youki hirakawa

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Youki Hirakawa

Hirakawa was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1983. He was a video artist, known for presenting numerous monochrome films and serene installation works before the Covid pandemic. However, during the long period of the pandemic and quarantine, Hirakawa shifted his focus to creating installation works using various ready-made and found objects scattered throughout the space. With a touch of humor, he explored the redefined concepts of space and time that emerged from unprecedented changes, along with the interplay and relationships between objects. What unites these works is the artist's astute observation of the structure of things and his unwavering curiosity about the enigmatic nature of time.

Armchair and the Lightning/2022

During the quarantine, Hirakawa had a mystical experience at his home while sleeping at night. He witnessed a scene in the living room, cluttered with kids' toys, diapers, a kiddie pool, and a slide, all illuminated by the flickering of midnight lightning. Strangely, he also saw himself lifeless on the armchair in the middle of the room. This eerie moment was captured by Hirakawa himself, giving birth to the artwork titled "Armchair and the Lightning/2022." This piece marked a turning point in his artistic direction.

In 2021 and 2022, Hirakawa began incorporating resin-made water droplets into his work, drawing inspiration from commercial photography and product packaging. These water droplets are commonly used to portray product freshness, but in Hirakawa's creations, they take on a symbolic role, representing the perpetual preservation of objects' freshness. This artistic choice resonated with his perception of time during the extended quarantine period, where time seemingly stood still, yet aging continued, and the artist's own freshness gradually faded away. The artwork becomes a symbolic act, a way to confront the unfathomable nature of time, which remains unconquerable and omnipresent, despite our inability to fully comprehend it.

Selected Solo Exhibitions  

22 D.F.N | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP
22 Untitled Tear | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, JP
21 a film by | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, JP
19 Years Later | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP
19 Rêve d’artiste La Magie à travers les âges" | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, JP
18 Nitrate Dreams | Pola Art Museum, Hakone, JP
18 A River Under Water | Anima Mundi, St.Ives, UK
18 Two Hearts Lost in the Darkness Two Eyes to not See | Carme Brescia, Brescia, IT
18 Until It Becomes a Film Sing in a Loud Voice | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, JP
17 The Better Way Back to the Soil | Double Square Gallery, Taipei, TW
17 Shadow of Film | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP
16 Secret Fire | Anima Mundi, St Ives, UK  
15 Into a Horizon | White Rainbow, London, UK  
15 Close Your Eyes | Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
 15 Same Places, Different Phases -Energy, Matter and Time | Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig, DE 
15 Unseen/Unscene | Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel, DE 
14 In Remembrance of Disappearance | MOT/ARTS, Taipei, TW
 14 Event Horizon | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP 
13 Until You Fall into a Deep Sleep | Minokamo City Museum, JP  
13 Silence of Nature / Nature of Silence | Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE  
12 Timeless and Silentness | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP
11 Slight Signs of Something | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP
 09 Unlinked Images | Standing Pine, Nagoya, JP

Selected Group Exhibitions and Screenings

23 Introduction | Standing Pine, Tokyo, JP
23 Hualien International Stone Sculpture Festival | Hualien Stone Sculpture Museum, Hualien, TW
23 Earth, Water, Wind, Fire...and Emptiness | Tikotin Museum, Haifa, IL
23 Next Art Tainan | Tainan, TW
22 From Sky to Sea | Sheffield Museum, Sheffield, UK
21 LUMIERE | Durham Cathedral, Durham, UK
21 Streaming Heritage 2021 spring | Nagoya, JP
21 Imagined Boundaries | Allobu, Obu, JP
20 Beyond Ourselves | Online Exhibition, Anima Mundi, St.Ives, UK
20 Surviving | PSG Art Gallery, Silpakorn University, TH
20 Ode to a Nightingale | Online Exhibition, Anima Mundi, St.Ives, UK
20 Spirit and Endeavours | Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, UK
20 Ephemeral Scenes | Double Square Gallery, Taipei, TW
20 State of Motion 2020: Rushes of Time | National Archives of Singapore, SG
19 65th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen | Oberhausen, DE
19 Painful Happy | C-LAB, Taipei, TW
19 Aichi Art Chronicle 1919-2019 | Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi, JP
19 Count the Waves - Visualizing Invisibility | The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, JP
19 11th Short Waves Festival | Poznan, PL
19 48th International Film Festival Rotterdam | Rotterdam, NL
18 Greater Taipei Biennial of Contemporary Arts | Our Museum, Taipei, TW
18 Ephemeral Matter | Kino Wolf, Berlin, DE
18 Buchstabenfest | Zollamt, Bad Radkersburg, AT
 17 Digital Art Festival Taipei | Taipei, TW
16 Yokyerler/Nonspaces | AKBANK SANAT, Istanbul, TR 
16 Empathy: Sensory Awakening | MOEA Taichung Software Park, Taichung, TW
 16 Domani - The Art of Tomorrow | National Art Center, Tokyo, JP
 16 International Contemporary Art Festival "Kaunas in Art" | Kaunas, LT  
16 Open Theater 2016 | Kanagawa Arts Theater, Yokohama, JP  
16 Pola Museum Annex 2016 | Pola Museum Annex, Tokyo, JP
14 Nuit Blanche London | White Rainbow, London, UK 
14 Sapporo International Art Festival | Sapporo, JP 
 14 Daily Reflections | Total Museum of Contemporary Art, KR 
13 Aichi Triennale 2013 | Nagoya and Okazaki, JP 
13 Stranger | National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, TW
 13 Subterranean Echoes | Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin, DE 
 13 Twilight and we have something in mind | Hsin Chu Art Museum the Art Park, TW
 12 Aichi Art Program | Okazaki-city, JP
 12 Moving | Kyoto Cinema, Kyoto Arts Center, JP
 12 Ko-In -lights, shadows, time | Okazaki Mind-scape Museum, Okazaki, JP
 12 In Our Backyards | Werkschau/Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE 
12 Now&After | Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Vyatka Art Museum, RU
11 Outer's Void | Nagoya City Archives, JP
 11 8th Busan International Video Art Festival | Space Bandee, KR
 11 Media Art Biennale WRO "Nippon Conception" | Wro Art Center, PL
 11 European Media Art Festival "Nippon Conception” | Filmtheater Hasetor, Osnabrueck, DE
10 Raster Noton Japan Tour | Club Mago, Nagoya, JP 
10 Aichi Triennale 2010 "The Nakagawa Canal" | Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, JP
10 Cinesonika | Simon Fraser University Surrey Theatre, CA 
09 Electrofringe | Playhouse, Newcastle, AU 
08 Day Dream | Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, JP 
08 12th Japan Media Art Festival | National Art Center Tokyo, Tokyo, JP  

Awards and Residencies

20- Associate Professor | Aichi University of the Arts, JP
15-16 Overseas Research Fellow | Japanese Government Oversea Research Program, Agency for Cultural Affairs, JP
15 Case Sparse | Malonno, IT 
14-15 Resident Artist | Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, DE
 13-14 Overseas Research Fellow | Pola Art Foundation, JP 
13-14 Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik | Berlin, DE
11-12 Fellow | Akademie Schloss Solitude, DE
08-11 Research Associate | Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences, JP 
08 M.A | Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences, JP

Bibliography