Masato Nakamura: Luminous Despair

Published on the occasion of the 2015 exhibition Luminous Despair: Seoul-Tokyo 1989-1994 at 3331 Arts Chiyoda. 

Masato Nakamura hit the ground running in the early '90s after studying abroad in Korea, beginning with the Nakamura and Murakami Exhibition and going on to develop guerilla art projects the stuff of legend, including street-seizing exhibitions The Ginburart and Shinjuku Shonen Art. Nakamura would go further, paving the way for a new take on the relation between art and society through numerous art projects, such as an installation appropriating McDonald's golden arches or Akihabara TV, which hijacked nearly 1000 television motors in Akihabara Electric Town. However, after exhibiting at the Venice Biennale in 2001, Nakamura shifted his practice towards alternative art with the mandate to “create a place for ourselves, by ourselves,” developing sustainable initiatives within communities that could never be expressed in the commercial art scene. Following the establishment of project space KANDADA, these activities cumulated as 3331 Arts Chiyoda, announced in 2010 as a novel art center accessible to its community. It can be said that this, too, is a completely new artwork, extending the expressive domain of art under the concept of “art x industry x community.”

From nearly 40 thousand treasured photographs, all shot on film by Masato Nakamura, a careful selection of 700 photographic works focusing on the Seoul and Tokyo of 1989-94 will be on view. 

Physical description:
Softcover; 704 pages
Tokyo: 3331 Books, 2015
ISBN: 978-4-9906563-3-1
11.5 x 9 inches
Weight: 7 lbs