Seiichi Furuya

First Trip to Bologna 1978 / Last Trip to Venice 1985

 

in collaboration with Chose Commune

 

This is the story of Seiichi and Christine. One day, in a certain place, a woman and a man who had lived completely different lives until that moment meet. They fall in love, get married, and eventually have a child. Slowly but surely, dark clouds gather and disappear on the path of a family. Both are aware that the shadow is growing thicker day by day, but as they continue to pursue their respective goals, they have already come to live in a different world where they cannot stop to talk about their lives and deepen their understanding of each other.

One day, the life they’ve been leading ends abruptly. The woman’s suicide is the ultimate expression of her own will. The woman dominated the spiritual world for the rest of the man’s life through her death. The man was intent on uncovering the circumstances that led to the unhappy ending, using the photographs recorded during the seven years they had spent together as clues. And this search for an impossible answer is still going on, 37 years after the woman’s death.

This exhibition features a ‘travel story’ created by Seiichi based on images of scenes from a film that documented the first few days of his and Christine’s trip to Bologna, as well as photographs documenting their last trip to Venice. Displaying the harshness of fate and the joy of living at the same time, Seiichi attempts to express the ‘uncertainty’ that characterises human life. With a strong will to give the protagonist of sadness and sorrow the opportunity to stand on the ‘stage’ that she must have wanted.

Seiichi Furuya (Izu,Giappone,1950). He met Christine Gössler in February 1978 in Graz. The couple married in June of the same year in Furuya’s hometown in Japan.

Their son, Komyo-Klaus, was born in 1981. In 1982, they moved to Vienna so that Christine could study drama. In 1984, Seiichi took a job as an interpreter and the family moved to Dresden, East Germany and then in 1985, to East Berlin. Christine, who had been suffering from mental instability for several years, took her own life on October 7.

Since 1975, FURUYA has had numerous exhibitions. He has also published a series of books on Christine, starting with Mémoires 1978-1988, followed by his seventh book Face to Face in 2020. The new book First Trip to Bologna 1978 /Last Trip to Venice 1985 (Chose Commune) will be released in March this year.

He was one of the founders of the photography magazine Camera Austria and has also curated exhibitions introducing Japanese photographers to Europe, such as Daido Moriyama, (1980), Shomei Tomatsu: Japan 1952-1981 (1984) and Nobuyoshi Araki: Akt-Tokyo 1971-1991 (1992).

30/04 SATURDAY

H 17

Chiostri di San Pietro | Laboratorio Aperto

MEET THE ARTIST

SEIICHI FURUYA

Moderator Tim Clark

 

01/05 SUNDAY

H 10.30

Guided tour of the exhibitions in Chiostri di San Pietro for children from 6 to 12 years old

Free. By reservation: info@palazzomagnani.it

 

08/05 SUNDAY

H 16

Guided tour of exhibitions in Chiostri di San Pietro

Cost: € 3 guided tour + entrance ticket

By reservation: info@palazzomagnani.it

EXHIBITION VENUE

Chiostri di San Pietro
via Emilia San Pietro, 44/c
Reggio Emilia

1

OPENING HOURS

opening days
29th of April › 19-23
30th of April › 10-23
1st of May › 10-20

from 6th of May to 12th of June
friday, saturday, sunday and public holidays › 10-20

Category
Chiostri di San Pietro