Universal / Remote

Exhibition of work by international artists that conveys “comical aspects of the excesses of surveillance and high-tech networks, as well as the profound isolation of human beings” at HMOCA.

Featured artists

• Daisuke Ida
• Xu Bing
• Trevor Paglen
• Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Hito Steyerl and Miloš Trakilović
• Maiko Jinushi
• Tina Enghoff
• Jeamin Cha
• Evan Roth
• Natsuko Kiura

From the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art website:

This exhibition is a look back, through the lens of contemporary art, at the three years of the pandemic, which abated so recently but is already fading from our collective memory day by day.

Living in these globally interconnected times, it is difficult for us to perceive distance, but spatial and geographical distances can never be negated. During the pandemic, a two-meter distance between people was mandated, this being considered far enough to prevent aerial transmission of the virus. Meanwhile, the imposition of entry restrictions and travel bans revived our awareness of the distance between countries. Slowdowns in logistics reacquainted us, the inhabitants of Earth, with the reality of the planet’s vast distances. The pandemic forced us to recognize how far apart things are, a truth unnoticed or unacknowledged by so many in advanced nations. Many of us adopted remote work, which seemed to resolve or at least mask the distances between us, and as the pandemic waned, we rapidly lost our sense of distance once more.

The title Universal / Remote was devised to encourage us not to forget the perpetually distant realities of the present day. The phrase “universal remote” originally signifies a multi-functional remote control, but dividing it with a slash disrupts the implication of “universal effectiveness” and lays bare the dual aspects of universal (i.e. global) and remote (i.e. distant, contactless). This title conveys the conviction that is vital to remain aware of the sense of distance that came to the foreground during the pandemic, as well as the unchanged reality that we are all living separate lives.

Admission:

General: ¥1,300
College: ¥950
High school/Over 65: ¥650
Junior high school & younger: Free

Opening hours:
10:00-17:00 (last admission 16:30)
Closed Mondays (except July 15 and August 12 when closed the following day)

Image: Except from Jeamin Cha, Chroma-key and Labyrinth</em>