Printing Ghosts: Where Errors Become Art in Shiho Yoshida's Latest Exhibition
Introduction
Shiho Yoshida's solo photo exhibition "The Vestiges of the Unseen"「印刷と幽霊」is a fresh new perspective on the classical notion of photographic exhibitions. The visual landscape envisioned by the artist in the exhibition space has created a unique atmosphere. This atmosphere moved beyond the traditional ways of exhibiting artworks in a gallery or museum, but it really created a feeling of being in her workshop, where all the different works are occupying the space, utilizing the high ceiling of the exhibition space to create a distinct spatial composition with the strategic placement of each artwork.
Exhibition Details
During the exhibition period from October 30 (Wed) to December 1 (Sun), 2024, "The Vestiges of the Unseen" is open daily from 11:00 to 19:00. The exhibition features two special talk events: on November 2 (Sat) with Keisuke Mori, curator at the Chiba City Museum of Art, and on November 30 (Sat) with Natsu Onodera, researcher at the National Art Center, Tokyo. These conversations promise to provide deeper insights into the exhibition's themes of printing processes and their invisible presence.
Spatial Design and Installation
The exhibition makes remarkable use of its compact space, transforming potential spatial limitations into a compelling artistic statement. The venue's high ceiling becomes an integral part of the installation, with printed materials magnetically suspended at various heights along one wall, creating a dramatic vertical dimension to the show. This innovative use of height contrasts beautifully with the ground-level installations, where prints are stacked on industrial pallets. The spatial composition is further enriched by the interplay between these unconventional display methods and more traditional presentation formats, including standing cases and framed works on walls. The pallets, while serving as artistic elements, also naturally define the visitor flow, creating corridor-like pathways through the space. However, the lighting design presents some challenges – the current setup causes reflections on many of the prints, making it difficult for visitors to fully appreciate the intricate details of the work up close. This technical limitation somewhat undermines the exhibition's focus on the subtle imperfections and "ghost" elements in the printing process.
Conceptual Framework
Making the unexpected errors or machines as a deliberate and constructed form of art is what makes this exhibition outstanding. Since we encounter thousands of images in our daily life, it makes us reconsider what these images really are. In the age of perfection, where AI can create us the perfect information the way we expect it to do, this exhibition calls out to the errors, mistakes that machines can make, visible or invisible mistakes.
The Japanese title for the exhibition, 「印刷と幽霊」(Printing and Ghosts), clearly presents the two main actors of the exhibition. Ghosts refer to all the invisible entities which can emerge from the offprints, those unexpected encounters with the machines (printing machine) which gives its own life to it, outside of the control of the artist. The artist in this exhibition is manifesting these errors, so those ghosts will become visible to us.
ないようである、あるようでない
For Yoshida, the leading sensation which led to the exhibition was the concept of "ないようである、あるようでない" (seeming absent while present, seeming present while absent), which directly relates to the exhibition's theme of "ghosts." In her explanation, the camera and the photographic images can express invisible things, such as emotions, moments we want to capture, invisible lights and different trajectories as well. This sensation which is present at the moment the photo is taken can disappear with time, or the opposite - it can reinforce those sensations. These ghosts are there in every photo and the printing with its errors can give life to these sensations.
Technical Process and Artistic Approach
In this exhibition, the main topic the photographer was introducing to the visitors was the shifting focus from the photographic image to the processes of printing/developing an image through/with the help of machines such as the camera or the printing equipment. It can be said that photography is visualizing images through machines. But the results these machines are producing are sometimes different than what the human contributor imagined and which errors might be invisible to the naked eye.
The installations utilize the offset printing method, which is the common way for mass-producing commercialized materials, such as flyers, books, etc. This technique achieves quick, high-volume printing using "plates" where print content is burned onto aluminum plates. Yoshida's works, transformed into mass-printed materials, are stacked on the floor and haphazardly pasted, behaving almost as if they're not photographs. This act blurs the boundaries between the photographic images and commercial products, while shifting the focus on the printing itself.
Conclusion
This exhibition is a great example of how to develop and foster new photographic expressions, which are moving beyond the traditional methods and exhibiting strategies. In this exhibition, the main figures are not the photos themselves - can we even call these photos? - but the printing methods. In this way, this exhibition moves away from the traditional roles of the machines playing in the processes of photographic work, putting the machines in the spotlight.
