Simon Fujiwara

Exhibition view: Simon Fujiwara, Once Upon a Who?, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2022. Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Last chance to visit the Whoniverse! Simon Fujiwara's solo exhibition Once Upon a Who? takes a deep dive into the world of Who the Bær, the artist's original, jeans-clad cartoon figure with the giant lolling pink tongue and a voracious appetite for images.

In our exhibition film, see Simon talk about the origins of Who the Bær and how Who interacts with the world around them.

Discover more about individual works in the exhibition through a dedicated Online Viewing Room.

Watch the titular animation, Once Upon a Who?, 2021, screening online via www.dis.art.

Read the extensive press on the exhibition with Flash Art, Der Tagesspiegel, Berliner Zeitung and an interview with artnet.

The exhibition Once Upon a Who? and the accompanying Whotique, a presentation of Fujiwara’s merchandise collaboration with Highsnobiety at Esther Schipper Bookstore close on Saturday, February 26.

© Simon Fujiwara

Esther Schipper is pleased to announce Once Upon a Who?, Simon Fujiwara's second solo exhibition with the gallery. Once Upon a Who? presents new works from Fujiwara's latest ongoing project – a body of work centered on the fictional character Who the Bær.

Who the Bær is a unique cartoon character in the form of a denim wearing bear with a golden heart and an uncontrollably long tongue, that seemingly has no gender, race, sexuality or even a clear design. Without an identity, Who exists only as an image, a status that allows them the freedom to roam a world of online images, appropriating characters, identities, aesthetics and guises in a greedy search for a ‘self’.

Further information

Follow Who the Bær on Instagram.

Artwork © Simon Fujiwara

Highsnobiety's HIGHArt is a platform that blends content, commerce, and experience. It will come to life with a blitz of Miami programming including a month-long pop-up HIGHArt Museum Store in the Design District, nightly launch celebrations, and an eponymous print magazine.

The HIGHArt Museum Store is “a museum store without the museum,” connecting the best of the best from within the Highsnobiety zeitgeist to create over 100 unexpected new artist-made products curated by Highsnobiety Founder David Fischer alongside cultural mastermind Sarah Andelman of JUST AN IDEA and creative director Jeanne-Salomé Rochat of Novembre Magazine.

Available exclusively at Miami’s Design District HIGHArt Museum Store starting November 29, HIGHArt’s selection of collaborations, editions, and merchandise will be available on Highsnobiety’s online shop starting December 6. The product range showcases an impressively expansive array of 100+ exclusive products and editions, including a Simon Fujiwara’s WHO THE BEAR: WHO-SNOBIETY capsule of sweatshirts, tees and a towel. 

Opening on January 15, 2022, Simon Fujiwara will present the first Whotique on occasion of his solo exhibition Once Upon a Who? at Esther Schipper in Berlin. Continuing the collaboration with HighSnobiety initiated for Art Basel Miami Beach, the Whotique - a boutique devoted to merchandise from the world of Who - will present a series of Who the Baer related apparel, home wares and posters that offer gallery visitors the chance to own a piece of the ‘Whoniverse.’ 

Who’s Online! is an online experience conceived in close collaboration with artist Simon Fujiwara as part of his major exhibition Who the Bær currently on view at Fondazione Prada, Milan through September 27, 2021.

In this unique digital experience, Fujiwara has conceived an interactive tour of the exhibition that brings viewers into the world of Who the Bær - an original cartoon character he created in 2020. Using a specially developed technique that presents the exhibition tour as a user driven stop-frame animation, audiences dive into the coming-of-age story of a cartoon bear in search for an authentic self in a world of images.

While the physical exhibition Who the Bær brings viewers into a giant labyrinthine cardboard structure in the shape of a bear, the interactive digital experience broadens the scope of the exhibition with detailed images, animations and artist interviews.

Whether you have already visited the exhibition or are experiencing it remotely for the first time, Who’s Online! is a digital experience that offers unprecedented perspectives into the original universe of Who the Baer.

