Metamorphosis Intangible: Uemon Ikeda Solo Show at PROSA_contemporanea

Metamorphosis Intangible: Uemon Ikeda at PROSA_contemporanea

PROSA_contemporanea in Rome presents the solo exhibition Metamorphosis Intangible by Japanese artist Uemon Ikeda, curated by Alberto Dambruoso and supported by The Japan Foundation and the Fondazione Italia Giappone. The exhibition runs until May 20.

The display combines painting and installation: a series of watercolors on paper is paired with an environmental intervention formed by a red thread of wool and silk that traverses and reshapes the gallery. Visitors are invited to interact with the installation, which alters spatial perception and negotiates the relationship between inside and outside.

• Artist: Uemon Ikeda
• Curator: Alberto Dambruoso
• Venue: PROSA_contemporanea, Rome
• Works: interactive environmental installation; watercolors on paper
• Support: The Japan Foundation; Fondazione Italia Giappone

For this project Ikeda collaborated with artist Ximena Robles on the red thread installation. During the opening, the piece was activated by a Butoh dance performance by Flavio Arcangeli — a performative choice that resonates with the exhibition’s theme of metamorphosis and with Ikeda’s intent to make the thread palpably present in the space.

Throughout his career Ikeda has often employed aerial installations in historically charged locations — notable examples include interventions at the Piramide Cestia and the Royal Palace of Naples — using the thread as a boundary and connector between visible and invisible, full and void. In this exhibition painting, drawing, writing and installation converse to produce an immaterial transformation of the gallery that visitors can reconstruct mentally.

Practical info: the exhibition is on view at PROSA_contemporanea until May 20. Check the gallery’s official channels for opening hours and visiting arrangements.