press release

Daniel Arsham Relics of Kanto Through Time June 9th (Tue.) – July 4th (Sat.), 2020 ＊Reservation Required ＊Closed on Sunday, Monday and National Holiday NANZUKA

Nanzuka is pleased to present “Relics of Kanto Through Time”, an exhibition of new works by American artist Daniel Arsham. This show is planned as a part of The Pokémon Company’s first collaborative project with a contemporary artist, and marks the second installment of this venture following “Daniel Arsham x Pokémon Collection” that has already been released from UNIQLO UT.

Arsham was born in 1980 in Ohio, United States, graduated from a prestige art academy The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and currently lives and works in New York. His works are founded upon the concept of "Fictional Archaeology," and consist of a diverse variety of mediums ranging from sculpture, painting, installation, to performance. Arsham's work has been shown in numerous museums and international exhibitions throughout the world including the MoMA PS1 in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, The Athens Bienniale in Athens, Greece, The New Museum In New York, Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, California, Carré d'Art de Nîmes, France, and How Art Museum in Shanghai.

Arsham continues to seek out devices for creating unreality through constantly continuing to explore and experiment with new materials. These endeavors derive from Arsham's interest in architecture and the environment (earth science) as also observed in his activities as a co-organizer of the architectural project unit, Snarkitecture. From environments with eroded walls, stairs going to nowhere, to landscapes where nature overrides artificial structures, Arsham meticulously unveils spaces and moments that seemingly confuse and confound our expectations, resolving such experiences within the context of his work.

Arsham's sculptural works made of materials such as pyrite, selenite, volcanic ash, glass and obsidian capture the future from an archaeological perspective, and thus invite the viewers on a journey through time. Through looking at buildings, a camera, toys, and cars etc. that have changed over time, viewers are able to imagine the possibility of various objects that are present around us to become nothing but fossilized artifacts in the distant future that lies a million years ahead. Alternatively, Arsham's work provokes us to think about our very own existence. Despite the obvious improbability of the situation, as we set our eyes on the sight of a fossilized human figure we cannot help but contemplate the ephemerality of existence and affirm our understanding that the future of the mankind is indeed not eternal.

In this exhibition, Arsham transforms various Pokémon into artworks. For instance, through encountering a sculpture of that has fossilized with crystals observed on the inside, we as viewers can perceive a character that is familiar to us within the two-dimensional world of video games and animation in three-dimensional world that we live in. However, these works also come to harbor a four-dimensional context that includes the concept of time, as we are led to imagine the very time that it takes for us too to fossilize.

In addition to those that reference the Pokémon logo and Pokémon Trading Card Game, the exhibition will feature works of various familiar Pokémon like Pikachu, , , Snorlax, and . We welcome viewers to enjoy this exhibition that depicts the world of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue video games as unearthed in the year 3020.

＊ Please note that admission to the exhibition will be on a reservation basis, as a precautionary measure against the further spreading of the novel coronavirus. The reservation procedure is introduced on our gallery website. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

------Press Contact: NANZUKA Yasuyo Ota：[email protected] Tel: +81-3-3400-0075