“Koyama is part of this prescient generation of artists working with photographic materials and ideas to conflate the imaging possibilities of digital technologies with the experimental spirit of the most vital periods of the medium’s history.” Charlotte Cotton*
Taisuke Koyama can still remember the exact date that he started working with photography, the day he bought his first digital camera on 18th October 2003. For fifteen years he has dedicated his artistic practice to an intense exploration into the evolution of the digital image. We’re delighted to welcome Taisuke Koyama to Seen Fifteen with a solo exhibition, opening as part of Peckham 24 Festival on Friday 18th May 2018.
Koyama trained in Biology and Environmental Sciences in Tokyo, and is a self-taught photographer. Bringing these two influences together into one thought, he has described his creative process as “observing with a microscope”. The seismic event of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 had a profound effect on Koyama’s practice and became a critical catalyst that shifted his focus towards the subject of the unpredictability of images:-
“Within the vast disaster area, the boundaries between the city and nature had been shattered right in front of my eyes. I was forced to think about the inevitable limitations of photography and how impossible it is to record all of actual reality”. Taisuke Koyama
For this new exhibition, SENSOR_CODE, Koyama will present abstract photographic works from four recent projects, which employ different experimental strategies using digital sensors. The reactions of light onto the sensors in digital cameras and scanners resolve into unique colours and patterns, which in turn creates Koyama’s own visual language. Releasing abstract photography from its heritage in materiality is an ongoing area of interest for the artist. So too is a paradoxical desire to design installations that become a physical experience. The works at Seen Fifteen will be presented as large inkjet prints that will be suspended from the ceiling in a maze of sculptural images for the viewer to journey around. In our contemporary world, where we are completely saturated by a never-ending stream of digitally transmitted images, the artist’s intention within the gallery space is to invoke a contradictory sensation. By dominating the room with large-scale prints he aims to force us to feel the images as well as look at them.
*Charlotte Cotton, from the essay for the photo-book Rainbow Variations, artbeat publishers, 2015
ABOUT TAISUKE KOYAMA
Taisuke Koyama (b.1978 Tokyo) is an artist based in Tokyo. Working from a background in biology and environmental science, he is interested in the relationship between the organic world and man-made technology. In recent years, Koyama has been experimenting with image making using data-input devices including the digital camera, handheld scanners and digital microscopes. In 2009 he was selected for Foam Talent 2009 by Foam Magazine. In 2012 he received the honour of the Jury Recommended Works from the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. In 2015 he was selected by Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland to participate in PLAT(T)FORM 2015, and in 2017 he was a finalist for the AIMIA / AGO Photography Prize. Recent exhibitions include:- Generated X at G/P Gallery, Tokyo (2017), AIMIA / AGO Photography Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (2017), Generated Images, Daiwa Foundation, Japan House Gallery, London (2016).
Opening Party
Friday 18th May, 6pm – 9pm
Video Projection for Peckham 24
Friday 18th May, 10pm – 2am
Opening Hours
Friday to Sunday, 12pm – 6pm
Or by appointment
Download the press release here