NoguerasBlanchard is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Spain by Japanese artist Shimabuku (Kobe, 1969). Shimabuku makes extraordinarily imaginative, process-based, story-telling installations where the event itself defines the main artistic intention. For his exhibition From high in the sky to the bottom of the sea, Shimabuku presents a new installation centered around projects which take place in Barcelona and Japan.

To Become an octopus, 2005 is a giant clay pot placed horizontally on the floor. Shimabuku invites us to climb through the opening of the pot and to feel like an octopus that has been trapped. Inside the pot, a video monitor shows the work Then, I decided to give a tour of Tokyo to the octopus from Akashi, 2000 which documents the journey made by Shimabuku and a live octopus from the fishermen´s village of Akashi to Tokyo. At the end of the tour the octopus is released back into the sea from which it had been caught, where Shimabuku hopes it will share its experience with other octopus.

The second work in the exhibition, Sketch to make Shima fly - Barcelona, 2005, consists of a video projection recording the kite-flying performance on the Barceloneta beach in Barcelona. Slightly different from Shimabuku´s past two kite-flying projects, which took place at the 2003 Venice Bienale and at the Galerie der Stadt, Schwarz, Austria, this time the artist sets out alone, flying a kite in the shape of himself. As Shimabuku notes: “Labeling kite flying as Art gave official permission for adults to reconnect with the child buried inside them. In this way, Art can create new wonders and reveal hidden beauty in our world”.

The journey is a recurrent theme in Shimabuku´s work and one which informs the narrative of his exhibition. He is interested in travelling to new places and meeting new communities whithin which he finds ways, through local stories and myths, to connect disparate groups of people. Shimabuku often turns art into a game in which different people become its players and in doing so, questions established distinctions and hierarchies. He attempts to find new ways of encouraging communication between those involved in the project, whilst raising serious issues about the relationship between contemporary art practice and everyday life.

Shimabuku´s recent exhibitions include: Circa Berlin, Nicolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, Copenhagen (2005); Expat-art Centre / EA C, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania and ICA, London (2004); Utopia Station, 50 Venice Bienale (2003); Then, I decided to give a tour of Tokyo to the octopus from Akashi, IKON Gallery, Birmingham (2002); Facts of Life, Hayward Gallery, London (2001). Shimabuku currently lives and works in Berlin.