土井波音「Untitled（構想段階のコラージュ）」

Original in Japanese: https://sugimurajun.shiomo.jp/archives/11306

DOI Namine creates sound installations that invites us to explore the preconceived ideas of existence and attempts to transcend our concept of reality. DOI’s works are based on her experiences since childhood where she has long had the feeling that “everything seems to be alive”, blurring the boundaries of existence beyond the organic and finite nature of life and matter.

This exhibition presents a work based on the Noh play “Toru” (融) by the Japanese aesthetician and actor Zeami (c. 1363 – c. 1443). The protagonist, MINAMOTONO Toru, created a garden in his Kyoto residence modelled on the landscape of Shiogama Ura, located in what is known today as the the bay area of Shiogama City, a place he had yearned to visit because of its beauty. He has come to have a strong attachment to this landscape, even though he has become a ghost long after his passing.

In parallel, DOI, who in the past has also longed for the city and foreign lands, overlaps with Toru’s experience in that play. As she used to commute back and forth through the Senseki rail line daily between Ishinomaki, Sendai, and Shiogama, DOI transforms herself into a demon-possessed ghost just like him, and invites us to explore a fantasy realm she has created with her works based and inspired by the Shiogama urban landscape.

This is where the boundary between the countryside and the city, and the time axis of past, present and future, can be found. Her works consist of a multi-layered development of various elements such as melodies, narratives, environmental sounds, rhythms and sounds collected from her own memories.

It can be said that this work is similar to the appreciation of Noh, where scenes are brought to life through the viewers’ imagination, and their movements after the performance are also a component of this exhibition.

This exhibition aims to present fantasy as a means to help bring “clues to a reality that coexists with happiness”. We hope that this unique sensory experience will permeate the viewer’s daily life and provide an opportunity to draw out the inner strength to live in the present.

curtain time
10:10　／　10:40
11:10　／　11:40
12:10　／　12:40
13:10　／　13:40
14:10　／　14:40
15:10　／　15:40
16:10　／　16:40

DOI Namine

Born in 1997 in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, DOI completed a Foundation Diploma at the University of the Arts London in 2019. She returned to her hometown to run a gallery space called ‘momo’ at Kiwamari-so until May 2023.

Since then, she has continued to work mainly in the fields of contemporary art and music. Inspired by her own personal experiences and a sense of the supernatural from her childhood, she has researched Japanese and foreign mythologies, fairy tales, and oddities. Expressing herself through sound installations from a surrealist perspective, she attempts to blur fate and preconceived ideas and transcend reality.

WEB: https://naminedoi.myportfolio.com/

Date: Saturday July 13th through Sunday September 1st 2024
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last admission 16:30)
Closed Mondays (except for July 15th and August 12th)
At the special exhibition room 1 of Sugimura Jun Museum of Art (Shiogama City), 30 minutes east of Sendai

Admission (permanent collection + special exhibition):

For individuals
• Adults: 500 yen
• University / High school students: 400 yen
• Junior high school students and under: Free

Discount for museum members and people with special needs.
Please note that for visitors with special needs and one accompanied person, they can receive a 50% discount for admission. Please let us know upon your visit.

For groups of 20 or more
• Adults: 400 yen
• University / High school students: 320 yen
• Junior high school students and under: Free

Translated by JUNBI Supporters