Planet of Rabbits

For første gang i Danmark er det muligt at opleve en soloudstilling med den unge, japanske samtidskunstner Toshie Takeuchi. Udstillingen PLANET OF RABBITS reflekterer nuanceret over børns mentalitet og forholdet til deres forældre. Inspireret af klassiske eventyr, japansk samtidslitteratur og egne barndomserindringer har Toshie Takeuchi arbejdet med dette kunstneriske projekt siden 2004.
Med sine panoramiske digitale montager åbner Toshie Takeuchi for et fascinerende, visuelt univers i grænselandet mellem fantasi og virkelighed. På én og samme tid et både fortryllende og foruroligende sted for børn, hvor de kun i form af fantasi - og udtryksfulde kaniner, har muligheden for at udfolde deres fælles barndom. I dette særprægede univers, denne refleksion af virkelighedens verden, trækker børnene sig tilbage efter mødet med de voksne og deres såkaldte fornuftssfære, som blot efterlod dem forvirrede med ubesvarede spørgsmål.

Toshie Takeuchi er uddannet ved University of the Arts London, London College of Communication. Hun har udstillet på museer og gallerier i England, Tyskland, Frankrig, USA og Japan, bl.a. Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt, Tyskland, og International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester, NY, USA. I dag bor og arbejder Toshie Takeuchi i Japan og er en internationalt efterspurgt kunstner.

Fernisering: fredag d. 31. august kl. 16 - 18
Udstillingen åbnes af H.E. den japanske ambassadør Hr. Masaki Okada.
Toshie Takeuchi vil være til stede.

Seminar: lørdag den 8. september kl. 14.
Seminariet omhandler tendenserne i den japanske samtidskultur med udgangspunkt i Toshie Takeuchis fotografiske kunstværker ved Anne Mette Laursen, Mag.art., lektor i japansk Marie Roesgaard, Institut for Tværkulturelle og Regionale Studier og Gunhild Borggreen, amanuensis ved Institut for Kunst og Kunstvidenskab. 

Udstillingen er støttet af Århus Festuge, Kunstrådets internationale billedkunstudvalg, Vilhelm Kiers Fond, XPRINT og EPA Foods

Artist statement:
'All grown-ups started off as children (though few of them remember).'
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book, THE LITTLE PRINCE

I explore the world drifting confusion around the border between reality and fantasy and I express feelings and memories that could not be verbalized. In this series, PLANET OF RABBITS, I practice these particularly in issues of children's mentality and relationship with their parents.
When I lived in a council estate in London, I have met many children in my everyday life. I have started this project, because I realized how interested in watching them. Also I have been interested in what was the key factor of the dramatically increased social problems which involve children and which were caused by youths. I consider that probably distance or poor communication between children and their parents seemed to be argued. As reality and fantasy seems to act like a mirror, I believe that the mirror like relationship also exists in the relationship between children and grown ups (especially their parents).
The images portray delicate and complex scene from novels, Grimm's Fairy Tales, clipping from newspapers, and from my childhood memories. The symmetrically set up background symbolizes that reality and fantasy co-exist in our world. The pumpkins are used as metaphors of un-verbalized feelings and children's sign. To me, a rabbit is an evocative fanciful symbol. When I was a child, I was told rabbits lived in the moon. I could see the figures of two rabbits pounding sticky rice in a mortar to make mochi, a special Japanese food eaten especially for New Years celebration. Even now, although I have grown up, I can still see the figures on the surface of the moon. Therefore, I used the rabbit as a metaphor of 'childishness.'

Toshie Takeuchi 2007.