POSTER

At first sight, the photographs of theJapanese artist Shinji Otani seem very ordinary. Otani is interested in everyday, neutral spaces, in which people live or work. Within that framework, he seeks traces of personal life. At second sight, his photographs are strange – and extraordinarily engrossing. Although these photos are not staged and capture existing situations, they simultaneously represent a separate reality, fiction instead of fact. The strange tension in them that evokes a flood of stories in the viewer’s mind is caused by the extreme lighting and computer manipulation. Otani came to the Netherlands to study at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, and stayed. For the Zuidas Free Spaces A.I.R./Virtual Zoom, Otani has portrayed the Zuidas in two successive series. In the first, he concentrates on indoor plants. In the second, he photographs the interiors of Japanese ex-pats, large numbers of whom work in the Zuidas and for whom life and work largely converge. Their apartments
belong to the company, as do many of their possessions. In that neutral, businesslike atmosphere, Otani searches for the hidden detail that offers insight into the personality of the inhabitant.

Simon den Hartog
Zuidas Art Supervisor
Virtual Museum Zuidas