Noritoshi Hirakawa originally studied Applied Sociology and works today with photography, film, installation and performance. His works have been described as erotic, intimate and challenge mainstream views of sexuality as well the assumption that male desire is inherently exploitative, objectifying and oppressive towards women. The artist believes that human activities forms the culture in which we live today and proposes to push the boundaries of perception in order to expand the culture. In particular, he identifies the camera as "a very good excuse to connect men's and women's desires".
Seeking a Light
Since opening in 1904, the subway system has been the life support system of New York City. Everyday, around 6 million people pass through its infrastructure, moving within 656 miles of tracks and through 468 stations.
Living here for fifteen years, I've noticed that New Yorkers have to rely on instinct and intuition in order to deal with this system. There is no schedule and no one can predict when the trains will arrive. Without a system announcing the train's arrival, like the mechanical signs found throughout the world, one is impelled to focus on the shadows of the tunnel awaiting the future.
The live act of waiting is tense yet spiritual. On the edge of tracks, people are meditative, perceiving a premonition from the darkness of the tunnel. They seek the lights of the subway car, like one looks into a spiritual palace expecting someone to appear in the light.
'Seeking a Light' was shot in the summertime of 2005 in various New York City subway station platforms the moment the trains were coming. One image is of the person waiting and the other image is the moment of light approaching.
Noritoshi Hirakwa
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Streams By The Wind
- Heat Stroke
By Noritoshi Hirakawa
Heat Stroke is the second installment in a series of slide projections titled 'Streams By The Wind'. It consists of 80 images produced as slides and viewed in a narrative progression (through a slide projector with carousel 80 slides) without sound. Each installment in the series is an interaction between a man and a woman. These characters have conflicting traits, and are not restricted to predetermined dispositions. There is no such definition of good or evil, as is customary in much literature and film, as most real humans are much more complex than this. Each character is completely subjective, switching from what would be deemed good to acts that may be regarded as evil.
Noritoshi's goal with this project was to create new narratives that deviate from those in modern film and literature. He was interested in creating multidimensional characters that at each moment are in a dilemma as to what to do, and their actions are not character traits that fit a mold, but reaction to specific circumstance.
The title, 'Streams By The Wind' is in reference to this overall theme. The characters are caught up in the moment, as if autumn leaves caught in the gusts of wind, blown by the breeze, and their reactions are barely manageable.
'Heat Stroke' is the story of a father and a daughter. In the middle of the night the father, played by Michael Nader, is woke by the sounds of his daughter, Simone Collins. He thinks his daughter is sick, and goes to her room to help?
This slide projected installation was exhibited at Kunsthalle Wien in 2003 ( his work has never been exhibited at any commercial gallery or museum in US).
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Noritoshi Hirakawa
Subject / the fruitful wavers
April 16th, May 21th 2005
Through a series of photographs, Subject aims to shift perceptions of not only architectural photography, but architecture as a whole Subject illustrates that at times the true subject is not the building, nor structure nor assumed use of the space. Instead, the true subject is the humans and their individual and group interactions.
Noritoshi Hirakawa had taken these ideas of his to Thom Mayne, architect and founder of Morphosis, and discussed them further. It was at this point that Mayne proposed to collaborate with Hirakawa on the architectural photography project known as Subject.
The Graduate House in the University of Toronto provided the perfect composition in which the interaction of humans could be the main focus. The narrative nature of the photographs in Subject are supported by the psychological drama between the humans in the space. Humans incorporate the architecture as a part of their daily lives and Subject shows this true use of architecture in a series of fourteen duraflex prints (75×100 cm). Hirakawa and Mayne illustrate and believe that the consideration of human appropriation is utterly important not only in the photography, but in the creation of architecture as well.