Discover the “Who the Bær” digital experience on your mobile phone via who.fondazioneprada.org

Video still: Simon Fujiwara, Who for President, 2021, sculptural video installation, duration: 1:33 min. Video © Simon Fujiwara

Esther Schipper and Dvir Gallery are pleased to present parallel Online Viewing Rooms on the occasion of Simon Fujiwara's solo exhibition at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (on view through September 12, 2021).

Visit our OVR here.

For his first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, Simon Fujiwara presents works from his most recent project Who the Bær. Developed during the lockdown in the spring of 2020, Fujiwara created a unique cartoon character in the form of a denim wearing bear with a golden heart and an uncontrollably long tongue, that seemingly has no gender, race, sexuality or even a clear design. Without an identity, Who exists only as an image, a status that allows them the freedom to roam a world of online images, appropriating characters, identities, aesthetics and guises in a greedy search for a "self".

Who the Bær is also at the centre of a major solo exhibition currently presented at Fondazione Prada in Milan, through September 27.

Who the Bær can also be followed via their official Instagram account, @whothebaer.

Simon Fujiwara, Who's Childhood?, 2021, sculptural video installation (cardboard, electrical tape, Plexiglas, antique tripod, projector, projection screen), duration: 2:27 min, 164 x 73 x 73 cm, variable edition of 3.
Exhibition view: AMTSALON, Berlin, 2021. Photo © Andrea Rossetti

For our Spotlight this month we present Simon Fujiwara's Who’s Childhood?, 2021

The sculptural video installation Who’s Childhood projects an animation depicting a revisionist history of Who's childhood. Housed in a cartoonish sculptural projector, the home-movie style animation parodies tropes of childhood nostalgia and authenticity. The association with home movies is reinforced by the animation's soundtrack featuring the low hum of a rattling film projector.

Simon Fujiwara’s acclaimed project Who the Bær was developed during the lockdown in the spring of 2020 and is now the centre of a major exhibition at Fondazione Prada, Milan, and Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, on the occassion of which Esther Schipper and Dvir Gallery are pleased to present parallel Online Viewing Rooms.

Click here to see the full Spotlight!

Simon Fujiwara, Who’s Childhood?, 2021, sculptural video installation (cardboard, electrical tape, Plexiglas, antique tripod, projector, projection screen), 164 x 73 x 73 cm (64 5/8 x 28 3/4 x 28 3/4 in) (projector on tripod). 
Image © Jörg von Bruchhausen

Esther Schipper is pleased to announce our participation in the inaugural edition of AMTSALON Berlin, with a solo presentation of works by Simon Fujiwara from the artist's most recent project Who the Bær. 

The presentation will include the sculptural video installation, Who’s Childhood, with an animation depicting a revisionist history of Who's childhood as well as a series of new collages and drawings centring around the early identity development of Who the Bær. Housed in the premises of the former district court of Charlottenburg, AMTSALON will open its doors to the public as a pop-up of twenty-four Berlin galleries from June 17 – 24 only.

Who the Bær can also be followed via their official Instagram account @whothebaer.

Simon Fujiwara, Who Loves Who?, 2021, sculptural video installation, foam core, cardboard, monitor, video duration: 1:02 min, dimensions: 97,5 x 115 x 12,5 cm, hanging key and chain: variable, depicted: 90 cm high. 
Exhibition view: Simon Fujiwara, Who the Baer, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, 2021. Photo © Simon Fujiwara

For his first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, Simon Fujiwara presents works from his most recent project Who the Bær. Developed during the lockdown in the spring of 2020, Fujiwara created a unique cartoon character in the form of a denim wearing bear with a golden heart and an uncontrollably long tongue, that seemingly has no gender, race, sexuality or even a clear design. Without an identity, Who exists only as an image, a status that allows them the freedom to roam a world of online images, appropriating characters, identities, aesthetics and guises in a greedy search for a ‘self’.

