yokohama triennale 2020 roundup: artists reflect on 'afterglow' in contemporary times

yokohama triennale 2020 is an international contemporary art exhibition that introduces culture-shaping concepts and ideas through a broad range of works by both international established and emerging artists.  this year under the artistic direction of raqs media collective — a collective of three artists based in new delhi, india — the exhibition investigates the theme of ‘afterglow’. the term refers to how we unknowingly experience the residue of light sparked at the beginning of time — for example, how ‘white noise’ on analog televisions included fragments of cosmic microwave background radiation left over from the cosmic big bang. by referring to the big bang’s destructive energy that propelled creativity, gave birth to life on this planet, and whose radiation that is both toxic and therapeutic, yokohama triennale 2020 explores the cycle of destruction/toxicity and recovery/care in the human activities of the contemporary age. 

following a delayed opening date due to COVID-19, designboom recently attended yokohama triennale 2020 and rounds up some of the significant projects and themes explored across the manifold exhibition. the triennale remains on view until october 11, 2020.

in nick cave’s ‘kinetic spinner forest’, objects are not exactly as playful and innocent as they appear
image © designboom

american artist nick cave has created a new version of his large-scale installation ‘kinetic spinner forest’. the artwork comprises thousands of seemingly playful, hanging mobiles made from metallic spinning garden ornaments that, upon close inspection, bear the shape of a teardrop, bullet or hand-gun. the initial enchantment is fractured by the reminder of the omnipresent and polarizing position that guns occupy in american culture.

the mobile objects bear the shape of a teardrop, bullet or hand-gun
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elsewhere, artist eva fàbregas has installed ‘tangles’, a sculpture comprised of sensory balls and lycra. the installation appears as a spillage of intertwining intestinal forms that encourage us to ‘think with our gut’. ‘there is recognition today that our rumbling and growling gut has answers,’ says fàbregas. ‘in our gut we learn to host and think with other life. in our gut we know that to host life IS life: billions of bacteria live in the human gut, and it contains millions of neurons, second only to the brain.’ see more about the project in our feature on designboom here.

eva fàbregas has installed a large-scale sculpture comprised of sensory balls and lycra | image © designboom
read more on designboom here

the artwork appears as a spillage of intertwining intestinal forms | image © designboom
read more on designboom here

kei takemura’s interest in families, records and things that have been lost are presented in forms and acts of sewing and embroidering. the artist is known for her installation work, in which she covers photographs and drawings under a layer of embroidered cloth. as part of the ‘renovated series’, takemura traces and mends the broken part of pottery with silk threads. her recent works explore time and memories intersecting the past and the present, using fluorescent silk, which is genetically modified with green fluorescent protein found in bioluminescent hydrozoan jellyfish, aequorea victoria.

the artist traces and mends broken parts of pottery with silk threads
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takemura exhibits work that embodies her interest in families, records and things that have been lost
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in his sculptures, photographs and films, teppei kaneuji creates works that reveal the relationship between objects and images using techniques based on collage and assemblage. his installation at yokohama triennale 2020 sees small sculptural objects and figurines drowning and drenched in an oozing white material. ‘enclosures of the everyday, fully sheathed, re-surfaced, their contours both solid and blurring. is this a primal scream, or will new life rush into this washed and crumbling scene? behold, the world is in a moment of transience, between phases.’

teppei kaneuji’s work reveals the relationship between objects and images
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small sculptural objects drown in an oozing white matter
image © designboom

taus makhacheva is known for performance and video works that critically examine what happens when different cultures and traditions come into contact. having grown up in moscow with cultural origins in the caucasus region of dagestan, her artistic practice is informed by a personal connection with the co-existing worlds of pre- and post-sovietisation. for the triennale, makhacheva presents a mixed media installation comprising deformed and defunct gymnastic apparatuses, and multi-channel audio of verbal authoritative clichés used in institutional and private spaces, questioning the notions of body, discipline and control in current social patterns.

the installation comprises a mixed media assemblage of deformed and defunct gymnastic apparatuses
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ingela ihrman explores the relationship between natural environment and human society by presenting delicately-crafted reconstructions of plants and living creatures. for the yokohama triennale 2020, ihrman crates a replica of the plant heracleum mantegazzianum, an intrusive and unstoppable weed with a phototoxic sap that causes serious burns. ‘when ornamental curiosity heracleum mantegazzianurn reached europe almost two hundred years ago, just about everyone who had a garden wanted it. soon, it grew everywhere — by rivers and lakes, along railroads and in wastelands. it’s called the giant hogweed. and now feared and despised, skin touched by its sap burns and scars; eyes become blinded; even a brush of its leaves, a graze of its fronds, a caress of its stem can scorch. its hunger—patient, insatiable, ablaze—seizes landscapes.’

ihrman crates a replica of the plant heracleum mantegazzianum within the exhibition space
image © designboom

the delicately-crafted reconstruction explores the relationship between the environment and human society 
image © designboom

throughout his sculptural practice, fumiaki aono explores the act of ‘repairing’, working with with objects such as worn-out furniture and articles washed ashore. for the triennale, aono exhibits a group of sculptures including a new large-scale, site-specific work made from salvaged materials. ‘the rubble of an earthquake and the detritus after a tsunami restore that which is broken — repair what has been surrendered. this is what we know: when broken things become deliberately hospitable, they enlarge, enfold, engulf one another to begin to compensate for each other’s lost properties.’

fumiaki aono ‘reparis’ objects such as worn-out furniture and transforms them with a new purpose
image © designboom

a large-scale, site-specific work at the triennale is made from salvaged materials
image © designboom

joyce ho is an interdisciplinary artist working in multiple media including painting, video and sculpture. she modifies familiar objects to make the underlying issues in the given social structure apparent. exhibited at the yokohama triennale 2020 is ‘balancing act III’, a set of gates that swing like a rocking chair. visitors are invited to walk through this unstable structure that signifies both control and protection. see an animated gif of the movement below.

‘balancing act III’ comprises a set of gates that swing like a rocking chair
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visitors are invited to walk through this unstable structure
gif © designboom

elias sime dislocates the usage and the meaning of everyday materials to transform and assemble them into works of art. exhibited at the triennale is a group of works intricately composed of computer keyboards, motherboards and electrical wires that configure tableaux-like works as the series ‘tightrope’.

sime intricately composes computer keyboards, motherboards and electrical wires into tableaux-like works
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a detail of reclaimed electronic components from the artist’s ‘tightrope’ series
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beirut-based artist haig aivazian works with installation, video, drawing, sculpture and performance in exploring the ripple of control and sovereignty in sports, museums and music. at the triennale, aivazian presents an installation comprising floodlights and wall drawings made with fitness chalk balls. the work activates a history of mass surveillance, from public lighting to predictive policing.

aivazian’s installation comprises floodlights and wall drawings made with fitness chalk balls
image © designboom

exhibition info: 

title: yokohama triennale 2020: afterglow
artistic director: raqs media collective
exhibition dates: july 17 – october 11, 2020
venues: yokohama museum of art; PLOT 48; NYK MARITIME MUSEUM
organizers: city of yokohama, yokohama arts foundation, japan broadcasting corporation (NHK), the asahi shimbun, and organizing committee for yokohama triennale