Shimabuku, The 165 meter mermaid and other stories
NMNM – Villa Paloma February 19 – October 3, 2021
The exhibition “The 165-metre Mermaid and Other Stories” stems from a mediaeval Japanese legend and unfurls in the manner of an epic poem. It tells of the artist’s adventures and encounters as he goes with the flow, roving between his native Japan and Monaco via Brazil, Australia and many other lands. Freely combining performance, land art, music and cooking, Shimabuku’s poetic actions are forever spinning new tales.
His texts, which form the narrative thread of the exhibition, interweave installations, films, sculptures and photographs executed over the past thirty years. This documentary film was shot during the installation of the exhibition in February 2021. Maxime Martins followed Shimabuku, Célia Bernasconi, curator of the exhibition, as the news works were produced in Monaco.