Who the Bær can also be followed via their official Instagram account, @whothebaer.

Simon Fujiwara, Skölstrejk för Whö?, 2021. Mixed media sculpture, paper, plastic, wood, plush, metal, printer
Photo © Jörg von Bruchhausen

Fondazione Prada reopens from April 29

Visitor information can be found here.

For this new site-specific project conceived for the ground floor of the Podium in the Milan premises of Fondazione Prada, Simon Fujiwara introduces audiences to the fairytale world of Who the Bær, an original cartoon character created by the artist. Who the Bær is a cartoon bear without a clear character – “Who” as they are known, seems to have not yet developed a strong personality or instincts, they have no history, defined gender or even sexuality. Who the Bær only knows that they are an image, and they seek to define themselves in a world of other images.

Who the Bær’s adventures are presented at Fondazione Prada in a giant labyrinth made almost entirely from cardboard and recyclable materials and forming the shape of a giant bear. As visitors travel through the bear-like installation, they are introduced to the basic design and formation of the cartoon character of Who the Bær before embarking on a series of adventures that follow Who the Bær around their fairytale world. Told through drawings, collages, sculptures and animations, we witness Who the Bær in their perennial quest for an identity.

Inspired by the tradition of fairytales as well as modern animation movies, Fujiwara uses the mechanisms of fantasy to explore some of the joys and traumas we face as a society possessed with images and spectacle.

Photo © Andrea Rossetti

What would you like to know about Who The Bær?⁠
⁠
Tune in to attend the digital preview of the exhibition Who The Bær on Wednesday 3 March at 7 pm (CET) live on the @fondazioneprada Instagram account⁠
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Simon Fujiwara will unveil his site-specific project and, in conversation with author Barbara Casavecchia will go through the key themes that inspired the fantastical character of Who The Bær.

Simon Fujiwara, Sculpture for Who the Bær, 2020
Photo © Jörg von Bruchhausen

For this new site-specific project conceived for the ground floor of the Podium in the Milan premises of Fondazione Prada, Simon Fujiwara introduces audiences to the fairytale world of Who the Bær, an original cartoon character that inhabits a fantasy universe created by the artist. Who the Bær is a cartoon bear without a clear character – “Who” as they are known, seems to have not yet developed a strong personality or instincts, they have no history, defined gender or even sexuality. Who the Bær only knows that they are an image, and they seek to define themselves in a world of other images.

The world of Who the Bær is a flat, online world of pictures, yet one full of endless possibilities. Who the Bær can transform or adapt into any image they encounter, taking on the attributes and identities of those depicted within the image – human, animal or even object. In this sense the fantastical world of Who the Bær is a world of freedom: Who can be whoever they wish to be, Who can transcend time and place, Who can be both subject and object. Yet Who the Bær may never be able to overcome their one true challenge – to become anything more than just an image.

Who the Bær’s fantasy adventures are presented at Fondazione Prada in a giant labyrinth made almost entirely from cardboard and recyclable materials and forming the shape of a giant bear. As visitors travel through the bear-like installation, they are introduced to the basic design and formation of the cartoon character of Who the Bær before embarking on a series of adventures that follow Who the Bær around their fairytale world. Told through drawings, collages, sculptures and animations, we witness Who the Bær in their perennial quest for an authentic self.

Inspired by the tradition of fairytales as well as modern animation movies, Fujiwara uses the mechanisms of fantasy to explore some of the joys and traumas we face as a society possessed with images and spectacle.

The exhibition is completed by a publication, which is part of Fondazione Prada’s Quaderni series. Conceived as an illustrated story book, it includes a conversation with the artist.

The adventures of Who the Bær can be experienced on Instagram following their official account @whothebaer.

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Photo © Kristian Schuller

For its December newsletter, titled "The Challenge: We are in this together", The New Institute asked Esther Schipper – among other thinkers and practitioners – to share her insights and analysis on the current global pandemic. For the occasion, Esther Schipper selected artworks by the gallery artists showing that the questions of viruses and pandemics have been among us for a long time.

