Ichinomiya City Ice Skate Rink, where some of the Olympic team skaters were nurtured, was established in 1965 and shuttered for good in March 2022. In the space of this former skating rink, with its exposed pipes for ice, Anne Imhof is showing her new video work on large screens.

Imhof is one of the most acclaimed artists in the global contemporary art scene of the last decade, having won the Golden Lion at the 2017 Venice Biennale (German Pavilion). The multilayered nature of performance, painting, sculpture, sound and other media, the codes alluded to by the movements of the body, and contemporary global youth culture have all been woven into her work. In 2016, Imhof met her collaborator Eliza Douglas, which dramatically expanded the breadth of her practice.

In recent years, Imhof has also exhibited video works that document and rework performances viewable only for a limited duration, and Jester (2022) at this exhibition is one such example. At her solo exhibition Natures Mortes at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris last year, several performances each lasting a few hours that featured some 20 dancers were staged. These video works focus on one or two of these performers. The dancers move violently at times, and in slow motion at others, as if in lockstep with the intensity and speed of the music, occasionally emitting inaudible screams. If the audience watching them is understood as a symbol of society as a whole, the movements of the dancers can also be seen as embodying our struggle against the uncertainty, instability, and opacity of contemporary society, as well as our anxiety, frustration, anger, and conflict. The work as a whole can also be read as a kind of dream or illusion.

Images and sounds occupy this space where many have glided over for 57 years. The two large screens and line array speakers also play a pivotal role as sculptural elements for the entire installation.

Selected Works & Awards

2021

Natures Mortes, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

2021

SEX, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin, Italy

2019

SEX, the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

SEX, Tate Modern, London, UK

2017

FAUST, the German Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Italy, the Golden Lion for Best National Participation

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Jester, 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio