Joachim Koester: Bringing Something Back
Joachim Koester’s installations, films and photographs interweave historical and fictional narratives as a method to re-examine counter-cultural and spiritual practices. The performance-lecture Bringing Something Back is a new commission by Camden Arts Centre, which focuses on a text written by Koester and an accompanying selection of images and films, reproduced in an associated publication. The performance will address and connect a range of subjects including: the exploration of out of body experiences (OBE’s) and vibrational states; the evolution of neurochemistry and altered states via supplements; the Benandanti, who were members of an agrarian tradition in North-Eastern Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries (they claimed to travel out of their bodies while asleep to battle against malevolent spirits); and ‘Memory Machines’, an alternative term applied to the influential concept known as ‘Hypertext’; a fundamental system applied to the internet and numerous software applications.
For over 20 years, Koester’s work has explored the unconscious and unidentified abilities of the human body, often through performed re-enactments of occult rituals, transcendental forms of hypnosis, psycho-geographical explorations, and psychological experiments. His works consider how the body and mind assimilate with the space and time they inhabit, while reflecting upon the historically divergent role of the artist as both mystic and prophet.
Yosuke Fujita: Noiseem
Yosuke Fujita creates distinct live sonic performances that adapt and alter organic reverberations within the human voice and flowing water. For the European premiere of NOISEEM, he will employ synthesised water tanks connected to a unique pipe organ fabricated by Fujita to create a space of sonic resonance.
Fujita’s multichannel sound works initially evolved from a collaborative sonic experiment with ∈Ｙ∋ (Boredoms) entitled MEMOLEEM. The inaugural presentation of NOISEEM was at TPAM 2019. Fujita’s work has also featured in numerous exhibitions including CELL (Sapporo International Art Festival 2017), where he presented a sonic work that amplified the sounds of black soldier fly larvae buried in the soil.
Joachim Koester has exhibited widely, with solo shows at Statens Museum for Kunst (2018), Beirut Art Center (2018), Bergen Kunsthall (2018); Camden Art Centre (2017); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2016); Forum Eugénio de Almeida, Evora (2015); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2014); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2012); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2012); SMAK, Ghent (2012); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2010); The Power Plant, Toronto (2010); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2007); Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol (2000) and PS1 (project space), New York (1999) among others. Selected group exhibitions include: The Crime Was Almost Perfect, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2014); From the Collection, S.M.A.K, Ghent (2014); Prospectif Cinema, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); Habitar el tiempo, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2014); and ARKTIS, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2013). Koester’s work has also been exhibited in numerous biennales including the Taipei Biennal (2012); Sao Paulo Biennial (2010); Manifesta 7, Trento, Italy (2008); Sharjah Biennale (2007); the Venice Biennale, Slovenian and Danish Pavilions (2006, 2005 respectively) and Documenta X, Kassel (1997).
Yosuke Fujita
2019 Sound Performance Platform, Aichi Prefectural Art Theatre, Aichi, Japan
2018 NOISEEM, Dommune, Tokyo, Japan
2017 CELL, Sound Installation at Sapporo International Art Festival 2017, Sapporo, Japan
2015 MEMOLEEM, collaborative sonic performance with ∈Ｙ∋ (Boredoms), Kanagawa Prefectural Lake Sagami-ko Community Centre, Kanagawa, Japan
2015 INVISIBLE LAKE, solo exhibition, Kanagawa Prefectural Lake Sagami-ko Community Centre, Kanagawa, Japan
2015 Sayoko Yamaguchi: The Weariest, Clothed in the Future, collaborative performance with Norimizu Ameya, Moe (Moe and ghosts), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
2014 Kaiko no ie de, multiple sonic collaborations with artists including Akio Suzuki, Ichiko Aoba, Ei Wada, Fuyuki Yamakawa, Yukio Suzuki, Koichi Makigami amongst others, Kanagawa, Japan
2012 12K Festival, sonic performance, Super Deluxe, Tokyo, Japan
2010 11’S MOON ORGAN, solo exhibition, Chef-d’Oeure, Osaka, Japan
2010 HIBINARI, sonic installation, Kofu Art Festival 2010, Kofu, Japan
A Camden Arts Centre and Thirty Three Thirty Three co-production in association with Laurel Halo as part of MODE 2019.
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