2021 Best Exhibition Reputation Analysis (1/5) Roni Horn: An Unquestionably Masterpiece. A solo exhibition by a vital American artist that you absolutely must see [Roni Horn: When You See Water in You, Do You Feel Water in You?] Pola Museum of Art
Excerpts from my annual newsletter, now posted on note for the first time as the [2021 Best 5 Exhibitions].
In 2021, I visited 97 contemporary art exhibitions.
(This article was written on December 21, 2021. Please check each museum's website for details.
) This year, I also gathered surrounding evaluations and internet reputations to calculate a total score, trying to avoid personal bias. Even so, it remains within the realm of the personal.
Please enjoy these reviews, which I started with the hope of being somewhat fair.
For details, please refer to [Evaluation Criteria].
[Evaluation Criteria]
Me - Nearly 30 years in the art industry. Part-time work at a certain academic society and museum. From original identity research (this kind of field), I have recently been devoted to gender harassment and feminism research. I am taking this on as part of my amateur data analysis.
<25 points available>
Husband - An American who worked for a long time at a museum in New York. Currently retired. In our home, he is the contemporary painting commentator.
<25 points available>
Reputation among art professionals the couple has met <15 points available>
Reputation on the internet, magazines, and newspapers <35 points available> I followed magazines and newspapers as much as possible.
For the internet, I manually tracked statistics on Twitter and Instagram. Instagram tends to have five times more, or even more than that. The gap is widening every year. Although I call it statistics, some people refuse to have their posts captured, so I haven't done so; please forgive me.
◇ Special Research Notes for This Year
Another Energy article
As I wrote in detail in the , when researching the internet, one rarely sees opinions of jealousy and anger regarding art exhibitions. While exhibitions are public and this itself is fine, I observed a sample that I, as someone involved in gender research, should pay attention to, as it was concentrated almost entirely among men in their 20s to 40s. Even among experts, rarely. There was also a place where there was a scandal involving the chairman of a related association.As research material for gender awareness, I am collecting it and looking for a place to publish it.Unfortunately, I suspect this is a source of hate.
Regarding discourse on social media, there is also this paper in the United States.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe5641(Translation: Social learning (approval behavior on social media) promotes the expression of moral outrage and hate crimes)Substance-less writing born of envy and anger, the characteristic of not being able to face the main subject (in art, the work itself), this also resembles the tendency of hate. Readers of my newsletter, are you okay? Have you not become like that?◇
And to all of you in our parent generation. Comments about how photogenic something is or how trendy it is reveal a lack of intelligence, so let's be careful.
[About Photos]
I have unified this to no photos. (I have had trouble with this in the past).For viewing photos, I recommend each museum's website, the impressions of everyone on note, and
the blog of Art Teller Tony, who has a collection of reviews with images of over 150 exhibitions (this is amazing!)
.He has review images posted for exhibitions in all fields.To prevent spoilers, there is little explanation of the works. There are many personal impressions.
In no particular order, based on how easily the writing flowed.
Akira Tatehata, President of Tama Art University and Director of the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, chose it as his best in the Yomiuri Shimbun. Yuko Hasegawa, curator and director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, included it in her top 3 "Art Exhibitions You Absolutely Cannot Miss." Hasegawa also recommended Richter and Eugene Studio (which I have also covered here).
It is highly rated on the internet and by critics, and many are calling it the best of the year. Recalling memories of seeing it at rathole long ago, I made the trip to Hakone as autumn deepened.
This is the first exhibition in a domestic museum to introduce Roni Horn, an artist who attracted attention after holding large-scale exhibitions at Tate Modern (London) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) in 2009-2010, and who continues to be at the forefront of contemporary art. It is also the first time since the museum opened in 2002 that the Pola Museum of Art has featured a contemporary artist alone in a large-scale special exhibition.
The internet is overflowing with comments like, "It's crazier than I expected," "It's wonderful to see it calmly in the nature of Hakone," "The spatial composition of all the exhibition rooms is wonderful," and "An ambiguous and poetic space."
What was interesting was, "I'm surprised the Roni Horn chopsticks project was approved" (I thought so too).
[My Impressions]
This was really, really... the best. I'm a cynical person, but for the first time in a while, it was an exhibition that made me feel natural.
The curation was also wonderful, with nothing lacking or excessive. It's flawless. As it was written somewhere, I felt it was the best solo exhibition among overseas artists this year.
I thought deeply about universality and omnipresence. The works of artists called masters are, of course, interesting to look at, but they have a higher degree of universality.
This time, too, there are no flashy works, but in the small details, there is universality. That is why it transcends logic and words, and appeals to the senses without question. These are all such works. By my evaluation criteria, it is the highest rating without complaint. I emphasized this to my husband.
It is still being held even after the turn of the year. A must-see. Until March 30, 2022.
The glass works were quite different from seeing them in photos, and that was also interesting. They look heavy. So I asked the curator, and sure enough, they are heavy.
Now, is it correct to say this is the first time the Pola Museum of Art has featured a contemporary artist alone in a large-scale special exhibition = the first time in contemporary art?
Pola, this kind of exhibition is the most important. Please, keep doing it.
[Husband]
"She is a very important artist in America. There is no need to write that the work is good. It has a different expression than when I saw it at the Whitney or in Switzerland, and this place suits her. Great artists resonate. With the building and the place. I didn't think I would see the gold leaf again. You Are The Weather, it's about you. I'm happy that everyone in Japan can get to know her. Applause."
My husband speaks with a proud face to me, who is moved. He always boasts about artists from his home country.
[Evaluations from the Internet, magazines, and newspapers]
👍94% GOOD
Some voices even call it the best of this year or the last few years, both from experts and on the internet.
In fact, it had the highest score mathematically. It was almost tied with Mark Manders. This year was a great year.
Art professionals were highly praised by women, and are there many women on the internet too?
Regarding the numbers, I manually compiled statistics from Twitter and Instagram for the internet. There are some omissions, but I did my best again this year. Instagram tends to have 3 to 5 times more, or even more than that. The gap is widening year by year.Details here
One point, though. Roni Horn herself mentions gender, but looking at the Pola text, the gender topic comes first, so I have a small question about whether they want to present it that way.
With the next 'Another Energy' exhibition, I get the feeling that there's a sense that men should praise it if it comes up. It ends up looking like a catchphrase for the arrival of an era of female power. Such reactions are also seen here and there. I think preconceptions are difficult.
Even so, young people are coming. As a couple, we felt that art is changing. I repeat, I absolutely, absolutely want you to see it.
[Art Professionals]
Extremely high praise. Even at meetings, we would reminisce deeply, saying, 'That was really good, wasn't it?' Such moments continued. It was ranked in newspapers and magazines, and even if not, many people chose it as a runner-up.
I have a hunch that there were plans for Roni Horn at other museums in Japan, but did Pola like the environment?
I'm curious about that.
Until 3/30.
Roni Horn
Born in 1955, lives and works in New York. Received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Yale University. For over 30 years, while addressing issues surrounding gender, identity, and androgyny, she has focused not only on visual appeal but also on perception, emotion, and memory born from the confrontation with the materials that precede them. She creates works using various media without being bound by form, such as three-dimensional works, works on paper, photographs, and books. The isolated island in Iceland, which she has visited frequently since 1975, is a landscape that strongly influences her work.
◇
I bought the official catalog.
The exhibition 'Roni Horn: When You See Water in Water, Do You Feel Water in You?' is the first large-scale solo exhibition of Roni Horn at a museum in Japan, introducing a number of practices spanning approximately 40 years from the 1980s to the present, including her recent representative glass sculpture works. For an artist who creates conceptual works in diverse media such as photography, sculpture, and drawing, 'books' are also one of the important forms of expression. Many collections of works, exhibition catalogs, and artist books have been published to date. This book contains a variety of content, including exhibition views at our museum, interviews with the artist, and newly written essays. It is a catalog that allows you to deepen your understanding of Roni Horn's works that resonate with the nature of Hakone.
2021 Best 5 Exhibitions
◇ Masterpiece. A solo exhibition by a vital American artist that you absolutely must see [Roni Horn: When You See Water in Water, Do You Feel Water in You?] Pola Museum of Art
◇The best group exhibition at the Mori Art Museum [Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging - 16 Women Artists from Around the World] Mori Art Museum
◇It will become a legendary exhibition of our youth [Eugen Studio: After the Rainbow] Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
◇The determination and romance of one who inherits the dream of Japanese art [Yoichi Umetsu Exhibition: Pollinator] Watari Museum of Contemporary Art
◇This person is a genius. The underlying power of sculpture [Mark Manders - The Absence of Mark Manders] Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Runner-up
◇ Jam Session: Ishibashi Foundation Collection x Yasumasa Morimura - M-style 'Fishermen' - ◇ Yasumasa Morimura: The Myth of Watashigatari, Artizon Museum
◇ Isamu Noguchi: Ways of Discovery, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
◇ Eiko Ishioka: Can Blood, Sweat, and Tears Be Designed?, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
◇ The Israel Museum Collection: Impressionism - Genealogy of Light, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum
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