Barcelona (2022). In 2017, his photo book "closed circuit" was published by his label; in 2018, “substance" was published by RONDADE; and in 2021participated in “c site.3 : Other 他者” published by da大 in print.
Marc Nagtzaam (b. 1968, based in Hoofdplaat, NL) has been producing a body of work that is based on one main subject: the idea of pattern, the repetition. The repetition and the graphic structure of his works seems reminiscent of minimal and conceptual aesthetics. Most of Marc Nagtzaam´s drawings consist of darkly filled in graphite surfaces. Abstracted elements from architecture, graphic design, details from found photographs, or parts from previous drawings are starting points for every series of works. This source material is being reduced, with basic, elementary means: dots, lines and flat surfaces, to construct a sort of
structure.
More recently Nagtzaam started experimenting with digital collages. This resulted in the publications Zeichnungen (2015) and Farben (2022). Both artist books consists of a compilation of his drawings - or rather, ‘sketches of drawings’. He combined this material by printing it in different layers on a Riso duplicator at the Charles Nypels Lab in Maastricht. The result is a careful composition of previously unpublished drawings that became a new work in itself.
Recent solo exhibitions include: 2022: Texte und Bilder, Alex51 Gallery, Maastricht (NL) / 2020: Various, Elsewhere, Ongoing, [‘ka:jeta:n], Raum für Kunst, Berlin (DE) / 2019: Regular Features, art3, Valance (FR) and Regular Features, Archiv, Zürich (CH). Duo exhibitions: 2021: Dialogue (with Meryem Bayram), Fred & Ferry,Antwerp (B) / 2019: Regular Features (with Mark Manders). Enter Enter, Space for Books, Amsterdam and group exhibitions: 2023: 2003 - 2023, ProjecteSD, Barcelona (ES) / 2022: Unboxing Aspen 5 + 6, Estranyde la Mota. Barcelona (ES) 2020: Regular Features and Borrowed Space (curated by M.N.) ProjecteSD, Barcelona (ES) / 2019: 2021 One way or another (with Hans Demeulenaere), SMAK, Ghent (B) / Doppelgänger (with Hans Demeulenare). De Garage, Mechelen (B) / Minstens 1 ½ uur en terug. De Warande, Turnhout (B) / Kajetan Presents: [‘ka:jeta:n], Raum für Kunst, Berlin (DE)
Recent publications: 2023: Present, Roma Publications 438 / 2022: Farben, Roma Publications 416 / 2019:
Borrowed Space. Roma Publications 376.
ori.studio - Design and publishing.
Designers Maxim Cormier and Fan Xuechen founded practice ori.studio in 2016, and later publishing label
da-in-print in 2018. In 2023 the names were combined, and today ori.studio exists as a tensegrity like structure comprised of graphic design, research, and publishing, and its output consists primarily of an ongoing
series of book based projects.
