Dumb Type, Official Catalogue of the Japanese Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale

The entire collaboration between Dumb Type, a pioneering art collective, and Ryuichi Sakamoto is included. Dumb Type has been active in the international art scene for 35 years since its formation in 1984, and continues to explore new forms of expression while constantly reflecting the realities of the environment surrounding society. This book is the official catalogue of the exhibition. The installation “2022,” which was shown at the exhibition, is a new work created by Dumb Type with Ryuichi Sakamoto as a member of the group. The devices installed on all four sides of the installation ask simple and universal questions to the viewer through lasers and sound. This publication includes exhibition views and a conversation between Sakamoto and Dumb Type member Shiro Takatani about the production process. The book also includes a careful analysis of all Dumb Type activities by curator Damian Lentini, a review of the Japan Pavilion exhibition, and a chronology of all past activities, making it a highly informative volume. Written in both English and Japanese.

Dumb Type Formed in Kyoto in 1984. Led by Teiji Furuhashi (1960-1995), who was a student at Kyoto City University of Arts at the time, the group has continued to revitalize its activities through loose collaboration, with the number of participating members changing with each project. The members come from a variety of fields, including visual art, architecture, computer programming, music, video, dance, and design, and their forms of expression are diverse and cross genres. Early representative works include the performances “Pleasure Life” (1988), “pH” (1990-1995), “S/N” (1994-1996), and in recent years “OR” (1997-1999), “memorandum” (199-2003), “Voyage” (2002-2009). He has presented and exhibited his works worldwide, including “Action + Reflection,” a solo exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Messe, France, in 2018 and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan, in 2007. Dumb Type｜2022: remap” was held at the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition at the Artizon Museum, Tokyo from February 25 to May 14, 2023.