Aoyama #01

Aoyama #01, 110x160 cm, Photography

Not many small huts in view,
Only three or four to be seen
Frosted trees dance in the sparse woods,
Showing sudden touches of color.
White clouds lie protectively
Over the closed brushwood gate;
The man out seeking the magic fungus
Has not yet returned.

Toko Shin-etsu (1639-1696)

Midtown Tokyo

Koyoto - Tokyo

Prosjektbeskrivelse

“Fusion East West”
I want to work in the borderline between the western and Asian culture. The core of the project is to move as close to the Japanese way of life as possible, and see what happens in the meeting between my western cultural background and the eastern culture. The complexity between the spiritual, traditional in contrary to the modern, urban society in Japan is fascinating.
I will study the relationship between people and architecture in Tokyo through photography and video art. I have made study trips to Japan 3 times. I have already made a pilgrimage to Koyasan and to Shikoku, lived in temples and tried to get a grip of the spiritual part of the Japanese way of living. I also work together with the musician Arve Henriksen to develop video works. He has had concerts in Tokyo.


The works pose a perceptual challenge when it comes to discerning their hidden motifs, but the observer is thereby offered different possibilities of interpretation.
A close study of man's concrete environment and mental perceptions of reality forms a fundamental common denominator of my works. I try to reproduce my experiences and reactions to the motif as an expression of my own self as a sensuous subject in the world. My painterly photographs present a picture attempting to get through and beyond the visual part of the world. Even though the video works contain a number of different themes, a recurring issue is my interest in water and fluids and with this in mind, I try to investigate the video's formal qualities as a recorder of living images.

I will spend more time in Tokyo to do research and to concentrate and develop new ideas within my concept. The result of this process will be sound- and video installations, photography and artist books.
I received a 3 year National Work Grant for doing this project. I am invited to be Festival Artist at the Molde International Jazz festival summer 2008 and will make a solo exhibition with work made in Japan. I work together with the musician Arve Henriksen who made a CD inspired of Japanese music. I will also make a solo exhibition in Kube Art Museum in Ålesund, Norway summer 2009. I will show my work in a Tokyo-based gallery or museum in the future when I am ready to show the result of this 3 year project.