Press Release
At this time of permanent connection and innovation that governs our lives, what meaning do creationand contemporary art have? Who are the artists today? The series of exhibitions Transphere questions these issues, by presenting creators from Japan driven by an experimental spirit and inventive
audacity. The first part of this voyage through the artistic practices of today is a piece entitledFertile Landscapes, presenting the duo, Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi.
Since the early 2000s, Manabe and Ishibashi have been innovating artistically by making use of technologicaldevelopments: RFID, LED, video mapping, myoelectric sensors... Their goal is to create a zone of porosity
between the real and the virtual, to encourage us to become aware, and to experience the difference between
reality and perception. Their installations and playful interactive mechanisms seek to stimulate the public’simagination.
For Fertile Landscapes - Transphere #1, they are presenting a new creation and a dozen older projects.
Their new work, rate-shadow allows us to see the invisible. The subtlety of this creation lies in a LED lighttechnology they have specially designed for the occasion. Illuminating shapes, these lights create shadowsthat, viewed through the filter of a smartphone or Ipad screen, then reveal colours invisible to the naked eye. Awork that must be discovered in two phases.
A dozen of their older projects to (re) discover are also being exhibited in video format. Lasers, articulated robot
arms, drones or the latest generation of rolling armchairs, are for both creators some of the many experimentalmeans of expression they use, particularly in the choreographed pieces they design with the ELEVENPLAYcontemporary dance company. They are also collaborating with the techno pop group Perfume, taking up thechallenge of investing the expressive possibilities of the universe of entertainment.
Members of the Rhizomatiks creators group, they regularly collaborate with scientists and specialists from avariety of disciplines for their projects. Far from the classic model of studio artists, the group bases its way ofworking on the synergy between multiple exceptional talents.
At the border of artistic practices, innovative technologies and societal issues, the transversal activities ofManabe and Ishibashi are another way of questioning art and creation.
Curator: Aomi Okabe, Art critic and Artistic Director of Exhibitions at the MCJPMAISON DE LA CULTURE
DU JAPON À PARISARTIST TALK SERIES
Reservation : www.mcjp.fr

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONSMarch 16 > May 7, 2016
Exhibition room (level 2)
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday
from 12pm to 8pm
Closed public holiday
Free entry

March 15 at 6.30pm
With Daito Manabe andMotoi Ishibashi,
Moderator: Aomi Okabe

June 7 > July 30, 2016
Transphere #2 / The Magical House
A collaboration between the Atelier
Bow-Wow (Yoshiharu Tsukamoto
and Momoyo Kaijima) andDidier Faustino
Curator: Hou Hanru (Artistic Directorof National Museum of XXI Century
Arts - MAXXI, Rome)

PRESS CONTACT
Martial Hobeniche, Noémie Grenier /2e BUREAU
maisonculturejapon@2e-bureau.com
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 33 93 18
CONTACTS / MCJP
Exhibition
Mami Iida
Tel. +33 (0)1 44 37 95 64
m.iida@mcjp.fr
Public relations
Philippe Achermann
Tel. +33 (0)1 44 37 95 24
p.achermann@mcjp.fr

March 24 at 6.30pm
With Atau Tanaka (Media Artist)and Emiko Ogawa (Ars Electronica),
Moderator: Dominique Moulon (Artcritic and independent curator)
April 14 at 6.30pm
With Japanese artists,
Moderator: Cédric Huchet(Digital arts programmer, Scopitone
Festival / Stereolux)

September 6 > October 29, 2016*
Transphere #3 / Rei Naito
Curator: Aomi Okabe*Subject to change