Yumi Karasumaru
Facing Histories
curated by Uliana Zanetti
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MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna 6 August – 23 October 2016 Opening and reading-performance with the artist: Saturday 6 August 2016 h 6.00 pm
For the 71st anniversary of the nuclear explosions at Hiroshima (August 6) and until 23 October 2016 MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna presents the Facing Histories series by Yumi Karasumaru, previously shown in Hiroshima, Kyoto and Tokyo in 2015.
On 6 August 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, Nagasaki was struck in the same way. The two cities were almost completely destroyed, and tens of thousands of people died instantaneously. Many more died in the following years due to the effects of injuries and radiation poisoning, and many survivors suffered serious, irreversible disabilities.
This event, one of the most traumatic of the 20th century, has inspired the art of Yumi Karasumaru on more than one occasion, starting with the Atomic Series in 1995 and Modern Crimes in 1999, up until 2015's wide-ranging series of small paintings, a selection of which (69 works) is presented at MAMbo. In this series the artist methodically reproduces images found in the press, films, and private collections that refer to episodes of war, scenes of destruction, political events, as well as personal incidents interwoven with collective tragedy.
Having always been interested in the historical memory of her country of origin and the dramatic events that struck it, with her characteristic artistic style Karasumaru accompanies us in a gradual approach to the shocking images, their content, apparently mitigated by luminous, eye-catching colours, becoming evident only upon close inspection. The various sequences reassemble and combine into visual narratives, the intermittent appearance of lyrical ideograms acting as an attempt to anchor unpronounceable emotions to poetic words.
The opening of the exhibition is scheduled Saturday, August 6 at 6.00 pm, with free admission. For the occasion MAMbo hosts the reading-performance of the artist entitled Facing Histories in Hiroshima. In her performing action Yumi Karasumaru combines the expressive modes of the Japanese theatre with Western performing style, as well as in her artworks the memory of traditional Japanese painting coexists with her country's pop culture.
The scenic use of Karasumaru's clear and mellow voice, accompanied by the music of Enrico Serotti, produces a hypnotic narrative inspired by poems written by authors who survived the Hiroshima tragedy.
Karasumaru's reading-performance is held in conjunction and in collaboration with the event Il Sole di Hiroshima, the ceremony of floating lanterns dedicated to the memory of the victims of the atomic bomb which takes place in the Cavaticcio Garden, adjacent to the MAMbo, and Yumi Karasumaru will accompany the public outside in the park. The ceremony is organized by Nipponica, the Japanese culture festival now in its twelfth year, in order to support two different charity projects in Italy and In Japan.
Facing Histories is visible at MAMbo until Sunday, October 23 (Permanent Collection ticket). A finissage event with the artist will conclude the show.
The catalogue, in a limited edition of 500 autographed copies, is available at corrainiMAMbo artbookshop.
Short biography
Born in Osaka, Yumi Karasumaru for many years has lived and worked in Bologna and Japan. Juxtaposing painting and performance, her work combines traditional Japanese and pop cultures, investigating traumas that raised disquieting contradictions of collective identity in her country.
General information: www.mambo-bologna.org
Press MAMbo: Elisa Maria Cerra – Tel. +39 051 6496653, e-mail ufficiostampamambo@comune.bologna.it.
The view of the personal exhibition "Facing Histories"at MAMbo in Bologna.
