The gaze of things
Japanese photography around Provoke
Organized by
Bombas Gens Centre d'Art
Curated by
Nuria Enguita and Vicente Todolí
Between 1957 and 1972 a radical transformation took place in Japan in the photographic language of a group of photographers who began to develop their work during the post-war period. A renewal that took place in parallel to the great economic, cultural and psychosocial changes of this period, years marked by a social confrontation, mainly against the American heritage of the occupation.
This exhibition shows a selection of works from the Per Amor a l’Art Collection, which is the most important privately held collection of Japanese photography from this period outside Japan.
The look of things. Japanese photography around Provoke brings together a selection of images that emphasizes the artists who participated in the VIVO formation (1959-1961), such as Ikkō Narahara, Shōmei Tōmatsu, Eikoh Hosoe, Akira Satō or Kikuji Kawada, and the photographers who produced the magazine Provoke (Provocative Materials for Thought) in 1968, such as Yutaka Takanashi, Takuma Nakahira or Daidō Moriyama.
The experimental way in which they showed images as a product of an era marked by important political events became a phenomenon and a trend that many other artists – inside and outside Japan – would continue and that is even appreciated today.
Thus, the exhibition includes works by artists such as Toyoko Tokiwa, Nobuyoshi Araki, Ishiuchi Miyako, Kōji Enokura and Tamiko Nishimura, among others.
Touring exhibitions
Carmen Thyseen Museum, Malaga, Thought-provoking material. Contemporary Japanese photography, 11/07/2024 – 13/10/2024
Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid (PHotoESPAÑA 2020) Thought-provoking material. Contemporary Japanese photography, 25/06/2020 – 31/10/2020
Related materials
©Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga
©Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga
©Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga