TEXTURAL SPACE

Textural Space is a remarkable project involving contemporary Japanese textile artists who are the leaders in their field. It featured large-scale work which explored, in innovative ways, the 3D potential of textiles within an installation format. The project had four major areas of development:

• A substantial touring exhibition
• A series of specially commissioned site-sensitive works in non-gallery spaces
• An extensive education programme
• The catalogue

Textural Space opened in the South East of England in April 2001 where Public reaction to the exhibition was extremely positive and visitor numbers reached 50,000+; on one day alone 1,300 people visited Machiko Agano's beautiful instalation at 'Fabrica' in Brighton.

Textural Space then came together as one complete exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich from 10th July until 2nd September. Exhibiting artist Chika Ohgi was artist-in residence and created a new site-sensitive work in response to the Sainsbury Centre permanent collection.

The exhibition is now closed after appearing at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester until 18th November 2001

‘Takakis Textilräume sind…eigenartige Zwischenreiche aus gefiltertem Licht und geheimnisvollen Schatten, wo eine Schicht den Blick auf die nächste frei gibt, nicht drinnen und nich draußen….. Japaner trennen nicht zwischen Kunst and Design, zwisschen Baustruktur und Dekoration’

(Takaki's Textile Spaces...create strange in-between worlds of subdued light and mysterious shadow, where one layer reveals a sight of another layer, neither interior nor exterior....The Japanese do not differenciate between art and design, between built structure and decoration)

Matthias Thibaut
Kontemplation aus dem Koffer Handelsblatt
9th November 2001

'The installation was visually stunning, the subtle lighting an integral element of the work ...their work though non-functional in the strictest sense, and unequivocally on display in a gallery as art, celebrates Mingei ideals of purity, honesty, simplicity and craftsmanship...... ...The monumental scale of (Chika Ohgi's Water Pillars) was tempered by the intricacy of its construction - the tension between the micro and macro awe-inspiring...'

Kate McIntyre.
'Harmony In Space',
Crafts Magazine Nov./Dec. 2001

'.....(the) Japanese wonder and melancholy at the world's fragility and transience".....that long-admired Japanese sensibility is far more evident in Textural Space: Contemporary Japanese Textile Art, previously reviewed and currently at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (until November 18th). Its artists embody a concern with "the beauty of studied simplicity and harmony with nature"; with art as self-discovery rather than self-expression. But to say this show knocks the Hayward's (Contemporary Japanese Art: Facts of Life) into a cocked hat would be crudely unJapanese. In Japan such things are a case of "as well" rather than "either or". Life is a continuum in which everything has its place."

John McEwan.
The Sunday Telegraph
October 7th 2001

....Texture is becoming an increasingly important issue in building design; and touch-feelies who crave a glimpse of this tactile future recently beheld an accident of revelatory perfection in Norwich. There, in Norman Foster's 1978 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, an array of materials - crinkled, delicately webbed, shimmering, rumpled, translucent - contributes to a chance essay on the relationship between architecture and the Japanese fibre artworks in the Textural Space exhibition........a brilliant coup: textiles as phantom architecture in one of Britain's most rigorously achieved architectural spaces....'

Jay Merrick
The Independent Review
6th September 2001

'There is a huge variety of work and, in spite of the labour intensiveness, the artists have maintained a lightness and freshness which appears effortless, like breathing....visitors respond as if in a sacred space. It is for most a spiritual experience.....For those unable to visit this extraordinary and beautiful exhibition there is a superb catalogue which reflects the exhibition's design and sensibilities...'

Frances Geesin
Textileforum
August 2001

'Textural Space... one of the most interesting events of this years Japan 2001 cultural programme... of particular interest to architects because it is the 3D qualities of the Japanese tradition of fibreworks or textile art that set it so firmly apart from a Western concept of the role of textiles in buildings....... The show challenges us to think again, not just about textiles and how we use them, but how we define and experience space.'

Catherine Croft. Interiors for Architects & Designers. March/April 2001

'Above everything else, the scale of the work is particularly striking - silk and steel strands are transformed into towering structures, knitted steel and paper structures become monumental. Each textile creates its own environment to surround and envelop the viewer.'

