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MAT Exhibition vol.3
Yoshinori Niwa “Against Name”

丹羽良徳「名前に反対」

MAT, Nagoya is pleased to announce a new solo exhibition of artist Yoshinori Niwa, in which he shows a new installation of the project he realized in Philippines in 2014 as the 3rd special exhibition. The project “Selling the Right to Name a Pile of Garbage” (2014-15) follows Niwa as he planned to sell off the naming rights of a mountain of garbage in several dumping sites in Metro Manila. All garbage in the Philippines goes directly to the dumping site, because of a haphazard law which bans garbage incineration over the country. Through this act of, Niwa compares the final resting place of garbage, a naturally occurring product of human activity, with the alchemistic and capitalistic ‘Naming Rights’ business for his project. Niwa’s choice to counteract the idea of the owner’s property rights with the proposition that garbage has a monetary value forces us to rethink the issues of ownership and naming which seems to be a specifically human action. In this exhibition, a new installation of this project and several types of related texts explore the issues surrounding the social function or the particularity of “Naming”.

Artist

Yoshinori Niwa

Report

MAT, Nagoya had a solo exhibition of Yoshinori Niwa “Against Name”.
Ever-growing landfills have been a serious social issue in the Philippines, due to the unmethodical law to prohibit the incineration of trash. Selling the Right to Name a Pile of Garbage(2014-15) is a project Niwa worked on in the Philippines trying to sell a naming right for a rubbish heap in a landfill of a suburban Metro Manila. In this project, “monetary value” derived from intangible business and “concession” derived from owing land collide over the idea of combining landfill as a final destination of all garbage human produce, and naming rights business that are financially alchemic in capitalism. The collision also makes us reconsider the idea of “owning and naming”, which is believed a peculiar right for human being.
The installation show consists of the film work based on the project along with diverse texts associated with naming, provided viewers opportunity to reconsider functions and specificities of names.

Exhibition Photography | Testuo Ito, Documentary Videography | Yushi Yashima

Related Events
Against Name 1 — Workshop “Garbage and Naming”

Saturday 16 January 2016
14:00–16:30
Venue | The Port of Nagoya area
Participants | 10

The workshop was aimed at examining the idea of “naming” through process of naming objects found during a walk with the artist in the Port of Nagoya area.

Against Name 2 — Talk Session “Garbage and Society —What will be brought out to public space?”

Saturday 23 January 2016
14:00–16:00

Based on “publicness” derived from the work Selling the Right to Name a Pile of Garbage, the artist had a public talk with a sociologist to examine social issues.

Artist Talk “Solo Recital of Yoshinori Niwa”

Saturday 20 February 2016
14:00–16:00
Venue | Minatomachi POTLUCK BUILDING 1F: Lounge Space
Visitors | 25

Niwa offered beverages to audiences and gave a talk on his earlier works and theoretical back ground along with his future visions.

Held at the same time

A fair featuring the artist called “Yoshinori Niwa fair” was held at an art shop in Nagoya to commemorate the exhibition.
Friday 15 January–Saturday 20 February 2016
Venue | NADiff aichi (in Aichi Arts Center)

MAT Exhibition vol.3
Yoshinori Niwa “Against Name”
Date
Friday 15 January-Saturday 20 February 2016
Time
11:00-19:00
Venue
Minatomachi POTLUCK BUILDING 3F : Exhibition Space
Closed
Sunday / Monday / Public Holidays
Admission
Free
Direction
Minatomachi Art Table, Nagoya [MAT, Nagoya]
Organizer
Joint Committee of Port Town
Cooperation
The Japan Foundation

Related link
Profile
Yoshinori Niwa

Artist

Sell naming rights for garbage mountains
2014
Project