Australia - Japan Art Exhibitions Initiative: Gloss

Australia - Japan Art Exhibitions Initiative

			Nadiff, Tokyo 14 March - 21 April 2002 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 12 July - August 10 2002 Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide 15 November - 8 December 2002 Artists: Martine Corompt, Natasha Johns-Messenger, Larissa Hjorth, Akira Mori, Saki Satom, Candy Factory, Masato Takasaka, and Yasuko Toyoshima. Curator: Larissa Hjorth (Australia), Itaru Hirano and Eri Otomo (Japan).
			Gloss, the inaugural exhibition in the Australia-Japan Art Exhibitions Program series, opened at Nadiff in Tokyo on 14 March 2002. Young Japanese and Australian curators selected artists from each country to contribute to exhibitions and publications jointly called Gloss. Japanese curator Eri Otomo describes the creation of the project as a response to the rapid broadening of the forms of expression found in contemporary art, with a focus on exhibitions and magazines. Gloss, according to Otomo "is an attempt to explore the possibilities for contemporary art that arise from the combination of these two media." In Australia the exhibition was opened at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) in Melbourne from July 12 to August 10 2002. In conjunction with the opening at the CCP, satellite exhibitions were held at Sutton Gallery and the Brunswick Street Bookstore, both in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Gloss completed its tour of Australia in Adelaide at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) from November 15 to December 8 2002. Gloss was the final project in the 2002 series of Asian-Australian exhibitions and lectures held at the CACSA. Gloss magazine was edited by Larissa Hjorth, Tessa Dwyer, Itaru Hirano and Eri Otomo. Presented by the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Gloss was supported by Arts Victoria, Australia Council, Asialink and the Australia-Japan Foundation through its Australia Japan Art Exhibitions Program, Pola Art Foundation, and Nomura Cultural Foundation.
			Curators Larissa Hjorth Larissa Hjorth was born in London and currently resides in Melbourne. She lectures at the Victorian College of the Arts and Swinburne National School of Design. In early 2002 she completed a residency at Akiyoshidai International Art Village in Yamaguchi and in 2000 conducted the Australia Council Tokyo residency. Hjorth has had over ten solo exhibitions including nosegay: non popular sound princess (smell cinema at CCP and EAF) and over fifty group exhibitions including Sukima at Command N and Candy Factory collaboration at 2001 Yokohama Triennale. Eri Otomo Lives in Kawasaki. Eri Otomo is an independent curator and writer who has been involved in various projects and publications (both printed and on-line media): Portraits - Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, June 2000, KIGUTSU, Nagoya, 2002; Guidebook for Walking around Tsumari Echigo Art Triennial, N-mark http://www.n-mark.com/tsumari/index.htm, 2000; Manifesta 3, BT, September 2000. Itaru Hirano Lives in Tokyo. As curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Saitama, he has organized many international exhibitions of modern and contemporary art such as Matter and Perception, 1970, JŸrgen Klauke Phantomempfindung and Israeli art today. In 1999, he also worked with the 1st Melbourne International Biennial to curate the exhibition of the Japanese Pavilion.