Barbara Jones. International Textiles. April/May 2001

'To arrive in Brighton on a beautiful spring day, a cleansing chill adding an edge to the sea breeze, proved the perfect prelude to the work of leading Japanese textile artists, similarly beautiful and cleansing. ......in the hands of the Japanese, 'textiles' achieve astonishing and harmonising subtlies worthy of nature itself as in Shihoko Fukumoto's linen hangings dyed in infinitely differentiated shades of indigo 'Opening Moon' and 'Closing Moon'........One evening last week I looked at the evening sky and with a shock of recoginition saw Fukumoto's moon - the harmonising connection of inner and outer, mind and eye suddenly reconfirmed. Now that is art.'

John McEwen. Sunday Telegraph Art Review. 6th May 2001

'The work is mostly large in scale, very sculptural, and both beautiful and original in concept. The new textural effects being used, with light and shadow, certainly provide us with new feelings about space.......This quite inspirational exhibition...'

Eric Buesnel. Farnham Herald Art Review. 11th May 2001

Textural Space originated through The Surrey Institute of Art & Design University College and began as a project in 1998. The exhibition opened in April 2001 as one of the first attractions of the year long series of Japan related cultural events - 'Japan 2001'. It will continue throughout 2001, ending in April 2002 and will involve Museums, galleries, Universities and the General Public throughout the UK.

Over the past ten years textiles have been used increasingly as a medium for contemporary art. This has been accompanied by a related rise in public interest and involvement. Textural Space is the first comprehensive opportunity in the UK to see this pioneering and beautiful Japanese textile art. The Textural Space website offers the chance to explore the project further.

Nothing on this scale has ever been seen in this country before.

THE EXHIBITION AND TOUR

Textural Space is the continuation of a dialogue established between Japanese and British textile artists in 1998 when the highly acclaimed British textile art exhibition, REVELATION, visited Kyoto.

The Japanese textile artists’ training is long and firmly based in traditional craft skills, 10 trained in weaving, 2 in dyeing, 1 in printing. This depth of knowledge of materials and techniques has given them the freedom to produce innovative, beautiful work which at times can be described as monumental. Since the ending of the Tapestry Biennale in Lausanne there had been very few opportunities in Europe to see large scale Japanese textile art and their work is virtually unknown in the UK.

Textural Space is an exhibition of the following artists: Machiko Agano, Tetsuo Fujimoto, Studio Kobayashi (Naomi and Masakazu Kobayashi), Shigeo Kubota, Kyoko Kumai, Asako Ishizaki, Harumi Isobe, Chika Ohgi, Koji Takaki, Chiyoko Tanaka, Yoshiko Tanabe. There are 29 works in the main body of the exhibition, many of which are made up of more than one unit. Much of the work is three-dimensional, the artist attempting, through the work, to describe space without containing it.

The materials are varied, from stainless steel to silk and many of the techniques employed are of the artist’s own devising; for example the ‘grinded’ fabrics of Chiyoko Tanaka using the earth and its surface to create the patina and colour of the cloth. It can also be new ways of using the old, for example Shihoko Fukumoto’s beautiful and intense version of the traditional shibori technique as can be seen in her piece ‘Milky Way’. Alternatively Chika Ohgi, using the most traditional of Japanese techniques to make her paper, creates extraordinary silent environments.

The work in Textural Space has a quiet beauty, leaving room for individual contemplation of the different textures, the various qualities and uses of light and shadow, the concealing and revealing of space. The artists invite us to become more than observers of the work by taking time to experience it.

The Japanese artists see this show as a wonderful opportunity to display their skills and talents in Europe and are excited by the prospect of being involved with such a prestigious exhibition. In response, they are creating a number of works specifically for Textural Space including a group of exciting monumental pieces.

The tour began in the South East of England and will continue to four other venues around the country. The size of the exhibition itself and the individual pieces means that the opening show has been divided between four spaces. Each venue has been chosen as an appropriate space to focus on different aspects of the work: size, diversity of materials, complexity of structure etc.

