STANDING PINE

Standing Pine Tokyo is pleased to present "Himmelstrasse," a solo exhibition by Noritoshi Hirakawa from Saturday 1st November. First presented at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2024, the titular large-scale installation will make its Japan debut in the gallery space in Tokyo. The central piece of the exhibition is a dark, wooden lodge containing photographs and a sound installation. The photographs were taken in the guardian forest of a Shinto shrine in Fukushima that was affected by radioactive contamination following the Fukushima nuclear accident of 2011. The soundscape features the soft ringing of dorei, the traditional clay bells used in Shinto rituals, mixed with the faint voices of children living in Fukushima today. Upon entering the lodge through a small doorway, viewers are immersed in a meditative world that invites reflection on the present and future of Fukushima and the lives of the children growing up there.

“Himmelstrasse”
Inside of the wooden lodge in the gallery is almost completely in the darkness with a small single light and on the four walls, 12 large Black & White photo prints of Guardian Forest hanged on the walls that were captured at Shinto Shrines along the Coastline of Fukushima where are extremely contaminated with radiation spread from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. There is subtle sounds of clay bells for inviting God descending into the room from Himmel. Also, small voices of plural children in Fukushima whispering their future that can hear inside of the lodge behind photographs.

Around 2,000 years ago, several tribes of Hebrew arrived in Japan. One of them were settled in Tokushima, Shikoku Island and made Shinto Shrines as the reproduction Tabernacle. Around 1,000 years ago, some of them moved to the Coastline of Fukushima facing to Pacific Ocean where Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant were built. Also, similar festivals from Hebrew via Tokushima at Shinto Shrines were created in the area of Coastline of Fukushima.

There is a Guardian Forest that is influenced by Ancient Shinto existing over 10,000 years in Japan, created in the land of each Shinto Shrine created for protecting local resident’s lives as God falling into Guardian Forest that people have been believing over thousands years.

1.5 million children were killed through Holocaust at Concentration Camps during Nazi regime passing through Himmelstrasse over 74 years ago. Now, over a million children of Fukushima and surrounded area originally rooted to Hebrew are in the similar process of being killed through radiation contamination because of using children as sacrifice of World economy.

Himmelstrasse is a completely contradicted word in the past reality to the true meaning same as the current situation of children in Fukushima called Fukko Shien ( recovery support ). However it can be turned over the circumstances of children by being surrounded by the Guardian Forest of Shinto Shrines along the Coastline of Fukushima contributing the true Himmelstrasse for giving the hope of positive future to the Heaven.


Date: Saturday, 1 November – Saturday, 29 November
Hours: 12:00 – 18:00 (From Tuesday to Saturday)
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and national holidays
Opening reception: Saturday, 1 November, 17:00 – 19:00 (artist in attendance)


CV
Noritoshi Hirakawa

Noritoshi Hirakawa was born in 1960 in Fukuoka, Japan. Residing in New York City since 1993. Hirakawa is a long time an internationally known contemporary artist after studying Applied Sociology. He has created numerous works in photography, film, dance, installation and performance.

In 1994, Hirakawa was invited to have a solo exhibition at American Fine Arts in New York as the first foreign artist and furthermore, his solo exhibition was held at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris in 1992, 94 & 97, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp in 1996 and 2004 and Deitch Projects in New York in 1997 and 98. In 2004, His performance at Frieze Art Fair in London attracted lots of attention from the global art scene. His work has been exhibited over 300 times at museums, art centers, and galleries all over the world including Venice Biennale Aperto, Istanbul Biennale, Site Santa Fe Biennale and Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt, Center Pompidou, Paris, PS 1 Museum, New York, Leeum, Seoul, Hermes Forum, Tokyo and others.　His works are held in numerous museum and public collections including Museum fur Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main in Frankfurt, Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin, Museum fur Gegenwartskunst in Zurich, capcMusée d’art contemporain in Bordeaux, MOCA in Los Angeles, M+ Museum in Hong Kong, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in Japan and others.

He has worked on several collaborations with artists in other fields, such as poets, musicians, choreographers and architects as well as presented at Das TAT, Frankfurt, Danse Montpellier and Fondation Cartier, Paris and University of Toronto.

Hirakawa believes human activity forms the culture in which we live. His creation proposes to extend the capacity of human perception for furthering this culture. Within this framework, Hirakawa is pushing the boundaries of perception, altering aesthetic views for the future.

Installation entrance

Inside the installation

Guardian E / Photograph / 60×38cm / Edition 5 / 2024

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