Exhibition project AN DIE FREUDE by Japanese photographer Mariko Tagashira in collaboration with the White Hands Chorus Nippon and WestLicht (Vienna).
I´m sure you’re knowing Beethoven´s Symphonie No. 9 including “Ode a die Freude” or “Ode to Joy” which was performed 200 years ago. The poem originally has been written by Friedrich Schiller – in 1785 and has been adapted for the symphony and has become the anthem of the EU.
The idea behind the exhibition project “AN DIE FREUDE” in Westlicht is to introduce the WHITE HANDS CHORUS NIPPON & MARIKO TAGASHIRA. The White Hands Chorus Nippon is a chorus of children which are performing together with a symphonic orchestra, using white gloves to express.
Mariko is taking long exposure pictures of people using some luminous gloves to express lins of the poem.
The White Hands Chorus Nippon is an inclusive choir in which children with and without physical disabilities sing together. Deaf members sing in sign language and with the help of their facial expressions. Photographer Mariko Tagashira has accompanied the choir for several years and has found a unique way to capture the children’s gestures as poetic traces of light in her pictures using long-term exposures.
Her works are shown at WestLicht in combination with sound installations and tactile images, creating a sensually diverse space that focuses attention on the choir’s work as an example of practiced inclusion.