Click here to read!

Simon Fujiwara, Empathy I, 2018, 5D simulator installation (with video, sound, motion, water, and wind), duration 3:49 min, outer dimensions of box: 3,71 x 7,6 x 5,35 meters
Exhibition view: Simon Fujiwara, Empathy I, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2018
Photo © Andrea Rossetti

The exhibition presents one of the most intriguing artistic phenomena of our time: the fusion of the visual and the performing arts. Today, more often than not, a visit to an exhibition does not merely offer new visual impressions. Instead, it is a more comprehensive experience that involves all the senses. Artists combine video, performance, dance, language and music, creating intermedial works. In some cases, this results in giving the visitors the opportunity to give up the distanced position of the viewer and become part of the work.

State of the Arts brings together the work of 16 artists, among them Simon Fujiwara and his multi-sensory Empathy I. Developed in close collaboration with a company that produces theme park rides, Empathy I is a 5d simulator that takes audiences on a journey back into the ‘real world’ on a physically immersive ride through the world of Youtube.

More information HERE.

Photo © Simon Fujiwara

Esther Schipper congratulates Simon Fujiwara who has won the Audience Award for the Preis der Nationalgalerie shortlist exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof,

For the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019, Simon Fujiwara presented a compilation of five works that stem from his investigation of contemporary mass phenomena and their economic, socio-political, and media aspects. The very different works illustrate the extent to which these phenomena have an emotional component of their own. For instance, the video installation Likeness (2018) focuses on the figure of Anne Frank and her media-effective staging and instrumentalization.

Simon Fujiwara, It's a Small World, 2019 (detail)
Photo © Sahir Uğur Eren

It’s a Small World, Simon Fujiwara's project for the 16th Istanbul Biennial, began after he discovered a large quantity of semi-ruined figures of pop icons in the trash of an attractions’ manufacturer near Istanbul. He salvaged these figures and combined them with thirteen architectural miniatures. A prison revolving around Batman’s the Joker’s face, a museum built among the ruins of Disney characters or a hospital buried in the legs of Iron Man. In these sculptural works, the functions of everyday civic architecture are blended with symbols from the mass-entertainment world. Fujiwara’s miniature city draws attention to the ways in which fantasy and escapism have bled into the core structures of our everyday lives, often masking the brutal pragmatism of globalized capitalism.

More information on the 16th Istanbul Biennial can be found HERE.

Simon Fujiwara, Joanne, 2016/2018 (detail), three free-standing aluminium-clad structures: one with in-built LED monitors screening video (duration 12:06 min) and digital print, two lightboxes with digital prints on foil. Dimensions variable. Commissioned by FVU, The Photographers’ Gallery and Ishikawa Foundation. Supported by Arts Council England. Exhibition view: Joanne, Galerie Wedding - Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin, 2018
Photo © Andrea Rossetti

From August 31 Simon Fujiwara's Joanne is on view for the first time in Denmark at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art.

Presented as film and image environment, Joanne depicts the many faces of Joanne Salley, Simon Fujiwara’s former secondary school teacher. Winner of the 1998 Miss Northern Ireland beauty pageant, artist, teacher and champion boxer, Joanne Salley had a formative influence on Fujiwara as a scholarship student at the prestigious Harrow School for boys in Britain. Several years later, she became the victim of a tabloid newspaper scandal after students discovered and circulated topless photographs of her that had been taken privately. The ongoing media campaign that followed destroyed her career and public image. 

In 2016, Fujiwara and Salley embarked on the production of a short film that aimed, through the use of advertising and marketing techniques, to restore her image.

More information HERE.