Textural Space in the Media

NEWSPAPERS

• Metro, London 4 May 2001
• The Daily Express 4 May 2001
• The Sunday Telegraph 6 May 2001
• Financial Times 5/6 May 2001
• Independent 5/11 May 2001
• The Times Play 12 May 2001
• The Times Play 14 July 2001
• Financial Times June 2001
• Independent Review 6 September 2001
• The Sunday Telegraph 7 October 2001
• Handelsblatt (Germany) 9 November 2001

NEWSPAPER LISTINGS

• The Guardian Guide 28/4 April 2001
• Times List 5 May 2001
• Times List 12 May 2001
• Times List 19 May 2001
• Times List 2 June 2001

CONSUMER MAGAZINES

• Homes & Gardens April 2001
• Gardens Illustrated April 2001
• Wingspan - ANA Inflight April 2001
• Harpers & Queen May 2001
• House & Garden May 2001
• Collections Spring 2001
• Room Spring 2001
• London Zok Spring/Summer 2001
• Holland Herald - KLM Inflight October 2001

SPECIALIST MAGAZINES

• Asian Art February 2001 Design Week February 2001
• RA Magazine Spring 2001
• Visiting Arts Spring 2001
• Landscape Journal March 2001
• Interiors for Architects & Designers March/April 2001
• The Architects Journal March 2001
• Blueprint April 2001
• The Architects Journal April 2001
• Building Design April 2001
• IdFX April 2001
• Crafts Magazine March/April 2001
• International Textiles April/May 2001
• Art Review May 2001
• a-n Magazine May 2001
• The Artist May 2001
• Crafts Magazine May/June 2001
• Arts & Humanities Research Board 2000/2001
• The Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers June 2001
• Art Review June 2001
• The Burlington Magazine July 2001
• Fourth Door Review Summer 2001
• International Tapestry Journal August 2001
• Insight Japan August 2001
• Flux Magazine August 2001
• Art Review September 2001
• Crafts Magazine September/October 2001
• The Historic Gardens Foundation October 2001
• Crafts Magazine November/December 2001
• Art Review November 2001
• Interior Design November 2001
• International Embroidery Review January 2002
• The Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers March 2002
• Text March 2002

INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINES

• Casa Jardim (Portugal) April 2001
• Interni (Italy) August 2001
• Textile Forum (European) August 2001

REGIONAL

• Farnham Herald 19 January 2001
• Living in Surrey February/March 2001
• Good Looking February/April 2001
• Art beat, Surrey May-July 2001
• The Link Spring 2001
• City News (Brighton) April 2001
• The Insight (Brighton) April 2001
• Medway News, Kent 27 April 2001
• Haslemere Herald 13 April 2001
• Farnham Herald 13 April 2001
• Farnham Herald 20 April 2001
• Create Spring Summer 2001
• Kent Today 27 April 2001
• Weekend Argus (Brighton) 28-29 April 2001
• City News (Brighton) May 2001
• Argus (Brighton) 2 May 2001
• Surrey Advertiser 4 May 2001
• Farnham Herald 4 May 2001
• K M Extra (Medway) 4 May 2001
• Haslemere Times & Mail 8 May 2001
• Argus (Brighton) 9 May 2001
• Argus (Brighton) 10 May 2001
• Farnham Herald 11 May 2001
• Blah blah May/June 2001
• Good Looking (Brighton) May/July 2001
• City News (Brighton) June 2001
• Kent Today 15 June 2001
• Camberley News 15 June 2001
• Eastern Evening News (Norwich) 19 June 2001
• Evening News (Norwich) 5 July 2001
• Eastern Daily Press 7 July 2001
• Eastern Daily Press 9 July 2001
• Evening News (Norwich) 21 July 2001
• Arts East August 2001
• Cambridgeshire Journal 1 August 2001
• Eastern Daily Press 10 August 2001
• Evening News (Norwich) 16 August 2001
• Evening News (Norwich) 31 August 2001
• Eastern Daily Press 31 August 2001
• Living Edge September 2001
• Student Direct (Manchester) September 2001
• Manchester Evening News September 2001
• Manchester Evening News 7 September
• 2001 Deeside Chronicle 7 September 2001
• Metro North West 21 September 2001
• Chester Chronicle 28 September 2001
• Mold & Buckley Chronicle 28 September 2001
• Metro NorthWest 28 September 2001
• City Life, Manchester October 2001
• Metro NorthWest 4 October 2001
• City Life Manchester 10 October 2001
• Manchester Evening News 10 October 2001
• Metro News 19 October 2001
• Manchester Evening News 22 October 2001
• Metro NorthWest 30 October 2001
• Manchester Evening News 5 November 2001
• Manchester Life November 2001

INTERNET

• ArtNewsLetter March 2001
• Cloudband.com March/August 2001
• EveningNews 24 June 2001
• BBC Online September 2001

top