Introduction
In March this year, Simon Fujiwara was shortlisted for the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019, together with Pauline Curnier Jardin, Flaka Haliti and Katja Novitskova. The museum prize is awarded every two years and pays tribute to artists under 40 who live and work in Germany.
The four nominated artists will present a joint exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin from August 16, 2019 to February 16, 2020. All four artists will show a combination of existing and new works.
Simon Fujiwara’s work takes multiple forms including wax figures, robotic cameras, theme park style rides, ‘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.