Solo exhibitions
2014
Infinite Dance, Chi-Wen Gallery, Taipei, TW
2013
House of ourselves, Gallery VER, Bangkok, TH
2012
Conscience, réalité, In Situ - fabienne leclerc, Paris, FR
2011
Beyond the sunbeam through trees, Yamaguchi center for Arts and Media, Yamaguchi, JP
2010
The Returning of the Sun, Blum & Poe gallery, Los Angeles, Californie, US
2009
Seeking a Light, In Situ - fabienne leclerc Paris, France Unfold Universe, Chi-Wen Gallery, TW
An Attribute of Living, Gallery HAM, Nagoya, JP
2003
The strings of Light, BMW Group Pavilion, Munich, DE
Streams by the Wind, Kunsthalle Wien( Project room), Vienne, AT
2001
Galeria 1991, Lisbon, PT
An Inevitable Story as Coincidence, Magazin4 Vorarlberger Kunstverein, Bregenz, AT
2000
Le Murmure de la mer, ART & PUBLIC( Guest Room), Geneva, CH
1998
Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, IT
The Reason of Life, Deitch Projects, New York, US
The Flame of Wandering, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, JP
Forty Years Behind Paris, Taka Ishii Gallery, Santa Monica, US
1996
A Window of Society, Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima / Ginza Komatsu Amuser, Tokyo, JP
Frostbite / Women, Children and Japanese, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, JP
Complex of Pieter Bruegel, Zeno X Gallery, Anvers, BE
1993
The Greatest, Gallery HAM, Nagoya, JP
Dream of Tokyo, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Francfort, DE
1990
Frostbite, Galerie Surge, Tokyo, JP
Placebo is Missing, W139, Amsterdam, NL
1989
Entropaia, Citicorp Citibank Shinjuku, Tokyo, JP
Yearnings of Montezuma, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, TW
Influenza, Art Gallery of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Art in Silpakorn University, Bangkok, TW
2017
En marge, In Situ - fabienne leclerc , Paris, FR
2013
Coeurs vaillants, une proposition de Damien Cadio, galerie Eva Hober, Paris, FR
2012
En plein air, Stux Gallery, New York, US
2009
Quand la première ivresse des succès bruyants..., CAPC collection hors les murs, Château Guiraud, Sauternes, FR
Diana and Actaeon,The Forbidden Glimpse of the Naked Body,museum Kunst Palast, Duesserldorf, DE
The Fallen Angels, Watai-um Museum, Tokyo, JP
30 ans du Meymac, 30 ans - Pas nécessaire et pourtant indispensable, Abbaye Saint-André Centre d'art contemporain, Meymac, FR
Desire, Holster Projects, London, UK
Blumen/Flowers, Galerie Walter Keller, Zurich, CH
Wonderland, Tenderloin Neighborhood of San Fransisco, San Fransisco, US
2008
Darkside, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, CH
Cringe, Dean Project, Long Island City, New York, US
Silence in the Light, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Hiroshi Sunairi, Arto Lindsay, Venetia Kapernekas Gallery, New York, US
An attribute of Living - Noritoshi Hirakawa - Patrick Van Caeckenbergh - Ann-Mie Van Kerchkoven - Cristof Yvoré, Zeno X Gallery, Anvers, BE
Noritoshi Hirakawa, Hiroshi Sunairi & Arto Lindsay / Joan Jonas, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, JP
2006
Les peintres de la vie moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (collection de la caisse des dépôts de Paris), Paris, FR
25 years Zeno X, Galerie Zeno X, Anvers, BE
Guenter Umberg, Haus Kontruktiv, Zurich, CH
Into Me / Out of Me, Kunst Werke, Berlin, DE
The Garden Party, Deitch Projects, New York, US
Sweet Ecstasy, Galerie Nicola Von Senger, Zurich, CH
Dark Places, The Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, US
Femmes, The Area of Mont des Arts (organisation by Art of the World), Brussels, BE
Lichtkunst aus Kunstlitch, Museum fur Neue Kunst, DE
Don Giovanni, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal-Unteroewisheim, GE
Don Giovanni : Two plus two equals four, Kunsthalle de Vienne, Vienne, AT
Into Me / Out of Me, Moma PS1, Long Island City, New York, US
Baukunst Galerie Vier zwei Eins ( performance ), Baukunst Galerie, Cologne, DE
Taka Ishii Gallery( the viewing room), Tokyo, JP
Galerie Cornelius Pleser, Munich, DE
Maedels, Galerie Gabriele Rivet, Koeln, DE
2005
Femme(s), Museum Carouge, Geneve, CH
Go Inside, Triana Biennale, IT
Le mois de la photo, Montréal, CA
Dark Places, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, USA
2002
Formen Der Gewalt, Gabriele Rivet, Cologne, DE
Departures ( with Alfred Jaar), Torch, Amsterdam, NL
