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- TOKYOGRAPHIE 2019 — a special edition of the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival
Photographic works by internationally-renowned master portrait photographer Albert Wilson
AND
Fujifilm Award-winning photographic work by Kensaku Seki
TOKYOGRAPHIE 2019 — a special edition of the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival
‘Wild’ by Albert Watson
‘2:16.22 — the story behind the time’ by Kensaku Seki
Ryuichi Sakamoto, New York, 1989
Photo by Albert Watson
Mick Jagger, Los Angeles, 1992
Photo by Albert Watson
‘2:16.22 — the story behind the time’ 2019
©Kensaku Seki
‘2:16.22 — the story behind the time’ 2019
©Kensaku Seki
FUJIFILM SQUARE is pleased to present two separate photo exhibitions being held as a TOKYOGRAPHIE pop up event in conjunction with the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival. The two exhibitions are ‘Wild’ by Albert Watson, and ‘2:16.22 — the story behind the time’ by Kensaku Seki, and run from November 29 to December 12, 2019. In the same way that the renowned Arles International Photo Festival is held for three months each year in Arles, France, the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photo Festival has been held annually since 2013 as a platform to showcase arts in Japan. And for the second time this year, a special edition of the festival is taking place in Tokyo. An international portfolio review of the photographic works of emerging photographers is exhibited at KYOTOGRAPHIE each year, and this year we were delighted to present the Fujifilm Award to an outstanding work.
‘Wild’ a photo exhibition by Albert Watson
Albert Watson has been active on the front line of photography for over 50 years, and has developed a reputation as a master of portrait photography. Among his portraits are those of Alfred Hitchcock, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Steve Jobs, and many other figures who have shaped the times in which they lived. Over 100 of Watson's works have featured on the front cover of Vogue and several other leading international magazines and publications. In addition to portrait photography, Watson's portfolio also includes still life and landscape works. He is renowned for being able to draw out the essence and vitality of his photographic subjects, his ability to capture sublime beauty, and for pouring his heart and soul into all his works. This exhibition is being held as part of the first ever retrospective exhibition of Albert Watson's works currently touring Japan, and includes portraits, landscapes, unreleased works and a different take on the portrait of Ryuichi Sakamoto featured on the cover of his 1989 album ’Beauty’.
‘2:16.22 — the story behind the time’ by Kensaku Seki (Recipient of the KYOTOGRAPHIE 2019 Portfolio Review and winner of the Fujifilm Award)
* In this context, ‘time’ refers to the time recorded by an athlete in an athletics event.
The numerals by themselves represent a mere statistic, and fail to tell the real story of the enormous effort and perspiration behind this tremendous feat. 2:16.22 — this is the time recorded by Japanese athlete Kokichi Tsuburaya to claim the bronze medal in the marathon event in the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. This should have been his crowning achievement, but instead Tsuburaya went on to take his own life at the age of only 27. His recorded time was a glorious symbol, but quickly turned into a target which he felt he had to overcome, and appears to have brought him only despair and loneliness.
For this exhibition, I interviewed five athletes who devoted a large part of their lives to the act of ’running’, and continuously challenged themselves to better their personal best time. The five athletes include a long-distance runner who lived with pain as a constant running companion; a sprinter in constant fear of cramp; a hurdler who thought himself weak and was forever anxious of being unable to live up to the expectations of the nation; a sprinter who won medals at international athletics tournaments but often encountered problems in dealing with human relations; and a hurdler who came to depend on her coach so much that she began to lose sight of herself.
Based on the interviews I tried to visualize the stories behind their recorded times. I was once an athlete who also suffered in pursuit of improving my personal best time, and this project was an attempt to delicately unravel the threads that hold the recorded time and the memories together.
| Name of exhibition | TOKYOGRAPHIE 2019 — a special edition of the KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photography Festival |
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| Dates and times | November 29 to December 12, 2019 (closes at 14:00 on final day of exhibition) (please note that the last entry is ten minutes before closing time) Open everyday throughout exhibition |
| Venue | FUJIFILM SQUARE |
| Exhibited works | ‘Wild’ by Albert Watson ‘2:16.22 — the story behind the time’ by Kensaku Seki (Recipient of the KYOTOGRAPHIE 2019 Portfolio Review and winner of the Fujifilm Award) |
| Admission | free * This exhibition is being held as a corporate MECENAT activity, and we are pleased to announce that admission is free to enable more people to attend the exhibition. |
| Organised by | FUJIFILM Corporation, BMW Japan, and KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival |
<Associated events>
‘Wild’ — a talk event by Albert Watson
Dates and times: Saturday, November 30, 2019 14:00—15:00
Albert Watson will appear in person to discuss his exhibition ‘Wild’ (consecutive interpretation provided)
Presented by KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photographic Festival, and joint representative — Naoyuki Ogino
The Times and Memories of an Athlete — a talk event with Kensaku Seki and Dai Tamesue
Dates and times: Saturday, November 30, 2019 10:30—11:30
With former athlete Dai Tamesue as a specially-invited guest, this talk event seeks to verbalize the inner mind of an athlete while perusing the various exhibited photographic works. It also traces the story of how the project unfolded, problems encountered along the way, and digs deep to unearth the memories of the five featured athletes.
| Venue | Both events will be held in the special meeting room, 2F, FUJIFILM SQUARE |
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| Capacity | 200 persons for both events. (Acceptance of applications will be closed once the capacity is reached. Same day applications will only be accepted if sufficient seating is still available). |
* Acceptance of applications will begin on November 1, via the FUJIFILM SQUARE website, by telephone, or by personally calling in to the FUJIFILM SQUARE venue.
