The Exhibit - DenHolm GAZZETTE

EXHIBIT:

Simon Fujiwara—WHO THE BÆR?

PHOTOGRAPY

Mads Urkiline

WORDS

Kumiko Mitsuishi

Running from now until the 30th of January, Prada presents the exhibition ‘Who the Bær’ created by artist Simon Fujiwara, a new especially conceived version of the show first presented at Fondazione Prada’s Milan venue in 2020. I’d not seen the original exhibit nor am I an erudite fan when it comes to Fujiwara’s work so I was utterly fascinated to see how an artist revolved an entire show, consisting of multiple mediums, around a central character. A fictional children’s character nonetheless: Who the Bær. (yes his misspelling is intentional).

The experience was utterly enthralling. Immersive. Confusing and non-sensical but immersive. Told through drawings, collages, sculptures and animations, we witness Who the Bær in their perennial quest for an authentic self. Why the Bær?

Fujiwara: I liked the name Who the Bær because it reminded me of other famous cartoons like Pooh, and using a question like Who? as a name allows for all kinds of wordplay and confusion, which were very appealing to me. Because the world is so confusing and bizarre at the moment, I feel the only appropriate reaction is Dada in spirit—that’s to say, non-sensical. So, Who is a nobody, without an identity. Who circumnavigates the problem of identity politics—which has become one of the driving factors of our century—by not having an identity at all.

The world of Who the Bær is a flat, online world of pictures, yet one full of endless possibilities. Who the Bær can transform or adapt into any image they encounter, taking on the attributes and identities of those depicted within the image – human, animal or even object. In this sense the world of Who the Bær is a world of freedom: Who can be whoever they wish to be, Who can transcend time and place, Who can be both subject and object. Yet Who the Bær may never be able to overcome their one true challenge – to become anything more than just an image. Told through drawings, collages, sculptures and animations, we witness Who the Bær in their perennial quest for an authentic self.

Within his exhibition, Fujiwara introduces the public to a coming-of-age story made of several cheerful and traumatic events. From focus groups to therapy sessions, from plastic surgery to global travels, from sexual fantasies to dystopian dreams, the artist portrays the formative process of a fictitious character as they interpret and appropriate the “real world” of images, distorting everything they see into the absurd logic of their personal universe.

The work of artist Simon Fujiwara (London, UK, 1982; lives and works in Berlin) is a personal exploration of the human desire that underpins tourist attractions, historical icons, celebrities, “edutainment,” and neo-capitalism. In this seductive yet fraught arena, his work reveals the paradox of our simultaneous quest for fantasy and authenticity in the culture we consume.

PRADA AOYAMA

5-2-6 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo

EXHIBITION HOURS

Monday to Sunday: 11am – 8pm