2023 Exhibition [Spring / Summer]OHMAKI Shinji – Before and After the Horizon

In a first for the Tohoku region, the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art is delighted to present for spring/summer 2023 an exhibition by Ohmaki Shinji (b. 1971).

Ohmaki is the creator of myriad, magical installations and works of public art that transform entire spaces in dynamic fashion. He has also presented numerous works across Asia, Europe and elsewhere that reflect the climate and culture, and the memories, of the location.

Undertaking some research around Aomori ahead of the exhibition, in the Onizawa district of Hirosaki, Ohmaki came across an old kashiwa oak tree where legend has it a demon once sat. He went on to employ kashiwa leaves to symbolic effect in works bookending the exhibition. This involved taking the appearance of kashiwa leaves, which do not fall until new leaves have appeared in spring, and creating works that superimpose that form on the business of human life and death, in which one generation passes to the next.

A ball of light silently falling, a forest echoing with the sound of a woodpecker, an ocean of huge rolling waves, a space enveloped in the light and colors of spring seemingly springing from the white of snow… thus will visitors journey through the individual realms crafted by Ohmaki in a wealth of works that start with a single oak leaf.

This exhibition offers us the chance to physically experience the fluctuating spatial and temporal boundaries and invisible force of gravity that usually elude our senses, and turn our thoughts to different strata of time.
Story after story of rebirth and creation spun by Ohmaki in a museum where the cumulative memories of Hirosaki and its people have been reborn as exhibition space, are sure to open up new vistas in the hearts and minds of viewers.