+ SIGMA

Participation in KYOTOGRAPHIE-related satellite event KG+2018

SIGMA, a creator of photographic gear for artists, announces sponsorship participation
in KYOTOGRAPHIE-related satellite event KG+2018

text : SEIN Editorial Department / photo: SEIN Editorial Department

2018.04.05

SIGMA Corporation is pleased to announce its participation in KG+2018, a side event of Kyoto-based KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photo Fair (April 13 – May 13) that aims to support upcoming photographers and curators, as the event’s main sponsor.
As part of its sponsorship, SIGMA will provide the KG+AWARD Grand Prix in support of emerging photography talents as well as supply photographic gear for each finalist and a venue in which to exhibit their works.
SIGMA will also participate in KG+2018 as an exhibitor. In addition to a solo exhibition of Japanese photographer Go Itami, SIGMA will host a variety of photography-related talk events as part of the festival’s main program. Further, SIGMA will showcase selected products from its camera and lens catalogue and present a range of limited KG+×SIGMA goods.

Why we decided to sponsor KG+

A manufacturer who thinks seriously about gear & photography

SIGMA constantly re-evaluates the relationship between gear and photography, between technology and expression. As devoted creators of unique, high-quality cameras and lenses, we take the manufacture of our products seriously. However, we understand it as equally important to share the richness and beauty of photography as an art-form, and to provide a stage to upcoming photography talents.
Through our cooperation with KG+ this year, we go one step further in our role as photographic gear manufacturers to develop and explore the possibilities of photography.

Supporting emerging artists

KG+ is an art project that started in 2013 with the expressive mission to support artists and curators with promising careers ahead of them. Through its cooperation with KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photo Fair, the event is able to provide a meeting space for Japanese and international photographers, artists, curators and gallerists, and serve as a global information hotspot.
By cooperating with KG+, it is an immense pleasure for SIGMA directly to support talented, passionate artists who challenge the boundaries of photography.

Sponsored party

KG+ 2018 KYOTOGRAPHIE Satellite Event

Other cooperation | KG+ AWARD Supplementary prize support

Support for the recipient of the KG+AWARD Grand Prix

– Provide the recipient with 100.000 Yen worth of camera and lens gear
– Hold a solo exhibition at the SIGMA Showroom Gallery, to open in August 2018

Support for the five KG+AWARD finalists

– Provide each finalist with 20.000 Yen worth of camera and lens gear
– Hold a “Finalists group exhibition” at the SIGMA Showroom Gallery

Participation in the main program

Venue|SferaExhibition

Sfera Building 2F, 17 Benzaiten-cho, Higashiyama-ku,Kyoto 605-0086 JAPAN
Entrance fee|free

1|Photo Exhibition

SIGMA Satellite Gallery in Kyoto
Go Itami special exhibition with FOVEON「photocopy #2」 4/14(Sat)-5/13(Sun) 11:00-19:00 *CLOSED Wednesday *4/13(Fri) Pre-opening

2|FOVEON Special Talk – Photobook & Photography Technology for Artists [language : JP]

4/21(Sat)14:00-15:00 First part “Another photo technique-photoengraving, and the Foveon sensor”
Speaker : Hitoshi Suzuki
15:30-17:00 Second part “Photography and Camera”
Speaker : Hitoshi Suzuki/Go Itami
4/22(Sun)11:30-13:00 Third part “Ways of Seeing”
Speaker : Go Itami/Mika Kobayashi

3|Opening Event [language : JP]

SEIN Online Presents – “Photohironobu” Special Talk
Speaker : Hironobu Tanaka
4/14(Sat) 14:00-16:00

4|Talk session|KYOTOGRAPHIE Public Program [language : JP]

SIGMA presents Special Talk “Living with photography”
Speaker : Yusuke Nakanishi/Yusuke Nakajima/Tomo Kosuga
5/12(Sat) 11:00-12:30

Support: Epson Sales Japan Corp.


SIGMA Satellite Gallery in Kyoto|Event Schedule

Talk session speaker profiles

Go Itami

Photographer, born in 1976 in Tokushima Prefecture. Recipient of the 27th Canon New Cosmos of Photography Award in 2004. Photobook publications include “study”, “study / copy / print”, “this year’s model” (all published by Rondade) as well as the self- published “Mazime”. His latest work “photocopy” was almost exclusively shot with the SIGMA sd Quattro H and the SIGMA dp3 Quattro.https://www.goitami.jp

Hitoshi Suzuki

Book designer, born in 1950 in Tokyo. Together with Tsutomu Toda, Suzuki founded and edited the critical design magazine “d/SIGN” (2001-2011). He is a visiting scholar at the Kobe Design University. Publications include “Gamen no Tanjou (‘The Birth of Images’)” (2002), “Pe-ji to Chikara (‘Page and Power’)” (2002), “Juuryoku no dezain (‘The Design of Gravity’)” (2007), “Dezain no Tane (‘The Seeds of Design’)” (2015), “Zettai Heimentoshi (‘Plane City’)” (2016) and more.

Mika Kobayashi

Guest Researcher at National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Photo Researcher, KYOTOGRAPHIE Portfolio Reviewer
Mika Kobayashi is a photo critic and curator who writes for magazines and websites, and has taught at schools and institutions in both Japan and overseas. From 2007 to 2008, she resided in the United States as a grantee of the Asian Cultural Council and Patterson Fellowship, and worked on exhibitions and research to introduce Japanese photography at the International Center of Photography in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She has been a guest researcher at the Museum of Modern Art since 2010, and a part-time lecturer at Tokyo Polytechnic University since 2014.http://www.mikakobayashi.com/

Hironobu Tanaka

Born in Osaka in 1969. Resigned his copy writer job at renowned PR agency Dentsu after 24 years to work as a writer. His movie critic column “Hironobu Tanaka’s New Entertainment Party” on creative news site “Machikado no Creative” recently broke 1.5 million page views. Twitter:@hironobutnk

Yusuke Nakanishi

Lighting Director, Co-founder and Director of KYOTOGRAPHIE
Yusuke Nakanishi was born in 1968 and is a lighting artist who travels the world, and expresses his impressions of light and shadow from his memories. He has worked as a lighting director for feature films, stages, music concerts, fashion shows and interior designs. He also created the Eatable Lights object series, and has exhibited installations at the Hara Museum, the School Gallery Paris, and Nuit Blanche Kyoto.http://www.kyotographie.jp

Yusuke Nakajima

Director of The Tokyo Art Book Fair, Director of bookshop [POST], KYOTOGRAPHIE Portfolio Reviewer
Yusuke Nakajima opened his bookstore “POST” in 2011 where he renewes the whole line up of books by publishers regularly. Additionally, one of the sections in Ebisu store permanently shows main line-ups by Steidl, Germany. Currently, as the director of the store he selects books, organises exhibitions, publish, and coordination of bookshelves at Dover Street Market, Tokyo. Since 2015, he has been the director of The Tokyo Art Book Fair and in 2016 founded a dummybook award “Steidl Book Award Japan” in collaboration with Steidl.www.post-books.info

Tomo Kosuga

Director of the Masahisa Fukase Archives, KYOTOGRAPHIE Portfolio Reviewer
Lives and works in Tokyo, JAPAN. Tomo Kosuga is Director of the Masahisa Fukase Archives and is also a freelance art producer, curator and writer who works mainly in the realm of photography. He has curated or co-curated the following exhibitions including Masahisa Fukase: L‘incurable Égoïste (Les Rencontres d’Arles, 2017); Roger Ballen, Asger Carlsen: NO JOKE (Diesel Art Gallery, 2017); Masahisa Fukase: The Incurable Egoist (Diesel Art Gallery, 2015); VICE JAPAN: The Global Photo Collaborations (Diesel Art Gallery, 2014); Terry Richardson: Terry Richardson vs. Jackass (Laforet Museum Harajuku, 2008); Bob Richardson (Zel Gallery, 2008).http://masahisafukase.com/en/


KG+2018 KYOTOGRAPHIE Satellite Event Outline

KG+ is an art festival which began in 2013, with the aim to expose and support emerging
photographers and curators. Coinciding with KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival, KG+ serves as an international hub for sharing information between photographers, curators and gallerists
from around the world. In its 6th year in 2018, a total of 5 programs will be presented: Award, Group Show, Special Exhibition, Associated Program and Gallery Program.
With the aim to internationally expose new talent from Kyoto, a call for participants was made wishing
to work on a global scale, and 21 exhibitions were selected for the KG+ Award. Participatory programs open to the local community will also take place, which will enable culture to be appreciated in everyday environments. These many expressive forms being presented in various parts of Kyoto city will bring together people and local communities, and will surely give birth to new relationships and discoveries.
 

KG+ Official site
KYOTOGRAPHIE Official site

About SIGMA’s first sponsorship involvement with KYOTOGRAPHIE in 2017

In 2017, SIGMA took part in the Kyotographie International Photography Fair through the associated event “LOVE Photobook Library from SIGMA Collection” at SferaExhibition gallery in Kyoto’s Gion district. During the event, SIGMA exhibited its vast library of valuable photobooks for the very first time.

http://www.kyotographie.jp/fundamental/portfolio/library-sigma-collection

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