Kanda & Oliveira
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • About
  • Contact
  • Store
  • EN
  • JA
  • FR
Cart
0 items ¥
Checkout

Item added to cart

View cart & checkout
Continue shopping
Menu
  • EN
  • JA
  • FR

Kazuto Imura: commission work

Past viewing_room
16 November - 21 December 2024
  • Kazuto Imura - commission work

    16 November - 21 December 2024

     

  • Kanda & Oliveira is pleased to announce the exhibition "commission work" by Kazuto Imura, which will be held from November 16 to December 21.

     

    In this exhibition, covering all floors of the gallery, Imura will present an installation on the theme of reflectivity and commission, using mirrors, photographs, and videos taken from the rubble of the World Trade Center Building's demolition site in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo. Based on the techniques Imura has developed in mirror production, he transformed the rubble into mirror artworks by using highly specialized techniques according to each type of rubble, ranging from window glass to metal and concrete. 

     

    While trade means the buying and selling of goods and services, the transaction is rarely completed by the seller and buyer alone, but involves many people, where fees are incurred. Simultaneously, commonly used mirrors - for example, the glass mirror of our washbasin - have a reflectivity of approximately 90%, and lack reproducibility by about 10%. With that in mind, Imura, holding a piece of glass he picked up at the demolition site of the World Trade Center Building, bearing the name "trade," wondered if the 10% reproducibility we lack when we look at ourselves in the bathroom every day could be, like the commission in trade, a "commission" that the person looking in the mirror leaves behind in order to be partially replicated.

     

    The catalyst for this exhibition was Imura's belief that there is no such thing as a perfect reflection, and that we may be paying an imperceptible fee through that altered image reflected in the mirror. The mirror is not a perfect reproduction of reality, nor should what we see be taken for granted.

     

     

    In collaboration with (titles omitted): Kajima Corporation, Kaiba Glass Works, Makership Inc., Glass Kikakusha, SUWA Glass Village, Sozai no Seitai Juku by AGC, Switchback

  • (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    • Kazuto Imura, window-ordered from “opticalverse”, 2024
      Kazuto Imura, window-ordered from “opticalverse”, 2024
    • Kazuto Imura, wall-ordered ellipsoid #3, 2022
      Kazuto Imura, wall-ordered ellipsoid #3, 2022
    • Kazuto Imura, WTC 26F, 2024
      Kazuto Imura, WTC 26F, 2024
    • Kazuto Imura, WTC 1F entrance, 2024
      Kazuto Imura, WTC 1F entrance, 2024
  • commission work #3, 2024 glass from demolition site 21 × 3.5 cm This artwork, a “magic mirror”, is a reference...
    commission work #3, 2024
    glass from demolition site
    21 × 3.5 cm
     
    This artwork, a “magic mirror”, is a reference to the seemingly normal mirrors, that following a delicate and complex manufacturing process, and provided with the correct angle and light, allowed to reveal hidden secret images, patterns, or words. This technique, initially from China, was used in Japan thanks to the trade routes and became more largely used during the Edo Period (1603-1868) for religious purposes. It is now rarely found, and the technology, if not for a few skilled workers, is considered to be on the verge of being lost. 
    In contrast to these mirrors that revealed secrets by the reflection of light, Imura presents a magic mirror in which patterns are revealed by the transmission of light.
    It was created by changing the composition of the waste glass from the World Trade Center Building.
  • electract, 2024 brass, copper in aluminium frame 42 × 59.5 cm This artwork, called “electract” is a mirror produced by...
    electract, 2024
    brass, copper in aluminium frame
    42 × 59.5 cm
     
    This artwork, called “electract” is a mirror produced by electroplating, a technique using current to coat an object in a layer of metal. In order to express the interaction and transformation of different metals, this work uses electroplating to transfer their colors onto each other. Using scrap iron and metal plates from the demolition site, the two metals are given the roles of anode and cathode in an electrolytic solution, and in addition to “reflecting” the mirror from the real image to the imaginary image, they are “transferred” as electrodeposition, leaving traces on the real image as well. It is as if the materials “exchanged” colors with each other. The title of this work comes from the association of the words electricity and abstract.
  • (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
  • Artworks photo credit: Kanda & Oliveira
    Installation view photo credit: Kanda & Oliveira
    Main visual photo credit:  Koya Yamashiro, Courtesy of Kajima Corporation
    Please do not use images without permission

Join our mailing list

Signup

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.

Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 Kanda & Oliveira
Online Viewing Rooms by Artlogic
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Send an email

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences