Junya Kataoka

Junya Kataoka / Rie Iwatake

"A Blot on the Landscape" is an exhibition catalogue for Junya Kataoka's and Rie Iwatake's installation at The Container, Tokyo. It is the 12th catalogue in a series published by the gallery to archive and promote artists in Japan and abroad. The catalogue showcases writings by the gallery director, Shai Ohayon and the Tokyo-based art writer John L Tran, as well as images from Kataoka's Ghost in the Sellotape (2015) and Iwatake's Bodyscape collages (2015-2017). Some of the duo's previous works are documented as well. The Container is a contemporary exhibition space in Nakameguro, Tokyo. The space opened in March 2011 to create a site that encourages people to engage with art installations and works, where the emphasis is on curation and the accessibility of contemporary art and ideas to the general public. As the name suggests, the physical space is no more than a constructed shipping container (485x180x177cm), made to measurements of old Japanese shipping containers, housed inside Bross hair salon, in one of Tokyo's most loved and trendy neighbourhoods. The Container invites Japanese and international artists to make site-speci c installations four times a year. Each installation remains on view to the public for two-and-a- half months. Since 2013, The Container also started to publish full-colour, bilingual (Jap/Eng) exhibition catalogues, available online and at the gallery. The space receives extensive international coverage, including ArtAsiaPacific, Artforum, Hyperallergic, Glass Magazine, Art & Antiques Magazine, Dazed & Confused, Blouin Artinfo, Art-iT, Bijutsu-Techo/BT, NHK, Tokyo Art Beat, The Japan Times, and The Sunday Times, travel guides and in-flight magazines, to mention only a few. the-container.com