【Notice of temporary closure extension】
We have decided to extend the period of temporary closure of Shiseido Gallery for the time being.
Current Exhibition
“Taste of Reminiscence, Delicacies from Nature: Ayako Suwa Exhibition”
| Duration: | January 18 (Sat) — March 22 (Sun), 2020(Tentative) |
Shiseido Gallery will hold a solo exhibition by Ayako Suwa titled “Taste of Reminiscence, Delicacies from Nature” from Saturday, January 18 to Sunday, March 22, 2020. Suwa is an internationally renowned food artist who treats “food” as a medium of expression that appeals to our intuitive and unconscious senses, and seeks to bring new questions and discoveries to those who experience her works.
In this exhibition, Suwa will offer new expressions of “food” under the theme of memories individually held by everyone. Suwa perceives memories as part of our consciousness as well as unconsciousness, namely the “self.” Through the exhibition, she attempts to create the experience of tasting the “self” by “tasting” memories as beautiful and precious deli-cacies. Furthermore, the “food” experience as expressed by Suwa in this exhibition is a “sharing of senses” with others, which Japanese people have practiced since ancient times in feeling nature’s beauty and transience, capturing it in poetry, enjoying incense, and making tea. At the same time, it is an experience of receiving “inspirations from nature” that have nurtured Japanese aesthetics and spirituality, and honing one’s senses.
“Guerilla Restaurant ‘Lost Tongues’”
Photo : Tukasa Nakagawa
Aims of the exhibition
The exhibition will feature an area where visitors can recall their own memories by actually tasting several “delicacies of reminiscence” prepared by Suwa in various flavors. Various utensils to taste such “reminiscence” in natural, organic forms will also be displayed as installations.
During the exhibition, Suwa will irregularly hold participative performances to taste her own memories with guests and share in the senses. Tasting raw “delicacies of reminiscence” offered by Suwa at the venue will create a ritual and dramatic experience that will allow the guests to share their personal memories.
Visitor experience
In this modern civilization, sharing with others what we feel through nature has become a rare experience. In this exhibition, visitors will experience communication that gradually opens up as they share their memories with each other through tastes, together with the bodily experience of “inspirations from nature.” This will be an opportunity to share with others the elusive sensations of delicate aesthetic and inner spirituality passed down among the Japanese people, and to ask themselves the question “Who am I?”
Japanese in origin, Shiseido pursues a mission to update the delicate beauty nurtured by Japanese aesthetic and spirituality for the modern era, and make people’s lives better. We hope that the experience of sharing “inspirations from nature” by tasting reminiscence at this exhibition will bring new excitement and enjoyment to everyday life.
■ Profile
Ayako Suwa
Artist / Director of food creation
Suwa was born in Ishikawa Prefecture. After graduating from Kanazawa College of Art, she launched “food creation” in 2006 and has directed it since. She presents many works related to food under the themes of desire, curiosity, and evolution, using various methods, such as performing arts, installations, and the dining experience. She chooses “food” as a medium of expression that appeals to our intuitive and unconscious senses. Her works communicate inner senses such as emotions and memories as “tastes” to bring the audience new questions and discoveries.
Suwa pursues new possibilities of food, not as something delicious and gourmet nor as sources of nutrition and energy.
In 2008, Suwa held her first solo exhibition titled “Sensuous food, emotional taste” at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. To date, she has organized guerilla restaurants and the dining experience “Journey on the Table” in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Fukuoka, Singapore, Paris, Hong Kong, Taipei, Berlin, and Barcelona. In 2014–15, she held “Taste of Curiosity–Museum of Curiosity,” the 10th anniversary exhibition of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, in collaboration with the University Museum, The University of Tokyo. Suwa was selected as a winner of the STARTS Prize by European Commission and Ars Electronica for her 2019 work “Journey on the Tongue.”
Photo：Rowland Kirishima
■ Images of reference works
“Journey on the Table”
Photo: Veuve Clicquot
“Guerilla Restaurant ‘Banquet of Curiosity’”
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa Photo : Kikou Keizo
“Chamber to Taste Curiosity”
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa Photo: Kikou Keizo
“Journey on the Tongue”
Photo: INTERSECT BY LEXUS
“Taste of Photography”
Photo: Hiroshi Iwasaki
“A lingering taste of regret with overtones of anger welling up / Sensuous food, emotional taste”
Photo: Hiroshi Iwasaki
■ Overview of “Taste of Reminiscence, Delicacies from Nature: Ayako Suwa Exhibition”
| Organizer : | Shiseido Company, Limited |
| Exhibition cooperation : | Ayako Suwa, food creation |
| Sponsor : | Nihon Firmenich K.K. |
| Cooperation : | Gems International Co., Ltd., K’s Design Lab Inc., SHINTO V-CERAX, Ltd., Sisii Co., Ltd., art and program Inc. (interaction design), LADER PRODUCTION Inc. (sound design) |
| Period : | Saturday, January 18 – Sunday, March 22, 2020 |
| Venue : | Shiseido Gallery Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building B1F 8-8-3, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061 Tel: 03-3572-3901; Fax: 03-3572-3951 Weekdays: 11:00 a.m. — 7:00 p.m. Sundays, holidays: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays (Also closed when Monday falls on a holiday) Admission free |
Related program 1
■ Gallery Talk
Ayako Suwa will hold a talk with neuroscientist Nobuko Nakano.
| Date and time : | Thursday, January 23, 2020, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. |
| Venue : | WORD Hall (Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building 9F) |
| Capacity : | 60 people |
Participation free (selection through drawing lots if there are many applicants)
Reservations are scheduled to open on the Shiseido Gallery website.
Contact: Shiseido Gallery: Tel: 03-3572-3901; Fax: 03-3572-3951
Related program 2
■ Guerilla Restaurant
Scheduled to open near Shiseido Gallery during the exhibition period.
Details including the date, time, and venue will be announced on the Shiseido Gallery Twitter .