We are pleased to present the group exhibition “Flash Memories.” This show is co-organized by three galleries located in the Wakasa Bldg. in Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka: SAI GALLERY, Yoshimi Arts, and The Third Gallery Aya. With Takeshi Hirata as a guest curator, this group show selects work by artists from each of the galleries’ rosters, transcending gallery barriers by putting them together in new ways.

 

Art as Flash Memory

Art is like a flash memory in that even it is turned off, or without power, it can be saved and transported.
A flash memory is a memory device that rewrites information electronically, is erasable, and doesn’t disappear even if the power source is turned off. It is used widely in the system memory functions of cell phones, digital cameras, digital audio players, USB drives and SD cards. 
Works of art, which save the memories of light, or the light of memories, can also be viewed as memory devices available for use at any moment. Especially since the 19th century, artists have created numerous works about light and memory. Since then, people have been exposed to various types of light (flashes) in the form of photographs and movies, electricity and light fixtures, strobe lighting of cameras, flash news, and images of flash backs. Every day, we carry recorded data in the flash memory of our electronic devices.
As we enter into a newly named Imperial era, what has art, the world, and its people recorded and remembered in their “flash memories”? In this exhibition taking place at SAI GALLERY, Yoshimi Arts, and The Third Gallery Aya, we switch around the works and artists of each of the galleries, combining them in new ways to “read” the flash memory (memories of light) in contemporary art and photo.
Takeshi Hirata (Art critic)