var i = phenomena; var x = future; for (i

About

His practice engages with the formation of a visual language, exploring methods for conceptualising social and personal phenomena which do not have a conventionally recognised form. His work seeks a more effective way to deal with the limitations of language and to expand the expression of the two-dimensional form in an age of social media, engaging with the limits of chaos and order. The exhibition title var i = phenomena; var x = future; for (i < x) is a computing function; here, it denotes phenomena that will be exponentially continued until they become the future.
In this exhibition, Furutani juxtaposes digital collages of found footage with images and animations created by the artist himself. The artist focuses on “repetition” as, through making his artworks, he found that unintentional reoccurrences tend to originate new entities, entirely unique from the originals. A wide spectrum of materials from a plethora of subjects were smoothly combined and reconstructed, describing his analytic and speculative perspective about the ephemeral world.
 

Shigetoshi Furutani (born Mie, Japan, 1980) holds a BA in Design and MA in Environmental Design from Tokyo University of the Arts and is currently completing an MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art, London. He worked as a TV set designer in Japan before focusing on his work as an artist. Furutani is the winner of the Best Category Prize and the Second Place Prize for the East West Art Award in London (2016), and the Asia Digital Art Award Finalist Prize in Fukuoka (2011). His work was represented in the Athens Digital Art Festival and REThink Art Digital Festival in Greece (2016), Internet Yami-ichi at Tate Modern (2016) and Saatchi Screen at Saatchi Gallery (2013) in London. In 2016 he was a recipient of a Nomura Foundation grant.

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a UK charity supporting links between Britain and Japan. It carries out its work through three main activities: awarding scholarships, giving grants to individuals and institutional partners to encourage UK-Japan collaboration; and organising a series of seminars, book launches and exhibitions at the Foundation’s headquarters in central London. The Foundation has provided substantial support for the arts in both countries since its inception, supporting exhibitions, artist-in-residence schemes, tours, education programmes and the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize.
For further information: exhibitions@dajf.org.uk
Champ Lord, 2016, Loop Animation,10 sec © Shigetoshi Furutani