Remember the Days | An eccentric retrospective of Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group’s experimental practice

Dates and Venue:
30 April – 29 May 2022
MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo, Japan

MUJIN-TO Production exhibited the solo exhibition by Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group (formally known as Chim↑Pom) titled Remember the Days. This was the first in five years that the collective exhibited in the gallery space. Find details here about the change in the group’s name here.

This exhibition was a retrospective of the collective’s practice. It ran concurrently with their retrospective at the Mori Art Museum – Happy Spring. The museum retrospective presented final works and a form of display that represented layered processes and ideas. However, the gallery show offered a more eccentric experience of their work. The venue was filled with art materials, fragments of objects, unfinished works, early works from their practice, as well as unseen works. This exhibition mimicked their actual studio; at the border between fictitious and real, featuring a mixture of their masterpieces and other works that were not known publicly.

About the evolution of the collective and its practice
When Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group first formed it was producing work on the streets and in their homes. After making Koenji’s Kita-Kore Building their base and opening it to the public, they moved their studio space to Minami Aoyama (closed) and then to White House in Shinjuku (open to the public). Their studio continues to reflect their approach to artmaking: fun, experimental and collaborative. They have also been using their space to go beyond the framework of an artist ‘studio’ by holding exhibitions, live performances and other events.

Installation view: Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group “Remember the Days,” 2022, MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo

Installation view: Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group “Remember the Days,” 2022, MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo

Remember the Days | An eccentric retrospective of Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group’s experimental practice

Dates and Venue:
30 April – 29 May 2022
MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo, Japan

MUJIN-TO Production exhibited the solo exhibition by Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group (formally known as Chim↑Pom) titled Remember the Days. This was the first in five years that the collective exhibited in the gallery space. Find details here about the change in the group’s name here.

This exhibition was a retrospective of the collective’s practice. It ran concurrently with their retrospective at the Mori Art Museum – Happy Spring. The museum retrospective presented final works and a form of display that represented layered processes and ideas. However, the gallery show offered a more eccentric experience of their work. The venue was filled with art materials, fragments of objects, unfinished works, early works from their practice, as well as unseen works. This exhibition mimicked their actual studio; at the border between fictitious and real, featuring a mixture of their masterpieces and other works that were not known publicly.

About the evolution of the collective and its practice
When Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group first formed it was producing work on the streets and in their homes. After making Koenji’s Kita-Kore Building their base and opening it to the public, they moved their studio space to Minami Aoyama (closed) and then to White House in Shinjuku (open to the public). Their studio continues to reflect their approach to artmaking: fun, experimental and collaborative. They have also been using their space to go beyond the framework of an artist ‘studio’ by holding exhibitions, live performances and other events.

Installation view: Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group “Remember the Days,” 2022, MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo

Installation view: Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group “Remember the Days,” 2022, MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo

Installation view of Jonathas de Andrade’s, Posters for the Museum of the Man of the Northeast (Cartazes para o museu do homem do nordeste), 2013 as part of Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today. Courtesy: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the South London Gallery. Photo: Andy Stagg

Resources

Images courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group website
Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group artist page
Happy Spring retrospective at Mori Art Museum
View more installation images here