KEITA MORITA
Opening SAT, AUG 3, 2024, 6pm—9pm
Open by appointment until AUGUST 24, 2024
LAGE EGAL [IN THE RACK ROOM]
Liselotte-Herrmann-Str. 26 (HH), 10407 Berlin
Contact: lucamaxloli.mc@gmail.com
LAGE EGAL is very pleased to invite KEITA MORITA at IN THE RACK ROOM for his first solo exhibition in Berlin.
The exhibition MAGAZIN, derived from French and also known as “Depot” or “Lager,” refers to museum* storage rooms where non-displayed art collections are kept. Initially, museums exhibited their entire collections simultaneously, but with the advent of archiving and museum depot systems, artworks and important documents are now stored in these depots. These Magazin storage facilities are equipped with sophisticated climate control technology and carefully calibrated lighting to preserve the art.
In Keita Morita’s artwork “contemporary urban archaeology”, the artist uses plaster and finished streets item from Düsseldorf into plastic boxes to uniformly store these 3d prints on the aluminum shelves. Each item documents its existence at a specific time and place. This series, created during the 2020 lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic, continues to be produced intermittently.
Like a ‘Catalogue Raisonné’, Keita Morita often incorporates numbers and letters as motif In his work. Each box notes the place and time of discovery, and after casting, the original objects are returned to their original places. Keita has for every lost object, a specific story, an “aura” or memory. For the artist, the work acts as a modern archaeological record, with the process to approach and maintain a certain distance, reflecting his views on life and death, existence and disappearance. Our constantly evolving lives and new technologies often obscure social structures, making some aspects less visible. While technology can simplify and enhance life, it can also dull our senses. The invisibility of something does not negate its existence.
*A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution that serves society by researching, collecting, conserving, interpreting, and exhibiting tangible and intangible heritage. Today, Museum Storage facilities should be an open public ressources and accessible to all and operate with community participation. However, the vast quantities of items held in storage, a result of extensive collecting and preservation efforts, often hinder this goal.. in contrast where the postwar vision of museums without walls, where collections can be freely explored, could be more fully realized through the internet.
KEITA MORITA *1992, Aichi, Japan
After studying sculpture at a university of fine arts in Japan, he came to Germany in 2019 and has had a studio in Düsseldorf since 2024. Morita’s work deals with themes such as presence/absence, reality/unreality and personal/social identity. He creates conceptual works using a variety of materials, including photography, video and sculpture.
