Breaking News – Fukushima and the consequences

LEIKO IKEMURA invites artists and architects

09. 06. 2011 – 17. 07. 2011, KW Institute for Contemporary Art
, Berlin

Participating Artists:

Curtis Anderson, Katharina Grosse, Leiko Ikemura, Jun Kaneko, Philipp von Matt, Boris Mikhailov, Daido Moriyama, Yoko Ono, Lieko Shiga, Stephanie Stein , Yutaka Takanashi, Shōmei Tōmatsu, Rosemarie Trockel, Donata Wenders, Wim Wenders.


After the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear powerplant accident at Fukushima, the Japanese artist Leiko Ikemura questions what art can mean in light of such events. The KW Institute for Contemporary Art interrupts the planned programming of its KW69 exhibition series to offer a platform for interdisciplinary discourse on the topic.

Leiko Ikemura invites artists whose work illuminates the conflict between nature, progress, economy and man. Starting with the commitment of individual artistic positions and practices, a dialogue will form in the exhibition space that addresses the threatening situation in Japan and beyond the border. The work on view will interrogate our distinct relationships to the earth, energy, light and cycles of creation and destruction.

Considering the intimate size of KW69’s exhibition space, the selected artworks will be modest in scale and several contributions will be either immaterial or text works. Texts and images by artists and practitioners from other disciplines will be displayed in the form of letters during the exhibition so visitors can react to the theme. A publication of selected contributions is planned for a later date.

The exhibition will be accompanied by interdisciplinary thematic evenings and discussions, as well as lectures from selected architects on themes including reconstruction, emergency shelter, energy efficiency in a post-nuclear and post-fossil era. Additionally, a charity dinner will be held at the end of June.

Leiko Ikemura studied Spanish literature and painting in Japan and Spain before relocating to Switzerland. The artist has lived in Berlin and Cologne since 1990, where her work spans across mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing and installation. Through the medium of the exhibition and its inherently diverse inputs she sees a possibility to reflect upon contemporary events artistically.


Vernissage: 08. 06. 2011, 19:00


Breaking News – Fukushima and the consequences is made possible thanks to the support of Friends of KW and Tandem Transport. -- Kindly supported by Pilsner Urquell. -- Special thanks to Ikemura’s class at the University of the Arts Berlin, as well as Christoph Held and Sarah Nöllenheidt. -- KW Institute for Contemporary Art is supported by the Governing Mayor of Berlin’s Senate Chancellery for Cultural Affairs.

KW Institute for Contemporary Art

Auguststr. 69

D-10117 Berlin
Phone ++49. 030. 24 34 59 93

Fax ++49.030. 2434 59 99


source: www.kw-berlin.de/kw/en/exhibitions/breaking_news_fukushima_and_the_consequences_59