Simon Fujiwara, Likeness, 2018, wax sculpture, vintage desk, chair, lamp and objects, handrail, two-channel video (4K, color,sound), dimensions variable, video duration: 19:34 min
Exhibition view: Simon Fujiwara: Revolution, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris 2018
Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Simon Fujiwara has been nominated for the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019 by an international jury. The museum prize is awarded every two years and pays tribute to artists under 40 who live and work in Germany. The four artists will be presented in a joint exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin from August 16, 2019 to February 16, 2020. All four artists show spatial ensembles in which they combine existing and new works. The tonality and handwriting of the four spatial work presentations is very different; what they have in common is an explicit reference to aspects of our contemporary European society.

More information on the prize can be found HERE. 

Pierre Huyghe, Zoodrum 4, 2011, live marine ecosystem, resin shell after Constantin Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse (1910) Ishikawa Foundation, Okayama, Japan. © Pierre Huyghe
Photo © Guillaume Ziccarelli

Coinciding with the inauguration of the Hôtel des Collections on June 29, the MO.CO. unveils the first public presentation of masterpieces from the Ishikawa Collection. This outstanding and relatively recent private collection begun in 2011 by Yasuharu Ishikawa, a Japanese entrepreneur born in 1970 at Okayama, is characterized by exceptional coherence and a Japanese feel that derives primarily from its emphasis on minimal, understated, subtle forms.

The exhibition Intimate Distance, curated by Yuko Hasegawa, Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) features nearly 30 works by artists such as Simon Fujiwara, Ryan Gander, Liam Gillick, Pierre Huyghe, and Anri Sala.

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Simon Fujiwara
Photo © Miro Kuzmanovic, Kunsthaus Bregenz

Esther Schipper congratulates Simon Fujiwara, shortlisted for the 2019 Preis der Nationalgalerie.

Established in 2000 by the Freunde der Nationalgalerie, the Preis is awarded biennially and promotes young, important positions in contemporary art that reflect the internationality and vitality of the art scene in Germany. The four shortlisted artists will present their work in a joint exhibition in fall 2019 at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin.

Simon Fujiwara’s work takes multiple forms including theme park style rides, wax figures, robotic cameras, ‘make-up’ paintings and short films that address the complexity and contradictions of identity in a post-internet, hyper-capitalist world. Fujiwara often investigates themes of popular interest such as tourist attractions, famous icons, historic narratives and mass media imagery and has collaborated with the advertising and entertainment industries to produce his work in a process he describes as ‘hyper-engagement’ with dominant forms of cultural production. His work can be seen as a complex response to the human effects of image fetish, technology and social media on his generation.

Simon Fujiwara, Salvator Mundi Experience, 2019 (detail), mixed media installation. Simon Fujiwara in collaboration with David Kohn architects Photo © Simon Fujiwara

Opening on February 14, Is This Tomorrow? takes as its model Whitechapel Gallery’s landmark exhibition This Is Tomorrow (1956), which featured 37 British architects, painters and sculptors working collaboratively in small groups.

Whitechapel Gallery has invited ten groups of artists, architects and other cultural practitioners, including Simon Fujiwara, to explore the potential of collaboration and offer their visions of the future. 

Read more about the exhibition here.

Simon Fujiwara

Photo © Miro Kuzmanov, Kunsthaus Bregenz

Esther Schipper is pleased to announce the representation of Simon Fujiwara. Over the past decade, Fujiwara (born 1982 in London, lives and works in Berlin) has become known for his staging of large, complex exhibitions that explore the deeply rooted mechanisms of identity construction for both individuals and societies. Addressing the inherent contradictions of image and narrative making – from social media and self-presentation to marketing and history formation – Fujiwara revels in the complexity and paradox of our simultaneous quest for fantasy and authenticity. Crossing multiple media, from sculpture and installation to video and painting and mining worlds as diverse as advertising and archaeology, Fujiwara's works are a constant reportage on the real world sources from which they draw inspiration. However, rather than simply presenting commentary, the artist creates a unique universe of his own – one that is populated with challenging and often absurd new narratives that are as intellectually rigorous as they are emotionally stimulating. 

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