2015-09-26

New website

I have a new website now with some new work. Please drop by! 

hirokonakajima.tokyo

2012-06-08

Konstfack Spring Exhibition Update IX: the silicon babies








































For about a month, I'd been unhappy with the title of the silicon pieces: 'to feel the space of in-between'.

My intention was to communicate the tactility of the piece (very creative title to do that...), when a friend started calling them 'silicon babies'.



'silicon babies'



I liked the name, especially how it stretched at 'bies(biːz)', and decided to adopt it as their nicknames.




On the opening day, I spotted a young man listening to the silicon baby.  


 





































He was standing there for a very long time, just listening, so I followed him by pressing my ear against the baby's skin.



We stood there together, listening.



The sound gave a peculiar sensation of being under thick and heavy water, everything seemed to be moving in a slow-motion and the small bells inside the babies were gurgling.



It was bizarre, fantastical and a pleasant surprise for I've been so focused on developing the tactility of the piece that this 'listening' aspect went undiscovered until I met this young man.



A happy discovery.  One thing that motivates me to continue.



(P.S. The babies glow in the dark too ***)

2012-06-06

Press





































<Expressen May 22, 2012>


In Expressen with my friends Monika Strasser and Mia Larsson.



<written about this piece>

 
 

2012-05-31

Konstfack Spring Exhibition Update III: the gentleman and the glove




On the third day of the spring exhibition, I met an old gentleman from Algeria.  He told me he liked the elongated glove and asked me what were my thoughts behind the piece.


The glove was talking about the confusion I felt during the transition period of moving; a sense of being pulled from two sides (the old and the new), and the strange feeling of being placed 'in-between'.


He looked a little surprised and after a short pause, passionately exclaimed (with a lovely French accent),


'For me, this is UNITY!' 




Then he took my hand and gently continued (again, with a lovely French accent),


'It is EGO inside you that makes you confused.' 


If I could see the world as a whole, he explained, and realise that we are all connected, I will never feel lost in this world.



...one of my most memorable encounters during the exhibition.

 

2012-05-28

Glasgow


May 23-25.  My friend Brice and I had an opportunity to do a pop-up exhibition at repositioned gallery in Glasgow.

The gallery was amazing in many ways, but it was especially inspiring to see how the gallery connected with different communities in the area, and how it created a space for art within the everyday.


The most fascinating thing about the gallery was that the space was always 'breathing'. 






<Brian sitting outside the gallery>

Brian, who is one of the founders of the gallery and took care of us during our stay, always sat outside the gallery, greeting and chatting with people who passed by.

Some were on their way home, some to the pub.  Some were friends and some were passersby, but they all naturally hopped in and out of the gallery, as if it was a continuation of their conversations.  

This created a wonderful rhythm and flow to the gallery.









































Mobility, fluidity, flux ...  these are words I associate with repositioned gallery.  

Repositioned moves every six months to different cities, hosting exhibitions and events from various creative disciplines.  

The duration of the shows is short, ranging from few days (like us) to several weeks, which has kept the space always lively and fresh.


For example, our pop-up exhibition coincided with an exhibition by The Designers Republic






































<Prints on the wall by The Designers Republic>


and a cycling show with Trakke's messenger bags, beautiful photographs of bicycles and bicyclers by Brian, and amazing hand-made bicycles.





























This fast rotation of the gallery created, here and there, a small chaos, mischief and spontaneity, which I found to be an exciting consequence of the gallery's concept of repositioning and moving.
 
It made the gallery more alive and human, and again breathing. 










































<My balloon pieces collaborating with the bicycle> 





































<Brian playing with a little girl who stopped by on her way home from school>








































<She also tried my necklace.  Thank you!>


After Glasgow, it is BERLIN.  Watch out for repositioned gallery♥






































<Thank you Brian for the lovely time!>





<Brian and Brice mop-racing>

2012-05-20

Konstfack Spring Exhibition Update II: the balloons







































During the exhibition, many people asked me if I made the balloons myself.  Yes, I did!




































Making my last balloons before going to Glasgow.
Newly-made balloons are crystal clear but as the latex oxidises, they gradually start to fog (→ the process I love).  







































My mobile work bench







































My friend, George, doing the late night shift with me in the metal workshop

2012-05-19

Konstfack Spring Exhibition Update I

Konstfack spring exhibition opened from 16 May.  
Happy to see kids playing with the pieces!