Kiki Ando: Highest Mountain and Deepest Bay

Exhibition Update on August 25

Due to Covid-19 restrictions announced by the NSW Government, the physical component of Kiki Ando: Highest Mountain and Deepest Bay has been cancelled. In its place, a special online event celebrating the exhibition will be held on September 25, 2021. More information here

Exhibition

July 9 – September 25, 2021

Kiki Ando: Highest Mountain and Deepest Bay is a solo exhibition by Kiki Ando, a contemporary Japanese artist based in Melbourne. This exhibition includes over 60 works reflecting Ando’s artistic archive and imaginative world, spanning wearable paper art, hand-built ceramic characters, animation and live performance.

Born and raised in Japan, Ando’s work is deeply embedded in Japanese artistic practices like Butoh dance, hand-built ceramics and Boro and Kamiko fashion practices, along with her experiences abroad. Included in the exhibition is a brand-new animation entitled Rare Deep Sea Fish Develop My Unique Personality, ceramic installations made over a nine-year period in Victoria, and wearable artworks created by Ando in response to the fashion industry’s use of environmentally unsustainable and restrictive materials.

The exhibition’s title, Highest Mountain and Deepest Bay, reflects Ando’s childhood in Numazu City, Japan (Eastern Shizuoka Prefecture) near Mt Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan and Suruga Bay, the country’s deepest bay. The mountains and ocean surrounding her home influenced Ando’s love of nature, which continue to form her greatest inspiration.

Artist
Curator

Artist

Kiki Ando

Kiki Ando was born in Numazu City, Japan and works across textile, ceramics, performance and design. In 2003 Ando moved from Japan to Melbourne, where she resides today. Ando graduated from the Melbourne School of Fashion while living and working at the art studio and gallery, The Foundry. In 2007, Ando moved to Berlin to explore textiles and music. While in Berlin, Ando also worked collaboratively with electronic pop band Private Posh Club. Ando returned to Melbourne in 2009 and in 2012, went on to design costumes for dance performance DasSHOKU SHAKE!, which toured Australia and Japan. In 2015, Ando worked as co-director and puppet and prop designer on the film project Studio 3 in East Timor. Ando continues to explore multi-disciplinary artistic forms, with a particular focus on ceramics, costume design and Butoh performance. She performs regularly in Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Curator

Rafaela Pandolfini

Rafaela Pandolfini is a photographer, artist and works in the curatorial. From 2009, Pandolfini has photographed clubs and dancefloors across Gadigal Land/Sydney. She continues to photograph dance and performance work for many artists and institutions. Panolfini’s independent curatorial work includes Inside, co-curated with Stella Rosa McDonald, Session Vessels and An Unintended Consequence (of labour) organised with Ainslie Templeton, Cosmopolitan organised with Jana Hawkins-Andersen and Myths & Facts for WestSpace and PHOTO2021. Pandolfini is a PhD candidate with the Contemporary Art and Social Transformation (CAST) research group at RMIT University and holds an honorary position as an industry fellow at UTS Design Innovation Research Centre.