A Room of Her Own: Rei Naito and Light
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June 4th, 2019 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm EDT
Cost: FreeDetails » Click here to register »
In celebration of CONTACT Photography Festival, we will be screening three documentaries, featuring the beauty of photography, architecture, light and the creative minds behind them. On May 23, we will explore this with the screening of two documentaries together, Memories of Origin: Hiroshi Sugimoto, followed by KOCHUU: Japanese Architecture/Influence and Origin. Then on June 4, we will screen a serene portrait of an artist in A Room of Her Own: Rei Naito and Light. Two of the films, Memories of Origin and A Room of Her Own were directed by Yuko Nakamura.
A Room of Her Own: Rei Naito and Light
A Room of Her Own: Rei Naito and Light Artist Rei Naito reminds us of the faint presence of things that are not visible unless we make the effort to see them. An artist shrouded in mystery, Naito has up to now refused to be filmed on camera. After two years of exchanges with the artist, this documentary attempts to get close to the essence of Naito’s art, which expresses the lights of existence, without pointing the camera at theartist herself. The story involves the dynamism of the pulsating space of the “Matrix” at the Teshima Art Museum, water, light, and five women who are enticed by the world of Naito’s art. The Teshima Art Museum, which integrates a construction by architect Ryue Nishizawa (co-founder of SANAA), the artwork “Matrix” by artist Rei Naito, and the natural surroundings, is located in the middle of the beautiful Teshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Special permission was granted to film the museum. The result is the birth of a new art documentary reminiscent of a deep prayer, with many intangible and tangible things weaved into the story.
“Highlighting the two-year communications between Naito, an artist who has never revealed her creating processes to the outside world, and director Yuko Nakamura, this film shows the quest of five women, all invariably enchanted by Naito’s art, as they explore her artistic world based on the question of whether it is in itself a blessing to be alive.” —Aichi International Women’s Film Festival
Director: Yuko Nakamura, 2015, 87 minutes > Films official website
Cast: Rei Naito, Ran Taniguchi, Hina Yukawa, Keiko Oyama, Nobuko Numakura, Kyoko Tanaka
Director of photography: Yasuyuki Sasaki/ Sound : Koh Yu Chang/ Editor : Yuko Nakamura, Kei Ishikawa/ Music : Tara Jane O’neil, Masakatsu Takagi/ Costume Design: Theater Products/ Assistant Director : Hayato Onishi/ Executive Producer : Hiromitsu Sugita/ Associate Producer: Tomoaki Sugimoto/ International Producer : Miyuki Fukuma/ Cooperation : Gallery Koyanagi, Teshima Art Museum/ Presented by TV MAN UNION, Inc.
(c) TV MAN UNION / YOICHI NAGANO
About Teshima Art Museum
Uniting the creative visions of artist Rei Naito and architect Ryue Nishizawa, Teshima Art Museum stands on a hill on the island of Teshima overlooking the Seto Inland Sea. The museum, which resembles a water droplet at the moment of landing, is located in the corner of a rice terrace that was restored in collaboration with local residents.
Structurally, the building consists of a concrete shell, devoid of pillars, covering a space 40 by 60 meters and with a maximum height of 4.5 meters. Two oval openings in the shell allow wind, sounds, and light of the world outside into this organic space where nature and architecture intimately interconnect. In the interior space, water continuously springs from the ground in a day long motion. This setting, in which nature, art and architecture come together with such limitless harmony, conjures an infinite array of impressions with the passage of seasons and the flow of time.
About artist REI NAITO
REI NAITO, born 1961, is a Japanese artist who was born in Hiroshima. She graduated from Musashino Art University in 1985. She presented her works at the 47th Venice Biennale (1997) in Italy. She also collaborated with architect Ryue Nishizawa (co-founder of SANAA) at the Teshima Art Museum on the island of Teshima, in the Seto Inland Sea.
Naito’s art is also showcased in The museum of für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, the Museum of Modern art in New York, the Israel Museum, and the national Museum of Art, Osaka.
About Director YUKO NAKAMURA
YUKO NAKAMURA (Film director / TV director) Born in Tokyo in 1977. Graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Keio University. Joined a publisher specializing in philosophy. After working as an editor, joined the team of film director Tsukamoto Shinya. Worked as assistant director on Tsukamoto’s films “Snake of June” and “VITAL”. Joined television production company TV Man Union Inc. in 2004. Planned and directed many documentary programs in the field of art and architecture. In 2012, her documentary “Memories of Origin: Hiroshi Sugimoto” produced for and broadcast on satellite TV station WOWOW was nominated for an International Emmy Award in the Arts Programming category. This documentary was re-edited for a theatrical release.
Trailer below >
