NEORT++ is pleased to present "Beautiful Medium," a solo exhibition by Goki Muramoto.

Overview

Is “beautiful medium” possible?

Medium-Art is a term proposed by Muramoto to describe an art practice that takes the medium itself—that is, the agent that mediates something—as an object of aesthetic recognition. In this exhibition, a research group led by Muramoto unearths "aesthetic sensibility toward media/medium itself," while the lineage and possibilities of Medium-Art are examined from multiple perspectives through the exhibition space.

The venue centers on a documentary display that observes diverse media as aesthetic and sensory objects. Alongside this, the exhibition features an actual tin-can telephone—a medium in its own right—together with its recorded footage; a video interview piece driven by two questions: "Do you think there can be such a thing as a beautiful medium?" and "Please tell us one medium you have found beautiful—how was it beautiful?"; fictional posters for a "Medium Arts Festival" curated by the research group through their curation of media; and a book compiling multiple theoretical reflections on Medium-Art.

During the exhibition period, a talk session will be held in preparation for the "Medium Arts Festival" program. Media researcher Takuya Umeda—one of the founders of *Medium*, an emerging academic journal that similarly adopts the banner of "medium" and aims to consolidate humanities research on the theme of "media"—will be invited to raise critical questions about the program. Following this, a planning meeting will be held together with Muramoto, curator and critic Minoru Hatanaka, and media and communication researcher Yuiko Fujita. By making public the process through which the Medium Arts Festival—in effect, a "media for media"—is generated, this session aims to rework the very concept of "medium" both within and beyond the field of art.

This exhibition commemorates the publication of *Beautiful Medium*, a book related to Goki Muramoto's solo exhibition "Univocity of Mediation: Beautiful Medium," which was held last year as a joint exhibition by NEORT++ and parcel.

Planning: NEORT, Goki Muramoto
Research: NIINOMI, Kaori Tada, Hasaqui Yamanobe, Saran Kobayashi, Kai Fukubayashi
Special Thanks: Saran Kobayashi (Artwork)
Research co-operation: Ryo Sawayama, Yuiko Fujita, Akihiro Kubota, Tomoko Shimizu
Support: parcel, The Project to Support Emerging Media Arts Creators, Inami-Monnai Lab, The University of Tokyo

Documentary Exhibition: "Medium Art"

This display presents materials relating to media that can be understood as Medium-Art, collected by the research group led by Muramoto.