In the framework of the closing ceremony of the partner project “Space of Values. Coordinates Japan ”The author and curator of the exhibition, Irina Klimenko, conducted the last curator tour. The guests walked through 13 halls of the exhibition space and felt how the Japanese carefully preserved the Path of harmony and self-knowledge and how beautifully and delicately Japanese culture reveals the deepest meanings that are universal for all people.


The closing ceremony ended with a performance by Kaori Ishijima - the only Japanese woman in the team of authors of the project.


Curators and authors of the exhibition Coordinates: Japan. The space of values ​​”set itself the task of using the consistent visual and sensory experiences to lead the viewer through his own sensations and to give an opportunity to touch the emotionality of Japanese aesthetics. ⠀


How little do we know about Japan, and how easily are we ready to accept everything Japanese? To understand the concepts of another culture, it is necessary to determine the coordinate system through which this nation looks at the world.


At the exhibition “Coordinates: Japan. The space of values ​​”, which will be held within the framework of the Year of Japan in Russia, will be able to decipher the cultural codes of Japanese aesthetics and come closer to itself. Oriented “inward” Japanese picture of the world is described through the categories of space, both external and internal. The space in which every little thing matters. Signs, symbols, hints, codes - can a non-Japanese person be able to read them? Interdisciplinary exhibition “Coordinates: Japan. Space of Values ​​”is an attempt by Russian photographers and designers to touch the inner spaces of Japanese aesthetics and transform it into personal sensations.


Irina Klimenko, using photographs taken over 10 years in Japan, creates a space of thought experiments and visual experiences in order to give the viewer the opportunity to touch the emotionality of Japanese aesthetics and feel the depth and truth of their own inner experiences.




Each hall of the exhibition has its own name, determined by sensorics. The entire first floor is devoted to contemplation and the first two rooms (“Immersion”, “Contemplation”) prepare the audience for the ritual of “cleansing the vision with contemplation of beauty”.


On the second floor in the hall “Name of Things” there will be an opportunity to play naming of the seen things with the help of the Japanese poetic canon and write down their associations on special boards. In the “Hiding” hall, the content that cannot be seen with the eye or expressed verbally is collected. This is true for aesthetic understanding not only of philosophical concepts, but also of more concrete things and phenomena. For example, the aesthetics of kimono and the secrecy of the female body. It is in this hall that the collection of Japanese silk kimono "4 sides of the world" from designer Maxim Rapoport and the collection of helmets-masks from crystals from Olga Berg are located.


If the first two floors were filled with sensual experiences, color, which in Japanese aesthetics means more than form, then on the third floor of the audience more complicated sensations await - aesthetics of austerity, wabi-sabi and emptiness.


Filled with his own images and associations born from within, having felt the hidden possibilities of the potential, the viewer will end the journey in the “Space of Values”. Empty space plays a huge role in all Japanese art. It has an independent meaning, the whole field of means of expression is aimed at achieving emptiness, and not at depicting worlds, as in European art. The special meaning of empty space is also embodied in the use of the shadow. Shadow creates a sense of mystery in the soul, hints at the many possibilities that lurk in the dark and can manifest.


The exposition is supplemented with compositions from the master and teacher of ikebana of the Sogetsu Urana School of Kuular. The partner and participant of the exhibition was the KATSU brand, which creates objects that carry a minimalistic and natural design and immerse a person in a harmonious state, both at the level of visual perception and at the level of tactile sensations.


During the exhibition, a lecture program on the philosophy of Japanese aesthetics from leading art historians, as well as lectures and master classes in photography, architecture, calligraphy, video art, are planned.


Irina Klimenko


Irina Klimenko is an art photographer, curator, co-author of the immersive travel project in Sense Space (Japan), the ideological inspirer and organizer of the market of art photos for interiors PhotoDecorMarket (Moscow). Irina's works are exhibited at the international festival of art photography in Arles (France) and the parallel program of the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Author of photo books Inner Silence and Qualia.

Galina Merzlikina

Galina Merzlikina - curator and organizer of art exhibitions, festivals, projects and competitions of Russian and foreign art in Russia and abroad. Co-organizer and curator of POP UP MUSEUM.

“The idea of ​​this exhibition appeared from the first acquaintance with photos of Irina, they live in time and with time in space and out of space, they are an inexhaustible source of thoughts, development and self-knowledge.”
 
Maxim Rapoport
Maxim Rapoport - director, designer, stylist, TV host, author and ideological inspirer of international art projects. Maxim received his education as a show program director, film and multimedia director. Professional education as a fashion designer - in the Fashion Laboratory of V. M. Zaitsev.
 
The conceptual brand Maxim Rapoport was founded in 2004. Maxim Rapoport brand philosophy is based on the desire to create unique, unique clothes, devoid of temporary space.
 
Olga Berg
Olga Berg - designer and artist.
 
Olga’s concept of creativity is based on the traditional technology of bobbin lace originating in the 12th century. The laborious, meditative and fully manual production process using pearls and Japanese beads allows you to create unique things outside of time, with its own character and special energy. This is a living tradition with great potential and ability to upgrade.
 
Uranus Kuular
Urana Kuular is a master and teacher at the Sogetsu School of Ikebana and the Omote Sanke tea ceremony, a specialist in Japanese gardens, a landscape designer. Pupil of the legendary professor Midori Yamada-sensei. He teaches a tea ceremony at the Japan Foundation in Moscow, a member of the International Association of Teachers Sogetsu and the Association of Japanese Gardeners (Japan).
 

The curators of the exhibition express their gratitude to the Cultural Foundation "EKATERINA" and personally to its founders Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin for their support in organizing and carrying out the project.