(Period Extended) 3331 GALLERY #041 3331 ART FAIR recommended artists Mami Hirano Solo Exhibition “METAMORPHOSES"

【Exhibition period extended】We have extended the exhibition period as below.

Before：January 9 (Sat.), 2021 - February 13 (Sat.) , 2021
After：January 9 (Sat.), 2021 - February 22 (Mon.) , 2021

- Opening Event
Artist talk and reception scheduled on the first day of the exhibition are both cancelled.
We have instead uploaded a short talk by Hirano on our YouTube account.
To watch, please click here.

We are pleased to hold "METAMORPHOSES", the solo exhibition of Mami Hirano, who was selected as a recommended artist at 3331 ART FAIR 2020.
Mami Hirano artificially recreates non-existent, imaginary and dying beings as artwork by physically producing the numerous aspects of a being's body, such as its skeleton, skin and blood vessels. Since childhood, Hirano was surrounded by stories featuring wonderous beings with whom she formed a tender relationship. As she grew up, Hirano learned that the fictional beings in whom she innocently believed did not actually exist. Through her practice, she seeks to conserve and reproduce these absent beings. In this exhibition, Hirano gives new life to her beloved dog that passed away about five years ago by creating a 3D scan of its remains and transforming them into delicate glass and ceramic material. While this work stems from the artist's personal experiences and emotions, it seems to question the fundamental themes of life and death through the power of modern technology. We hope you enjoy Hirano's "metamorphoses" as it revives the dreams, hopes and fantasies we have lost without realizing.

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Events
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Artist Talk & Opening Party
Date: January 8 (Fri) 6pm - 8pm
Admission: Free／no reservation required/free to join
Mami Hirano will feature in an artist talk on the first day of this exhibition. After the talk, we will hold a small reception. Please feel welcome to join us.

Closing Talk *held in Japanese Only
Date: February 13 (Sat) 3pm - 4pm
Guest: Yosuke Takahashi, Curator of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Admission: Free／Reservation required

Due to the declaration of a state of emergency, we will live-stream the talk by YouTube starting at 3pm on February 13. To watch, please go to https://youtu.be/KUL8IO8U6mI.

We will hold a conversational closing talk with Yosuke Takahashi (curator at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa), who recommended Mami Hirano as a participating artist in 3331 ART FAIR 2020. Takahashi specializes in post-human aesthetics and the art of superhumanism. Major exhibitions include "DeathLAB: Democratizing Death" (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, 2018-2019) and "Frankenstein in 2018" (GYRE, 2018), among others. Takahashi is a noteworthy up-and-coming curator whose activities include producing commentary on bio art for "Future and the Arts" (Mori Art Museum, 2019-2020). While reflecting on this exhibition, "METAMORPHOSES", we will discuss bio art, as well as the present and future condition of the next era of expression from varied perspectives.

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The remains of my beloved dog--who passed away in 2015 after battling illness for five years--still sit in my parents' living room, not having been put to rest after cremation. When my dog was cremated, I wanted once more to see those small and beautiful remains that my family and I had touched. However, feeling as if the urn was filled with the air of that bittersweet time, I could not open its lid. Once opened, that lost time could never be put back.

One day in 2018, I decided to take a CT scan of the box containing that urn.
I turned the scan data of the remains into 3D data and output it with a 3D printer. I then made a mold of the resultant resin version of the remains, transforming them into varied materials, such as glass or ceramic.
This act becomes an opportunity to amplify the entirety of this being, who lost everything and all memory at the boundary of death. By touching these varied materials and seeing this figure transform with its beauty intact, I have also come to accept my own transformations.

Modern funerals have kept death away from everyday life so that eventually, the dead no longer exist in society. The dead, hidden under heavy tombstones or in urns, are transformed repeatedly through my funeral methods; I do not lose them. That transformation process is told in this story.

- Mami Hirano


【CV】



1989 Bone in Gifu
2014 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts M.F.A, Intermedia Art
2018 "Artist in Museum: Mami Hirano Meets Gifu Prefectural College for the Blind", The Museum of Fine Arts Gifu (Gifu, Japan)
2018 "Artist in Museum: Mami Hirano Meets Gifu Prefectural College for the Blind", Gifu Prefectural College for the Blind (Gifu, Japan)
2018 "Frankenstein in 2018: Bio-art throws light on art, science, and society today", EYE OF GYRE (Tokyo, Japan)
2019 "Media Cosmos shinsyun bijyutsukan 2019", Gifu Media Cosmos (Gifu, Japan)
2019 "Second Flush", The Museum of Fine Arts Gifu (Gifu, Japan)

http://hiranomami.net

- Starting date is rescheduled as below.
Before: January 8 (Sat.), 2021 -
After: January 9 (Sat.), 2021 -