MACC announces ‘ACTIVATIONS: After Hours at the Gallery’

Maui Arts & Cultural Center has announced the second iteration of its new program series, ACTIVATIONS: After Hours at the Gallery, from 5 to 9 p.m. Aug. 1.

The free event features an evening of “activations” unfolding in Schaefer International Gallery with live performances, movement, music and interactive experiences that engage in dialogue with the current exhibition FOCUS. Advance ticketed reservations are required via the MACC Box Office through MauiArts.org. Food and beverage offerings will be available for purchase in the Yokouchi Courtyard & Pavilion.

The gallery will come to life in unexpected ways throughout the night, realized through performances that explore the exhibited artwork of Photography? End?, a collective of seven contemporary Japanese photographers who explore the relevance of photography in a rapidly evolving digital age.

Exhibiting artist Miki Nitadori will be present to lead talk story gatherings within her site-specific installation Odyssey:reflect, itself an immersive dimensional space that reinterprets generational photographs of Japanese American communities from Maui. Nitadori was born in Tokyo, grew up in Thailand, Maui and Europe. She is currently based in Paris. As a migrant and an adult “Third Culture Kid,” her multidisciplinary works centered in photography explore the complexities of inner self and the interconnectedness of expression.

Spoken word artists Pam Nomura and Sage Simpson will present recitations of poetry throughout the evening that reflect and expand upon the unique vantage points of the exhibiting photographers. Nomura is a published poet, teacher and facilitator of community healing through the arts, whose work has taken her throughout the continental US, Africa and Hawai‘i. Simpson is an actor, writer and performer who performed professionally on stage in Los Angeles for 15 years before relocating to Maui three years ago. She is a founding member of the award-winning theater company, Fugitive Kind. Event attendees also will have the unique chance to contribute their own writings at a collaborative poetry station throughout the evening.

Other happenings include contemporary movement pieces inspired by Noh theater, a classical form of Japanese dance-drama that emphasizes deliberately slow pacing and minimal sound accompaniment. Tea master Munay will be engaging in the ritual of tea ceremony in the gallery, allowing the experience to unfold with subtle structure.

Exhibiting artist Yuji Hamada will contribute an experimental sound composition for a unique one-night only sonic experience in his installation space. His work in the exhibition, Scope, represents a brand-new series that explores light and matter on Maui through colored film captures of ocean horizons.

In the adjacent Yokouchi Pavilion & Courtyard, DJ O’Soulmain will be spinning a mix of ambient beats that expand the spirit of the exhibition beyond the gallery doors. Food and beverages will be available for purchase for outside dining and social mingling.

ACTIVATIONS is open to all ages. Entry to the event is free, with ticketed reservations required via the MACC Box Office through mauiarts.org. Registration for event tickets are available at MauiArts.org.

About the Exhibition

The group exhibition FOCUS features the work of seven contemporary Japanese photographers who go by the collective name Photography? End? The artists include Yuji Hamada, Ken Kitano, Miki Nitadori, Yuki Onodera, Naruki Oshima, Risaku Suzuki and Kazuyoshi Usui. Their respective avenues of work look at the potentiality of photography in a rapidly evolving digital age, with a diverse range of approaches in material innovation.

Gallery Director Jonathan Yukio Clark, who curated the exhibition, said: “In the midst of this age of ubiquitous digital content, these artists look to photography’s fundamental roots in film and its technical potential to engage in experimental processes that merge with their conceptual groundings. Their work is a reminder that there are many ways to arrive at a photographic image, often using unexpected techniques or analog processes to discover untapped possibility.”

The exhibition features a body of recent work from each artist, including pigment prints, image exposures on alternate materials, photographic collage, projection and large-scale installation. As a collective, the artists of Photography? End? are active in many formats. They approach their photographic pursuits individually without a shared goal, allowing the interrelation and contrast between their bodies of work to unfold naturally in conversation.

The exhibition runs until Aug. 7. Schaefer International Gallery is open from Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., and before select Castle Theater shows. Admission is free.

The exhibition is presented by Maui Arts & Cultural Center and supported in part by the Japan Foundation and Maui County Office of Economic Development.