It's really been quite some time since I published on this blog. I really don't have much free time right now, but since this exhibition is still up and running, I thought I'd write something in case someone in the Oresund region wants to visit.
By the way, I visited this exhibition on the day of the last lecture of a very interesting PhD course I took at the University of Copenhagen. The course was titled "Food, Medicine and Philosophy in East and West" and it was a truly interdisciplinary look on food habits, philosophy and much much more between East and West. Well, the East/West division is really subjective in my opinion, but that's another topic. The course on its whole was fantastic, very interesting and I am so happy for being accepted to participate :)
Well, back to Japanese photography. How do I end the final lecture day of the course in Copenhagen then (after feeling a little sad that this exciting course was over)? Of course by visiting the Danish National Museum, where there is this very clever exhibition on Japanese photography. ------>
http://natmus.dk/en/the-national-museum-of-denmark/exhibitions/temporary-exhibitions/girl-with-parasol/
It's NOT what you imagine if you've never been to Japan! Half of it is about Purikura! In the installed Purikura booth visitors can take pictures, decorate them & print them (thus the name PuriKura= print club in Japanese). The pictures are automatically projected on the wall of the room as a slide show, so if you take pictures you become part of the installation as a guest. Brilliant!!
Purikura has always been one of the best contemporary Japanese "things", in my opinion. It characterises the young Tokyo lifestyle, friendships/nights out -in Shibuya- , memories created in the smartphone era (that began much earlier in Japan) and of course illustrates some of the Japanese aesthetics/gender norms of today.
In the exhibition, there is also a documentary playing & comments or explanations on Japanese beauty norms and the retouching that is usually done on the pictures.
All these reminded me a lot of my MSc thesis (on beauty norms and the Japanese female body) which can be read here http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24923&postid=3990921.
A definite must- see if you are in Copenhagen (well this whole museum is a must-see anyway). I would like to meet the people that organised this brilliant exhibition, that really "transfers" someone to the feeling and young culture of contemporary Japan. And I was kind of sorry that I was not involved in it. Danish curators working with Japan, please call me!! :D
Well, here is just an idea of the installation! (Obviously I cannot/am not going to upload snapshots of the exhibition content).
By the way, I visited this exhibition on the day of the last lecture of a very interesting PhD course I took at the University of Copenhagen. The course was titled "Food, Medicine and Philosophy in East and West" and it was a truly interdisciplinary look on food habits, philosophy and much much more between East and West. Well, the East/West division is really subjective in my opinion, but that's another topic. The course on its whole was fantastic, very interesting and I am so happy for being accepted to participate :)
Well, back to Japanese photography. How do I end the final lecture day of the course in Copenhagen then (after feeling a little sad that this exciting course was over)? Of course by visiting the Danish National Museum, where there is this very clever exhibition on Japanese photography. ------>
http://natmus.dk/en/the-national-museum-of-denmark/exhibitions/temporary-exhibitions/girl-with-parasol/
It's NOT what you imagine if you've never been to Japan! Half of it is about Purikura! In the installed Purikura booth visitors can take pictures, decorate them & print them (thus the name PuriKura= print club in Japanese). The pictures are automatically projected on the wall of the room as a slide show, so if you take pictures you become part of the installation as a guest. Brilliant!!
Purikura has always been one of the best contemporary Japanese "things", in my opinion. It characterises the young Tokyo lifestyle, friendships/nights out -in Shibuya- , memories created in the smartphone era (that began much earlier in Japan) and of course illustrates some of the Japanese aesthetics/gender norms of today.
I will come back one day to write more on the Purikura culture and subcultures around it.
All these reminded me a lot of my MSc thesis (on beauty norms and the Japanese female body) which can be read here http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24923&postid=3990921.
A definite must- see if you are in Copenhagen (well this whole museum is a must-see anyway). I would like to meet the people that organised this brilliant exhibition, that really "transfers" someone to the feeling and young culture of contemporary Japan. And I was kind of sorry that I was not involved in it. Danish curators working with Japan, please call me!! :D
Well, here is just an idea of the installation! (Obviously I cannot/am not going to upload snapshots of the exhibition content).
Well, I know I am cheating by posting this but it was so exciting! Kendo (see wiki or my previous posts) in Copenhagen in 1902!! I was happily surprised to read that there is a long history of cultural exchange between Denmark and Japan.
This is not in Japan but in Copenhagen! You can see the girls taking pictures in the booth, being projected on the wall! The photo booth is themed "Heroine Face" and it says on the booth top in Japanese that:
"with this cuteness, fate can (is possible to) be changed" ...
Thank you Danish National Museum for travelling us to Shibuya!
"with this cuteness, fate can (is possible to) be changed" ...