absolute now II
Rieko Akatsuka - George Barber - Kaz - Guy Sherwin - Tereza Stehlikova
Curated by Kaz

 

‘Eternity does not exist anywhere but in changing time. Eternity is the absolute now.’

In his 1956 essay Time and Eternity, D.T. Suzuki—an influential Japanese Zen Buddhist scholar and philosopher—reflects on the nature of eternity, which he describes as fixed, and on changing time, stating that the two arise in opposition to each other as a result of binary thinking. He argues that change and eternity cannot exist independently and concludes as above.

For the 10th anniversary of absolute now—a group exhibition originally held in Tokyo—five of the participating artists return to revisit and further explore the seemingly paradoxical notion of the coexistence of both moving and fixed time.

In absolute now II, each artist presents a new installation using the moving image—a medium composed of a series of still images—to consider what ‘absolute now’ and being present mean within a socio-political landscape that has shifted significantly over the past decade. The exhibition also questions what it means to be present at a time when ‘truth’ has become an apparently malleable concept, and when escaping the here and now has become increasingly easier through social media and so-called technological ‘advances’.

 

Rieko Akatsuka (b.1965, Tokyo) lives and works in Tokyo and London. She is interested in exploring timelessness and liminal space where life and death co-exist. In recent years, she has been working with neon sculptures as well as with meticulously constructed miniature dioramas using visual material created by and related to her late parents, including items which belonged to them.

She has exhibited numerous times at Danielle Arnaud. Group exhibitions include Dai Neon Ten - Find New Wave, Tokyo Tower, Tokyo (2024), Destroying the Former Office Building of Fujio Productions, Tokyo (2022), Manga, British Museum (2019) and Bichutsu Ten, Bank Gallery, Tokyo/PARCO, Fukuoka, Japan (2015). She also designed the stage set for the play, Akatsuka Fujio Scrapbook, CBGK!!, Tokyo (2025).

George Barber (b. 1958, Guyana) lives and works in London. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as a pioneer of the Scratch Video, a fast paced video art genre which used sampled clips from broadcast films and TV to orchestrate sound, vision, repeat edits and rhythm. He has also produced a substantial body of other moving image work; incorporating improvisation, performance, actors, comic monologues, computer animation, and more recently, poetic and political 'essay film' style works.

Barber’s works have been shown in festivals, galleries and broadcast on television worldwide, including Tate Britain and the Royal Academy. In 2023, solo screening of his works was held at BFI Southbank, London. Solo exhibitions include SCRATCH!, TACO!, London (2019); Fences Make Senses, Waterside Contemporary, London (2015); Akula Dream, Chapter Arts, Cardiff (2015); By the Way, Young Projects, Los Angeles (2015); and The Long Commute, Dundee Contemporary Arts (2010).

Kaz (b. 1967, Tokyo) is an artist and a curator based in London. His practice is concerned with being present, focusing on our relationship to the world—both physical and non-physical—and exploring the self and its interconnection with time and space. He regularly works with time-based media to create immersive experiences, using linear time framework to facilitate contemplation of non-linear time and its effect on our sense of self.

Recent solo exhibitions return journey (2023) and diary (2020) were held at tadpole-lab, Tokyo. Group exhibitions include: Demolishing the Former Office Building of Fujio Productions, Tokyo (2022); postTRUTH, SANDIE MACRAE | postROOM, London (2022); Visions in the Nunnery, Nunnery Gallery, London (2018); and Fig.4: Time Capsules and Conditions of Now, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2012).

Guy Sherwin (b. 1948, Ipswich) is an artist and filmmaker based in London, known for his poetic and contemplative works, which often use footage from the everyday, engaging with light, time and sound. In addition to films and installation works, he often works with multiple projectors and optical sound performances in collaboration with Lynn Loo.

In 2016, his solo exhibition, Light Cycles, took place at Christine Park Gallery, London, and he was a guest curator of Film in Space, Camden Arts Centre (2012-3). His films and performances have been shown widely around the world, including: Surfeit (2023 & 2024), Cafe Oto, London; Mujanhyang, Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Seoul (2014); A Century of Artists' Film & Video, Tate Britain (2003/4); Shoot Shoot Shoot, Tate Modern (2002); and Live in Your Head, Whitechapel Gallery (2000).


Tereza Stehlíková (b.1975, Prague) is a Czech-British artist based in Prague. She explores the role our senses and embodiment play in conveying meaning through an artistic practice which spans moving image, installation and participatory performance, and is driven by cross-disciplinary collaboration. In 2020, she founded the online arts journal/platform Tangible Territory, which features contributions from established artists and authors across the field of arts, science and philosophy.

Her films have been screened internationally, including at Whitechapel Gallery, London, Stadkino, Vienna and Embassy of the Czech Republic in London. Recent solo exhibitions include: Familial Traces, Sternstudio Gallery, Vienna, Austria (2023); Ophelia in Exile, Vitrinka Gallery, Czech Centre London (2021); and From You to Me: 4 Generations of Women, Alchemy Film & Arts, Hawick, UK (2019). Her most recent multi-sensory performance, The Infra-ordinary Lab, took place in 2023 at the historic Holešovice Market as part of the Prague Quadrennial.


*All the exhibiting artists took part in absolute now, Atsukobarouh, Tokyo, Japan (2015).

 

The exhibition will include a curated events programme.

For further information please contact danielle@daniellearnaud.com.

 

With the kind support of the Czech Centre London.