The online application has been closed.
Please contact by phone.
Phone +81 3 6271-3350 (10:00-18:00)
* Please note that the content of the events may be subject to change or cancelation.
Thank you for your kind understanding.
Profiles of featured photographers
Albert Watson
©Gloria Rodriguez
Albert Watson — profile
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1942, Watson has taken portrait photos of several of the most prominent figures in recent history, and his outstanding photographic expression continues to attract wide acclaim. His illustrious career has seen his works featured on the front cover of over 100 editions of Vogue magazine, as well as adorning the front cover of Rolling Stone, Harper's Bazaar and many other popular publications. Watson has been creating artistic photographic works for over 40 years and has held numerous exhibitions at art museums and galleries around the world. He has also been selected as one of the 20 most influential photographers by the respected Photo District News trade publication. Among his many honors are a Grammy award, a Lucie Award, the ANDY Award on three separate occasions, and the Hasselblad Masters Award.
Kensaku Seki
Kensaku Seki — profile
Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1983, and graduated from the school of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University. In 2007, he left Japan to teach physical education at elementary and junior high schools in Bhutan for three years, and embarked on a career as a freelance photographer in 2011. He specializes in photo documentaries that seek to express the inner-self of hisphotographic subjects, and in 2017 he won the prestigious Yonosuke Natori Prize for his photo-documentary that traced a friend's struggle with a brain tumor. He is the recipient of the KYOTOGRAPHIE Portfolio Review Award and the Fujifilm Award in 2018 for ‘Hip Hop’, a photo collection that focuses
on the fascination with hip hop music among young Bhutanese. He also won the Fujifilm Award in 2019.
Profiles of the five athletes
Dai Tamesue
Dai Tamesue
Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1978. Two-time bronze medal winner in the 400m hurdles event at the 2001 and 2005 World Championships in Athletics.
Competed in the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Current holder of the Japanese national record for the men's 400m hurdles (as of October 2019)
Currently active as a representative of Deportare Partners — a company that is conducting a Sport and Technology project.
Director of the Shintoyosu Brillia Running Stadium.
Shinji Takahira
Born in Hokkaido in 1984, Takahira is an athlete specializing in sprint events, and is currently a member of the Fujitsu Athletics Division.
Competed in the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
Winner of the bronze medal in the 4x100m men's relay event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. (Japan was retroactively awarded the silver medal in 2017 after the Jamaican team was disqualified)
Five-time winner of the men's 200m event at the Japan National Athletics Championships.
Currently active in a wide range of fields including promotion of athletics and expert analysis /commentary on athletics events.
Kiyokatsu Hasegawa
Born in Iwate Prefecture in 1983. Former long-distance runner. Graduated from Juntendo University and joined the JR East Japan running team. Competed in the Hakone Ekiden (long-distance relay race) on three occasions while at university.
Winner of the 2005 Chiba Marine Half Marathon event, and winner of the Lake Saroma 100km Ultra Marathon in 2011. Winner of the Ome Marathon 30km race in 2015. Retired from racing in 2017.
Yuta Kanno
Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1980. Former professional athlete.
Qualified for the final of the men's 100m event in the Japan National Championships on eight occasions, and once finished in third place. Represented Japan in the men's 100m event at the 2002 Asian Games.
Retired in 2008. Currently runs an athletics class, and actively promotes children's education.
Haruko Ishizuka
Born in Osaka Prefecture in 1997, and is currently active as an athlete.
Current holder of the Under-20 Japanese national record for the women's 400m hurdles (as of October 2019).
Winner of the women's 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay at the 2015 Inter-High School Championships, and was named MVP. Member of the Japanese women's 4x400m relay team at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing.
Winner of the women's 400m hurdles at the 2016 Asian Junior Games, and competed in the World Under-20 Games.
Currently training as a member of a corporate athletics team.
- In 1991, the Association for Corporate Support of the Arts founded these awards, which recognize highly beneficial projects by corporations and corporate foundations for the support of the arts, with the aim of encouraging corporate patronage of artistic projects and increasing public interest in these activities.
- The awardees are decided on the basis of an evaluation that covers the company's ingenuity and making use of its managerial resources, the involvement of the company in the arts, culture and the wider community, the company's attitude to continuing and expanding the activities, and the activities' degree of importance in contributing to the arts and wider culture.
- This year's awards, entitled “This is MECENAT 2018”, attracted 152 entrants. A town of third-party experts selected a total of seven awards, namely, the Grand Mécénat Award, five Awards for excellence and the Award Granted by the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs.
