Mariko Mori: Renew
Galerie Forsblom 2 – 29 April, 2017
Opening with the artist in attendance, 1 April at 12.00–16.00
It is with great pleasure that Galerie Forsblom presents an exhibition of work by Japanese artist Mariko Mori (b. 1967). The exhibition focuses on her sculptural objects and is the artist’s first commercial exhibition in Sweden.
Mori’s breakthrough with a Swedish audience came in 2000, when the Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art in Malmö presented her critically acclaimed exhibition Dream Temple in partnership with Fondazione Prada. But already in 1997, Mori was featured at the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale with Marianna Uutinen and Mark Dion, among others. The exhibition addressed, among other things, issues of ethnicity and the dissolution of national borders.
With artistic media including photography, installations, video, sculpture and performance art, her earlier work is deeply influenced by Japanese tradition and history and often calls them into question. Mori’s early work featured herself as an actor, and like Cindy Sherman, she took on culture and the female body by staging various scenes that placed cultural expectations under a magnifying glass. She worked with multimedia and new technology early on, and has created pieces that take the viewer on illusory journeys and stories.
Futuristic and spiritual elements have increasingly taken centre stage in Mori’s work in recent years. The dissolution of time, the past, the present and the future are recurring characteristics, and the search for continuity and unity comprises a thematic thread connecting the sculptures shown in the exhibition. Mori touches upon issues related to spiritual freedom, and the meeting of matter and space creates infinitely beautiful and sensual sculptures.
Mariko Mori studied at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA (1992-1993) and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, United Kingdom (1989-1992). She participated in the Venice Biennale in 1997 and 2005. Her work has been shown in many exhibitions, including at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom; the Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; and Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom. Mori’s work is represented in several collections, for example at the Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA.