Les Fleures du Japon (2015)
Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck
Audio, film, 4′09″

Play

Pause

Fullscreen

A gentle step-by-step on how to do a Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck exhibition from where you are confined (if you wish to).

List of Materials

The space from where you are confined,
A screen no matter how small
or projector,
As many pillows as you like,
possibly in light or pastel colours,
Some blankets and bed sheets,
possibly in light or pastel colours,
Hot water with herbs to infuse,
Internet.

Instructions

Sit on as many pillows as you like,
possibly in light or pastel colours
Wrap yourself in the blankets
or build a refuge,
you may use furnitures too
(do as you feel)
Click play on the video,
screen on the chosen device.
Slowly sip your infused herbs.

Information

Les Fleures du Japon is a 2015 piece by French artist Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck.

The videos composing this artwork have been shot hand-free in various locations of Japan, while the audio narratives have been recorded in Germany in 2015. This moving picture belongs to the series Épistolaire Imaginaire in which the artist in the course of four exhibitions (Tokyo 2014, Los Angeles 2015, London 2016 and Strasbourg 2017) invited visitors to share in handmade notebooks their memories of simple moments of happiness in written and drawn form. In Les Fleures du Japon the memories shared in Tokyo on the occasion of Épistolaire Imaginaire - わけあうこと ば (curated by Hiroshi Eguchi) at Utrecht Now Idea are read out loud, while the artist also offers one of her own memories.

The spelling of the words Fleures (French for flowers), which holds an inaccuracy as it correctly written Fleurs contains itself another memory.

Les Fleures du Japan was first screened in 2015 at Épistolaire Imaginaire - Les Fleures du Japon (curated by Claire Cottrell) for IKO IKO in Los Angeles, USA. It was also screened at The Design Museum in London on the occasion of Foreign Agents : Music and Migration (curated by Dámaso Randulf and Migrant Journal).

The present initiative has been conceptualised by Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck, produced and developed in collaboration with designer Alyssia Lou in May 2020, while both women found themselves confined in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a physical souvenir to this digital initiative we offer the purchase a signed poster, please visit BON SU.

The artist would like to address her special thanks to Alyssia Lou, Nozomi Matsumoto-Shiga, Minami Kanesawa, Jatinder Singh Durhailay, Juliette Riegel, Jonas Kay, Utrecht Now Idea, Hiroshi Eguchi, Claire Cottrell, Kristin Dickson-Okuda, Iko Iko, Suren Seneviratne, The Design Museum, Bernard Hay, Migrant Journal, Dámaso Randulf and Poetic Pastel.

Artwork Images
Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck
Exhibition Images
Claire Cottrell
Exhibited at
Galerie IKO IKO, USA (2015)
The Design Museum, UK (2019)
Design & Website development