Greetings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
with word of a new contemporary video installation—inspired by the light of the moon in Boston and around the world—by Japanese artist Taro Shinoda…  

On view November 5, 2009 through January 31, 2010

 

Please Join Us for an Exclusive Exhibition Opening & Press Preview Reception * Tomorrow AM* Wednesday November 4th 9:00 to 10:30 AM Enjoy exclusive early access to the new video installation plus artist Taro Shinoda, curator Pieranna Cavalchini, and museum director Anne Hawley & a breakfast reception alongside the interior courtyard garden… ____________________________   Please RSVP to Katherine Armstrong at karmstrong@isgm.org or 617-278-5107                                  (FREE parking available for members of the media at the Museum of Fine Arts garage,  one block from the Gardner) Members of the media are also welcome to join us for the members’ evening opening reception, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm that evening. RSVP for both to Katherine [A PDF of the full invitation is also online at www.gardnermuseum.org/information/press.asp.]

 

 

An advance look…
at Taro Shinoda’s video installations of the moon as seen throughout the world…

 

 “The first step toward having a sense of us
all sharing this planet together…
I look at the moon and, a few hours later,
you look at it in some different country…
Observing the way the moon travels allows me
to make an image of the whole world.”

 

 

The art of Taro Shinoda engages themes of science, philosophy, and desire, and investigates our place in the universe. During his month-long residency in Boston in the spring of 2007, Shinoda was inspired by the moonlight in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum courtyard to develop his Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique. The seed for the project was rooted in the artist’s early childhood memories of trying to communicate with his mother over great distances, entrusting messages to the moon, which he hoped his mother could receive on the other side of the planet when the moon rose for her.

 

For the show, “TARO SHINODA: LUNAR REFLECTIONS” (on view November 5, 2009 through January 31, 2010),  the artist incorporated his Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique. The exhibition includes short extraordinary films of the moon and mysterious night landscapes shots of the moon from Tokyo, Istanbul, Limerick, and Boston, alongside a sound installation. For the project, Shinoda constructed an astronomical telescope out of corrugated cardboard and attached a video camera to it; with this instrument he films the moon and cityscapes from different parts of the world. From the vantage point of an engawa—a Japanese viewing platform that traditionally separates the domestic space from the garden—visitors are encouraged to sit and to meditate on their place in the universe.

 

_______________________

 

* Please JOIN US for the advance viewing tomorrow, November 4^th, at 9 AM!

 

A full PRESS RELEASE on the exhibition follows here, and is available online via www.gardnermuseum.org/information/press.asp (or direct link: (www.gardnermuseum.org/press_releases/2009/contemporary/TaroShinoda_Fall09/taro_shinoda_fall09_exhibition_release.pdf). Please also check back mid-week for additional information, including an artist bio/CV, image/caption sheet, and accompanying programming. Exhibition Images of Lunar Reflections will also be available to the media in the coming week and/or press photographers are always welcome.

Many thanks—and I hope you see you tomorrow!

Katherine

 

Katherine Armstrong
Public Relations Director

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
w 617 278 5107 ∙ c 617 956 2565 ∙ f 617 278 5177 ∙ karmstrong@isgm.org 

280 The Fenway, Boston MA 02115 ∙ gardnermuseum.org

 

Special Exhibition ∙ “Su-Mei Tse: Floating Memories”  ∙ On view July 17 through October 18, 2009 ∙ Press Preview Event: Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 9:00 AM (RSVP to karmstrong@isgm.org) ∙  Discover a new kind of night out ∙ “Gardner After Hours” ∙ Third Thursdays 5:30-9:30 pm 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist Taro Shinoda to Present New Contemporary Exhibition, Lunar Reflections Inspired by the Moonlight at the Gardner Museum in Boston
—and including reflections from Tokyo, Istanbul, Limerick, and Boston

 

 

On view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
November 5, 2009 to January 31, 2010

 

Advance Press Preview Event: Wednesday, November 4^, 2009,  9:00AM
RSVP to Katherine Armstrong at 617 278 5107 or karmstrong@isgm.org
_______________

 

Revised October 7, 2009, BOSTON •   The art of Taro Shinoda engages themes of science, philosophy, and desire, and investigates our place in the universe. During his month-long residency in Boston in the spring of 2007, Shinoda was inspired by the moonlight in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum courtyard to develop his Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique. The seed for the project was rooted in the artist’s early childhood memories of trying to communicate with his mother over great distances, entrusting messages to the moon, which he hoped his mother could receive on the other side of the planet when the moon rose for her.

 

Taro Shinoda returns to the Gardner Museum this fall to present “Taro Shinoda: Lunar Reflections,” a new body of work on view November 5, 2009 through January 31, 2010. The exhibition will include film shots from Tokyo, Istanbul, and Limerick, in addition to Boston, a sound installation, and an engawa—a Japanese viewing platform that traditionally separates the domestic space from the garden. From this vantage point, visitors may sit and meditate on their place in the universe as they watch Shinoda’s extraordinary films of the moon and mysterious night landscapes.  

 

For this project, Shinoda constructed an astronomical telescope out of corrugated cardboard and attached a video camera to it; with this instrument he films the moon and cityscapesfrom different parts of the world. He describes his endeavor as “the first step toward having a sense of us all sharing this planet together… I look at the moon and, a few hours later, you look at it in some different country… Observing the way the moon travels allows me to make an image of the whole world.”

 

Accompanying Programming ▪ Exhibition-related programs—artist conversations, evening events, and a special New Years’ celebration—inspired by the exhibition and the light of the moon: 

• Artist Conversation  ▪ Saturday, November 7, 2009, 1:30 pm ▪ ArtistTaro Shinoda and Curator of Contemporary Art Pieranna Cavalchini discuss the exhibition and Shinoda’s work.
• Room Views  ▪ Thursday, November 12, 2009, 6:30 pm ▪ Artist Taro Shinoda, museum director Anne Hawley, and Curator of the Collection Alan Chong consider the magic of Isabella Gardner’s courtyard.
• Gardner After Hours ▪ Evening events every third Thursday, November 19, 2009 through January 21, 2010, 5:30-9:30 pm ▪ Visit the Gardner—and the Lunar Reflections special exhibition—each month for a talk in gallery at 7:00 pm. Guest speakers include Eugene Joo, the Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Programs at The New Museum. 
• “Lunar Reflections” (A New Years’ Eve Event at the Gardner) ▪ Thursday, December 31 (New Years’ Eve), 2009, 9:00 pm ▪ Celebrate the full moon and New Years’ Eve with an additional installation by artist Taro Shinoda in the museum’s interior courtyard garden and a performance of Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire,” with violist Paula Robison and friends. An evening of art, music, cocktails, and events.

 

Artist Bio ▪ Taro Shinoda (b. 1964) is a Japanese conceptual artist whose work, often linked to landscapes, engages themes of desire, meditation, and adaptation. A self-taught artist whose broad base of knowledge and interest encompasses natural sciences, engineering, architecture, and landscaping, Shinoda conjures machines that not only approximate nature but create whole microcosmoses in and around themselves. Elements of the traditional Japanese garden is a recurring theme in Shinoda’s work and stems from a lifelong interest and training in Japanese horticulture.

Shinoda’s work has been shown in: Korea at the Busan Biennale; Turkey at the Istanbul Biennial; Limerick, Ireland at the EV+A festival; Los Angeles at the Roy and Edna Disney Calarts Theater; Tokyo at the Mori Art Museum; San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Lithuania at the Baltic Triennale; and Yokohama, Japan, at the International Triennale of Contemporary Art. Shinoda has been an artist-in-residence at REDCAT, Los Angeles and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Shinoda was born in Tokyo, where he continues to live and work.

 

Contemporary Art at the Gardner ▪ “Artists-In-Residence” Program ▪ Isabella Gardner left her museum and collection to the public—and to future artists—over a century ago as a place for the muses to fire the imagination and inspire artistic creativity and appreciation. Lunar Reflections is the latest contemporary exhibition created through the museum’s Artists-in-Residence program. Continuing Isabella Gardner’s rich legacy of patronage for living artists, the program also offers artists, curators, scholars, and the general public opportunities to view and learn from contemporary artists’ perspectives on the historic collection and Isabella Gardner’s ongoing inspiration

Created in 1992 by museum director Anne Hawley to revitalize creative thinking in the museum’s galleries and directed by Curator of Contemporary Art Pieranna Cavalchini, the Artists-in-Residence program supports artists’ needs for contemplation and an engaging environment. Visiting artists—painters, photographers, sculptors, composers, installation and performance artists, storytellers and writers—live at and explore the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, responding to its intimate installations, architectural beauty, musical and horticultural riches and archival histories to inspire creative thinking, artistic exploration and, often, ideas for new work. The museum has welcomed more than 60 artists to the museum since its creation, continuing Isabella Gardner’s legacy of patronage.

The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, by the Nimoy Foundation and generous individuals.
The Gardner Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

 

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum  •  280 The Fenway  Boston MA 02115  •  Tue.-Sun., 11 am-5 pm •  General and “After Hours” admission: Adults $12; Seniors $10; Students $5; Free for members, children under 18 and all named “Isabella”  •   $2 off admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston • Info Line:  617.566.1401 •  Box Office: 617 278 5156  • www.gardnermuseum.org •   Modeled after a 15^th-century Venetian palazzo surrounding a courtyard garden, the Gardner houses one of the most remarkable art collections in the world, featuring works by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Degas, and Sargent. Visit us online to learn more about our special exhibitions, concerts and evening programs.

 

Image: Taro Shinoda, Drawing for Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique (LRTT), 2007
Note: The above image is representative of his work; it will not be included in the Gardner exhibition.

 

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Media Contact:  Katherine Armstrong Public Relations Director, work 617.278.5107, cell 617.956.2565, karmstrong@isgm.org

Press Preview Event: Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 9AM |  An advance press preview event for this exhibition will take place on Wednesday, November 4^th at 9AM (New Time!) in anticipation of the public opening on November 5^th. Please rsvp to the museum’s press office. Free parking available for members of the media at the nearly Museum of Fine Arts parking garage.