Rumiko Hagiwara is a Japanese visual artist based in the Netherlands. Her subtle actions in conceptual art practices suggest people the different angles of perceptions in daily life. She draws attentions to ordinary phenomenon with her subtle sense of humors. These minimal interventions do not add, but rather address and point out the memories that usually pass by unnoticed as our attention is drawn away by the distractions of daily life. By making these subtle and tiny adjustments, she intends to return the viewers attention to these seemingly daily situations.

Rumiko had started an individual research project about sense of humors on Asia since October 2012 via several artists in residency programs in Institute for Provocation (IFP), Beijing, Tokyo Wonder Site (TWS), Tokyo and Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen. She has been collecting humorous phenomenon in societies and documenting them into her weblog-archive rumikohagiwara.enter-office.net

Humor has created certain aspects in different fields confronting our daily reality. Rumiko believe this effect contains very interesting characteristics to turn out the meaning of the signs on mundane objects. It is for creating the new perceptions in daily life to confront the frames of the world. She is therefore interested in mechanisms of humors especially in Asia which is her origin, and regarding them as prospective characters to address in her conceptual art practices.

She is going to exhibit several art works in her solo show “oh my lovely city”. They were developed during a process of her research. The title of the exhibition came from one of presenting art works, a set of postcards consists of images of anonymous Utopians that were posted on streets in Xiamen.

Since Rumiko has been staying in Chinese European Art Centre in Xiamen from January, She often saw images of depicting ideal cities in street posters. These images were drawn as “Utopias” besides slogans and these Utopian images were collected all throughout different parts of the city. These Utopian images used similar iconography in its rendering of the city. She photographed the posters and focused on the generic elements of these Utopias. Rumiko then created this set of postcards allowing the audience to have their own pocket sided versions of ideal Utopias.

“Oh my lovely city” is representing Rumiko’s subtle sense of humors that was greatly improved during her stay in China.

This residence/exhibition is made possible with the support of
– Mondoriaan Fonds, The Netherlands

Gallery