InstagramRieko Akatsuka - George Barber - Kaz - Guy Sherwin - Tereza Stehlíková
Curated by Kaz
‘Eternity does not exist anywhere
but in changing time. Eternity is the absolute now.’
In his 1956 essay Time and Eternity, D.T. Suzuki—an
influential Japanese Zen Buddhist scholar and philosopher—reflects
on the nature of eternity, which he describes as fixed,
and on changing time, stating that the two arise in
opposition to each other as a result of binary thinking.
He argues that change and eternity cannot exist independently
and concludes as above.
In absolute now II,
five artists who participated in the exhibition’s first
iteration in Tokyo in 2015 return to revisit and further
explore the seemingly paradoxical notion of the coexistence
of both moving and fixed time.
For this exhibition,
each artist presents a new installation using the moving
image—a medium composed of a series of still images—to
consider what ‘absolute now’ and being present mean
within a socio-political landscape that has shifted
significantly over the past decade. The exhibition also
questions what it means to be present at a time when
‘truth’ has become an apparently malleable concept,
and when escaping the here and now has become increasingly
easier through social media and so-called technological
‘advances’.
Rieko Akatsuka
(b.1965, Tokyo) lives and works in Tokyo and London.
She is interested in exploring timelessness and liminal
space where life and death co-exist. In recent years,
she has been working with neon sculptures as well as
with meticulously constructed miniature dioramas using
visual material created by and related to her late parents,
including items which belonged to them.
She
has exhibited numerous times at Danielle Arnaud. Group
exhibitions include Dai Neon Ten - Find New Wave,
Tokyo Tower, Tokyo (2024), Destroying the Former
Office Building of Fujio Productions, Tokyo (2022),
Manga, British Museum (2019) and Bichutsu
Ten, Bank Gallery, Tokyo/PARCO, Fukuoka, Japan
(2015). She also designed the stage set for the play,
Akatsuka Fujio Scrapbook, CBGK!!, Tokyo (2025).
George Barber
(b. 1958, Guyana) lives and works in London. He rose
to prominence in the 1980s as a pioneer of the Scratch
Video, a fast paced video art genre which used sampled
clips from broadcast films and TV to orchestrate sound,
vision, repeat edits and rhythm. He has also produced
a substantial body of other moving image work; incorporating
improvisation, performance, actors, comic monologues,
computer animation, and more recently, poetic and political
'essay film' style works.
Barber’s works have
been shown in festivals, galleries and broadcast on
television worldwide, including Tate Britain and the
Royal Academy. In 2023, solo screening of his works
was held at BFI Southbank, London. Solo exhibitions
include SCRATCH!, TACO!, London (2019);
Fences Make Senses, Waterside Contemporary, London
(2015); Akula Dream, Chapter Arts, Cardiff
(2015); By the Way, Young Projects, Los Angeles
(2015); and The Long Commute, Dundee Contemporary
Arts (2010).
Kaz (b. 1967,
Tokyo) is an artist and a curator based in London. His
practice is concerned with being present, focusing on
our relationship to the world—both physical and non-physical—and
exploring the self and its interconnection with time
and space. He regularly works with time-based media
to create immersive experiences, using linear time framework
to facilitate contemplation of non-linear time and its
effect on our sense of self.
Recent solo exhibitions
time’s a revelator (2026) and return journey
(2023) were held at tadpole-lab, Tokyo. Group exhibitions
include: Demolishing the Former Office Building
of Fujio Productions, Tokyo (2022); postTRUTH,
SANDIE MACRAE | postROOM, London (2022); Visions
in the Nunnery, Nunnery Gallery, London (2018);
and Fig.4: Time Capsules and Conditions of Now,
David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2012).
Guy Sherwin
(b. 1948, Ipswich) is an artist and filmmaker
based in London, known for his poetic and contemplative
works, which often use footage from the everyday, engaging
with light, time and sound. In addition to films and
installation works, he often works with multiple projectors
and optical sound performances in collaboration with
Lynn Loo.
In 2016, his solo exhibition, Light
Cycles, took place at Christine Park Gallery, London,
and he was a guest curator of Film in Space,
Camden Arts Centre (2012-3). His films and performances
have been shown widely around the world, including:
Surfeit (2023 & 2024), Cafe Oto, London;
Mujanhyang, Museum of Modern & Contemporary
Art, Seoul (2014); A Century of Artists' Film &
Video, Tate Britain (2003/4); Shoot Shoot Shoot,
Tate Modern (2002); and Live in Your Head,
Whitechapel Gallery (2000).
Tereza
Stehlíková (b.1975, Prague) is a Czech-British
artist based in Prague. She explores the role our senses
and embodiment play in conveying meaning through an
artistic practice which spans moving image, installation
and participatory performance, and is driven by cross-disciplinary
collaboration. In 2020, she founded the online arts
journal/platform Tangible Territory, which
features contributions from established artists and
authors across the field of arts, science and philosophy.
Her films have been screened internationally,
including at Whitechapel Gallery, London, Stadkino,
Vienna and Embassy of the Czech Republic in London.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Familial Traces,
Sternstudio Gallery, Vienna, Austria (2023); Ophelia
in Exile, Vitrinka Gallery, Czech Centre London
(2021); and From You to Me: 4 Generations of Women,
Alchemy Film & Arts, Hawick, UK (2019). Her most
recent multi-sensory performance, The Infra-ordinary
Lab, took place in 2023 at the historic Holešovice
Market as part of the Prague Quadrennial.
*All the exhibiting artists took part in absolute
now, Atsukobarouh, Tokyo, Japan (2015).
The exhibition will include a curated events programme:
Friday 20 March, 6 - 8pm
Reading group led by Kaz
Time and Eternity,
a short essay by DT Suzuki, will be discussed in this
reading group facilitated by Kaz. In the text, Suzuki
introduces the concept of the “absolute now,” which
is explored in the exhibition.
Click here to view the text Time and Eternity
by D T Suzuki
Friday 27 March 7 - 9pm
Outdoor performance of
Man with Mirror by Guy Sherwin
2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Man with Mirror, by Guy Sherwin.
In this seminal 16mm film projection performance, film
footage of the artist from 1976 shares the same space-time
as his present day physical self, producing imagery
that is both visually and conceptually perplexing. For
this event, he will perform the work in the garden,
offering a rare opportunity to experience this work
in an outdoor setting.
Saturday
18 April, 2 - 5pm
A Moment Held: A Ritualfor
Shared Presence
Closing event and sensory workshop
with Tereza Stehlíková
In the workshop, participants
will share their stories through memories connected
to an object they bring with them on the day. The session
will culminate in the creation of a shared ritual for
the present moment, as a way to ground ourselves in
the ‘here and now’.
For further information please contact danielle@daniellearnaud.com.
With the kind support of the Czech Centre London.
