lebenswelt | life-world

Rinko Kawauchi (born in Shiga, Japan in 1972) transforms daily life or nature into something breathtaking and new. By reference to the destructive and at the same time rejuvenating power of fire, reduced landscape images depicting the traditional controlled slash-and-burn land clearance address the relationship between people, nature, and time. In addition, Rinko Kawauchi focuses on gentle sometimes also disturbing things or activities of daily life – based on her personal experiences. Her groups of works allowed viewers to see their everyday surroundings with new eyes, with greater consciousness, and a broader perspective.

The sculptures of mostly young, in the Western world not yet exhibited artists reinforced this perception. In a medium rather infrequent for art – glass, a material which allows many different techniques – the works dealt with people’s immediate subjective experiences.

The title of the exhibition lebenswelt | life-world alluded to the phenomenological concept of the same name. It was about the world as we experience it immediately and directly in the subjectivity of daily life (Edmund Husserl). This approach, perceiving everyday phenomena individually but also in their social and communicative context (Jürgen Habermas), was portrayed by the artworks selected for the exhibition.

The exhibition was being held under the auspices of the Consulate General of Japan in Munich.