Image: Serpentine Galleries, London
Following its presentation in London, the exhibition will be reimagined for The FLAG Art Foundation in New York in spring 2028. It is the inaugural FLAG Foundation Prize exhibition and supports the artist in experimenting with new work at a significant stage in his career.
Yoshimasu’s practice explores the possibilities of poetry beyond the written word, bringing together performance, audio recording, painting, photography and his own moving-image form known as gozoCiné. Emerging from Tokyo’s interdisciplinary avant-garde of the 1960s, he is recognised as one of Japan’s most radical and celebrated poets.
Many of Yoshimasu’s writings serve as scores for performances that explore expressive vocalisation, bodily gesture, movement and diverse modes of enunciation.
In the series ‘Kaibutsu-kun (Dear Monster)’ (2012–16), Yoshimasu responds to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami as well as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Comprising 600 manuscripts, the series reflects on memory and trauma through a search for what Yoshimasu describes as ‘possible poetry’ in the aftermath of these catastrophic events.
His visual poems combine line drawings, handwritten inscriptions, collaged elements and vivid ink paintings.
