Time Present – Photography from the Deutche Bank Collection

Cao Fei, My Future is Not a Dream No. 2, 2006 120 x 150 cm C-print
© Cao Fei / Deutsche Bank Collection

This exhibition presents a panorama of photographic art made between 1970 and 2010 from the Deutsche Bank Collection, which ranks as one of the most important collections of contemporary art on paper in the world and boasts some 60,000 works. By showcasing a rich diversity of photographic art in which snippets of “time” are captured and recorded, this exhibition hopes to shine a light on the power of the photograph as a medium of artistic expression.

The title “Time Present” is taken from a poem by T.S. Eliot. Influenced by the philosopher Henri Bergson’s idea of “pure duration,” Eliot’s concept of time was a unique one that made little distinction between past, present and future. This interest in time was not limited only to Eliot and Bergson; consideration of time has occurred in many forms over the ages within the areas of art and philosophy and even today it is studied as a group or shared culture within cultural anthropology and folklore. Technically speaking, the photograph (both analog and digital) captures a snippet of time and stores it as an image, allowing us to recall the moment at which the shutter was released. The absolute gap between the time of the shot (the “past”) and the viewing of the photograph (the “now”) is an aspect that artists have used to construct various images of “time” in their works.
Against a backdrop of cultural and social diversification, one of the highlights of this show is the extent to which photography has been pursued within contemporary art as a common language. The show features some 40 artists (and a total of approx. 60 works) who are active within their respective cultural and social milieus. They include such internationally known German artists as Bernd & Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky and Gerhard Richter; emerging Asian artists such as Cao Fei, Yeondoo Jung and Liu Zhen; Japanese artists such as Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tokihiro Sato and Miwa Yanagi; and others from Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Through their works, the show hopes to cast a spotlight on contemporary photographic expression as it exists within the ever accelerating wave of globalization.

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

“Burnt Norton” from “The Four Quartets” (1935) by T. S. Eliot

[The Deutsche Bank Collection and the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art]
Among the art collections operated by corporations as a cultural activity, the Deutsche Bank Collection may be considered a world leader. In 2006, the Hara Museum collaborated with Deutsche Bank in organizing Tokyo Blossom: Deutsche Bank Collection Meets Zaha Hadid whose venue was designed by the first female architect to win the Pritzker Prize, Zaha Hadid. The Deutsche Bank Collection was launched in 1979, which by coincidence was the year that the Hara Museum opened. As a bank with branches that span the world, Deutsche Bank’s global perspective is reflected in its collection, as well as in the masterpieces featured in this exhibition which were drawn from the unique collection of Deutsche Bank.

[Exhibition Details]
Title: Time Present – Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection
Dates: September 12 (Saturday), 2015 – January 11 (Monday, national holiday), 2016
Venue: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art 4-7-25 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001 Tel: 03-3445-0651　E-mail: info@haramuseum.or.jp
Website: http://www.haramuseum.or.jp Mobile site: http://mobile.haramuseum.or.jp
Blog: https://www.art-it.asia/en/u/HaraMuseum_e Twitter: http://twitter.com/haramuseum (in Japanese only / account name: @haramuseum)
Organized by: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Deutsche Bank
Supported by: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Number of works: approx. 60
Hours: 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, Wednesdays until 8:00 pm (last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (except September 21, October 12, November 23, January 11),
September24, October 13, November 24 and the year-end/new year holidays (12/28 – 1/4)
Admission: General 1,100 yen; Students 700 yen (high school and university) or 500 yen (elementary and junior high); Free for Hara Museum members, students through high school every Saturday during the school term; 100 yen discount per person for groups of 20 or more.
Directions to the museum: 5 minutes by taxi or 15 minutes on foot from JR Shinagawa Station (Takanawa exit); or from the same station take the No.96 bus, get off at the first stop (Gotenyama), and walk 3 minutes

　
left: Miwa Yanagi, My Grandmothers: MINEKO, 2002 C-print 87.5 x 120 cm
© Loock Galerie / Deutsche Bank Collection
right: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Rosecrans Drive-In, Paramount, 1993 Gelatin silver print 42 x 54 cm
© Hiroshi Sugimoto / Deutsche Bank Collection

[Related Events]
A number of related events will be held during the exhibition. Further details will be announced at a later date.

(1) Video Screening (No reservation required. Seating on a first-come-first-served basis.)
Video works by Cao Fei, Julio César Morales and Cai Guo-Qiang from the Deutsche Bank Collection will be screened in The Hall at the Hara Museum.
Total number of video works: 3 (screening time: approx. 45 minutes). Requires only museum admission.
Screening schedule: 6:00 pm each Wednesday (except 9/23 and 12/23)

=Works on screen=
Cai Guo-Qiang Illusion II*
2006 approx. 9 minutes
Junio Cesar Morales We are the Dead**
2013 approx. 13 minutes
Cao Fei Whose Utopia**
2006 approx. 22 minutes
*2 channels
**Related tot he photographs in the exhibition

(2) Commemorative Curator’s Talk (reservations closed)
Friedhelm Hütte (Global Head of Art, Deutsche Bank AG)
Interviewer: Atsuo Yasuda (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art)
Date: September 12 (Saturday) 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Place: The Hall at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
Fee: Requires only museum admission.
Reservations will be accepted by email. Please write “9/12 Talk Reservation” on the subject line, and your name, contact telephone number and number of persons in your party in the body of the email. Then send to: event@haramuseum.or.jp.

(3) Workshop
This hands-on workshop for families will be led by Tokihiro Sato, whose work is featured in the exhibition. Sato was the winner of the 2015 Art Encouragement Award of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Date: October 31 (Saturday)
Place: The Hall at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
*Details regarding entry fee and application method will be announced at a later date.

[Exhibition Catalogue]
An English-language catalogue produced for the international traveling show will be available with Japanese translations of the English text included as a supplement. Full-color reproductions will be included of all works in the show. Price: TBA.

English catalogue: 240 x 240 mm, 174 pages, full color, paperback binding.
Supplement (Japanese translations): 240 x 240mm, 28 pages, black and white, saddle-stiched.

　
left: Anett Stuth, Memory, 2004 C-print 180 x 250 cm
© Anett Stuth / Deutsche Bank Collection
right: Zohra Bensemra, Afghanistan, 2009 C-print 61 x 85 cm
© REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra / Deutsche Bank Collection

[Participating artists]
Shirin Aliabadi b.1973, Iran
Kader Attia b.1970, France
Yto Barrada b.1971, France
Bernd & Hilla Becher Bernd: 1931-2007, Hilla: b. 1934-2015, Germany
Zohra Bensemra b.1968, Algeria
Gerard Byrne b.1969, Ireland
Cao Fei b.1978, China
Susan Derges b.1955, UK
Philip-Lorca diCorcia b.1951, USA
Hasan and Husain Essop b.1985, South Africa
Günther Förg 1952-2013, Germany
Luigi Ghirri 1943-92, Italy
Andreas Gursky b.1955, Germany
Siobhán Hapaska b.1963, Northern Ireland
Mathilde ter Heijne b.1969, France
Candida Höfer b.1944, Germany
Ottmar Hörl b.1950, Germany
Yeondoo Jung b.1969, South Korea
Idris Khan b.1978, UK
Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao b.1977, Taiwan
Martin Liebscher b.1964, Germany
Liu Zheng b.1969, China
Sharon Lockhart b.1964, USA
Boris Mikhailov b.1938, Ukraine
Julio César Morales b.1966, Mexico
Adrian Paci b.1969, Albania
Cornelia Parker b.1956, UK
Sigmar Polke 1941-2010, Germany
Gerhard Richter b.1932, Germany
Klaus Rinke b.1939, Germany
Tokihiro Sato b.1957, Japan
Dayanita Singh b.1961, India
Thomas Struth b.1954, Germany
Anett Stuth b.1965, Germany
Hiroshi Sugimoto b.1948, Japan
Massimo Vitali b.1944, Italy
Miwa Yanagi b.1967, Japan
Zhu Jia b.1963, China

　
left: Yto Barrada, Arbre généalogique (Family Tree), 2005 C-print 150 x 150 cm
© Courtesy the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut/ Hamburg / Deutsche Bank Collection
right: Massimo Vitali, #2232, Madima Wave, 2005 C-print 220 x 180 cm
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015 / Deutsche Bank Collection