CYCLE DAIDO MORIYAMA
Part. 1

Hokkaido - Northern

13 Septembre-06 Novembre 2012

Photos de Daido Moriyama

English version below


ill: Hokkaido, Japon, 1978. Daido Moriyama / courtesy Polka Galerie


Cycle Daido Moriyama

Du 13 septembre au 12 janvier 2013, la galerie Polka est heureuse d’annoncer un cycle de trois expositions consacrées au travail de Daido Moriyama, né au Japon en 1938. L’ambition: approcher de multiples aspects de l’œuvre de l’artiste – pratique de la photographie de rue et de l’errance, installation et techniques diverses.

Part 1 / Hokkaido - Northern, du 13 septembre au 6 novembre 2012

«Hokkaido-Northern» est le plus vaste projet entrepris par Daido Moriyama. Au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le Japon est une nation meurtrie. Les ravages du conflit y interdisent encore tout voyage. Le jeune Moriyama croise dans ses manuels scolaires et les magazines les noms des villes d’Hokkaido, la grande île septentrionale de l’archipel, qui sonnent dans son imaginaire comme autant de destinations exotiques à l’instar de New York, Paris ou Rome.

Après ses premiers voyages à Hokkaido au début des années 60, Daido Moriyama photographie la région de manière compulsive, tout particulièrement durant l’année 1978. Il y retournera à de nombreuses reprises jusqu’en 2010 pour en rapporter des images en couleur.

Loin des travaux originels et avant-gardistes de Daido Moriyama – l’existentialiste Japan: A Photo Theater (1968), l’hystérique Farewell Photography (1972), le frénétique A Hunter (1972) –, «Hokkaido-Northern» montre une pratique plus assagie de la photographie de rue. Les cadrages toujours dynamiques contrastent une contemplation quasi mélancolique du quotidien d’une société encore rurale.

L’œuvre de Daido Moriyama se fonde sur une véritable conception du voyage et de l’errance, qu’il énonce dans les premiers textes de son autobiographie, Memories of a Dog (1984): pratiquer la photographie pour revenir sur ses pas, affronter la confusion de sa mémoire, amasser des souvenirs supplémentaires et ruminer comme un vagabond qui emprunte toujours les mêmes sentiers.

A l’occasion de l’exposition «Hokkaido-Northern», la galerie Polka présente plus de cinquante tirages, alliant des dimensions traditionnelles à une installation de grands formats, rappelant ainsi que, dès les années 70, Daido Moriyama envisageait de nouveaux dispositifs d’exposition.


L'exposition "Hokkaido-Northern" s'accompagne d'une publication exhaustive en trois tomes : Daido Moriyama : Northern, éditions Tosho Shinbunsha, Tokyo, Japon, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Les photographies en couleur de Hokkaido sont également reproduites dans le magazine personnel de Daido Moriyama : Record, no. 14, 16 et 17, Akio Nagasawa Publishing, tokyo, Japon, 2010.

Ces ouvrages sont disponibles à la librairie de la galerie Polka.



Communiqué de presse Hokkaido-Northern

Communiqué de presse Cycle Daido Moriyama

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The Daido Moriyama cycle

Polka Galerie is pleased to announce a cycle of three exhibitions (September 2012-January 2013) dedicated to Daido Moriyama’s œuvres (born in Japan in 1938). Our ambition is to apprehend multiple aspects of the artist’s work: his practice of street photography and wanderings, installations and diverse techniques.


Part 1 / Hokkaido-Northern, September 13th to November 6th, 2012

“Hokkaido-Northern” is the largest project ever undertaken by Daido Moriyama. In the aftermath of World War II, Japan was a wounded nation. The havoc wreaked by the war still prohibited any kind of travel across the country. While reading school books and magazines, young Moriyama came across the names of the cities of Hokkaido, the archipelago’s large Northern island. These names echoed in his mind as exotic a destination as New York, Paris or Rome could be.

Daido Moriyama began travelling to Hokkaido at the beginning of the sixties. He started taking photographs of the region quite compulsively, particularly throughout the year 1978. He then returned to the island on several occasions. From his latest trips (2008-2010) he brought back colour photographs.

“Hokkaido-Northern” shows a much more tempered street photography than Daido Moriyama’s original and avant- gardest projects such as the existentialist “Japan: A Photo Theater” (1968), the hysterical “Farewell Photography” (1972) and the frenetic “A Hunter” (1972). His usual dynamic framings contrast with an almost melancholic contemplation of everyday life in this still rural society.
Daido Moriyama’s work is based on a true conception of travelling and straying, which he describes in the first part of his autobiography “Memories of a Dog” (1984) as taking photographs to retrace his own steps, confronting his muddled memories, gathering additional ones and brooding on like a drifter always taking the same paths.

For the “Hokkaido-Northern” exhibition, Polka Galerie is pleased to present over fifty prints, combining traditionnal sizes and an large mural installation that reminds us that Daido Moriyama has experimented with different exhibition displays as early as in the seventies.

The "Hokkaido-Northern" exhibition comes with an exhaustive publication in three volumes, "Daido Moriyama : Northern", Tosho Shinbunsha, Tokyo, Japan, 2009, 2010, 2011.

The color photographs from the Hokkaido series are also published in Daido Moriyama's personal magazine, "Record", no. 14, 16 et 17, Akio Nagasawa Publishing, Tokyo, Japan, 2010.

These publications are available at Polka Galerie's bookshop.


Press release Hokkaido-Northern

Press release The Daido Moriyama cycle

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© Martin Argyroglo