Composition of Desire ( with Vivan Sundaram), Galerie Ferdinand van Dieten, Amsterdam, NL
Desire (Curator : Peter Weiermair), Galleria D'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologne, IT
Magazin in Magazin, A Fruitful Wavers, Magazin4 Vorarlberger Kunstverein, Bregenz, AT
The Museum, the Collection, the Director and his Loves, Streams by the Wind, Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Francfort, DE
1995
Zeno X Gallery, Anvers, BE
Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, JP
Video Art Channel - Five Artists On File, NICAF Yokohama, Yokohama, JP
Shift (Aperto -95), De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
On Board (Aperto 95), (Curators : Jerôme Sans / Karin Schorm), Pronto, Pronto qui Radio Sega Venezia, Il Nuovo Trionfo (Riva San Biago), Venise, IT
Campo (Curator : Francesco Bonami), Corderie dell'Arsenale, Venice /Conferenza Stampa -Fondazione, Venise, IT
Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Per L'arte, Turin, IT
Konst Museet, Malmo, SE
Aperto-95: logiques imparables, Petit déjeuner dans la cuisine (Curator : Ami Barak), Garage JP (FRAC Languedoc- Roussillon), Conqueyrac, FR
Breakfast in the Kitchen, Zeno X Gallery (Anvers), Foire de Bâle, Bâle, CH
L'art d'Aimer - curiousitas érotica, Chez le Concierge, Sète, FR
Ripple Across the Water (Curateur : Jan Hoet), Koto- No- Owari, Aoyama,Tokyo, JP
Infra Sound (Curator : Jerôme Sans), Unvergessene Erinnerungen Vor Dem Vergesssen, Norddeutsche Landesbank,Hambourg, DE
Féminin, Masculin, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
Orient / Ation -The Vision of Art in a Paradoxical World, 4th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
E.T. (Curator : Jay Koh), Chien Mai, JP
1991
Asakusae (Japan/Belgium Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition), Asakusa old Kinryu school, Tokyo, JP
Orientation 50° Nord (Belgium/Japan Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition), Cinquantenaire, Bruxelles, BE
Performance and theatre
2006
Vier zwei Eins, Baukunst Galerie, Koeln, DE
2005
In Search of a Purple Heart, Salon 94, NY, US
2003
Strings of Light, BMW Group Pavillion Muenchen, DE
2002
Shower in the Dark (Happening with Arto Lindsay), Deitch Projects, New York, US
2001
Les Temps de Rien à Montpellier, (Choregraphy with Didier Theron), Montpellier Danse 01, Montpellier, FR
2000
The Day after Yesterday, Hotel New York, PS1 Museum, New York, US
Où est-ce quelqu'un que j'espère ?, Les Soirées Nomades, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris, FR
1998
Sufficiently Kinky (Happening with Arto Lindsay), Crossings - Kunst Zum Hoeren und Sehen, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienne, AT
Curatoring
1999
Tongue of Fingers II (Shelly Silver, Joe Davis, Man Ray, Kathy High, Lee Williams, Noritoshi Hirakawa), VOID, New York, US
The Conclusion of a Paradox (Panos Kokkinias, Michihisa Nagasaki, Gerard Byrne, Sieglinda Klupsch), Janine Gordon, Mark Woods, Maria Miesenberger), Venetia Kapernekas Fine Arts Inc., New York, US
Tongue of Fingers III (Camille Stancin, Jonas Mekas, Dan Asher, Lova Hamilton, Noritoshi Hirakawa), VOID, New York, US
1998
Tongue of Fingers (Kaoru Toyoda, Les Levine, Veronica Vega, Muntadas, Noritoshi Hirakawa), VOID, New York, US
1997
Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (Ricci Albenda, Eleanor Antin, Les Levine, Julian Opie,Dan Qing Chen), Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, US
Publications
Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Francfort, DE
capcMusée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, FR
Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, JP
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Per L'Arte, Turin, IT
Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Gent, Gand, BE
Watari - Um, Tokyo, JP
FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR
FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, FR
Yves Klein Foundation, Arizona, US
BMW AG, Munich, DE
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, JP
Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, DE
Fonds minicipal d'art contemporain, Geneva, CH
Caisse des Dépôts, Paris, FR
Hauser & Wirth Museum, St. Gallen, CH
Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, St. Gallen, CH