Image: Julia Waugh

Two Japanese artists; Sachiko Abe and Meiro Koizumi, have been selected to present work as part of the 2010 Liverpool Biennial which runs until November 28th. The theme of the International section is Touched and aims to explore the ways in which artists touch our understanding of the world in which we live.

The work of Sachiko Abe fills the huge furnace gallery at A Foundation Liverpool with a presence simultaneously meditative yet disturbing. During the opening weekend of the biennial this work seemed to transfix visitors with its ¡Æ mesmeric beauty¡Ç.

As an artist Sachiko has focused her attention on the minimal and formal aesthetic qualities of paper. Using scissors she transforms A4 sheets into exquisite sculptural forms. At A Foundation the audience enters the gallery to find a dreamlike scene that many describe as a fairytale image and deeply moving. The work makes us aware of our perceptions and invites closer inspection of the microscopic threads of paper that form two installations; Paper Mountain and Paper Clouds. The work Paper Scissors, Film, collaboration with Ben Rivers reveals the precision of her Cut Papers. For the first time she also shows a series of drawing works, the largest made in Liverpool as part of the Pola Foundation residency.

At FACT Meiro Koizumi presents My Voice Would Reach You. Koizumi is known for his explorations of the mediation of Japanese identity in the era of You Tube and mobile technologies. My Voice Would Reach You binds the viewer in a narrative that gently reveals a haunting and fragmented communication between a son and his mother.

As he tells her not to treat him like a child he looks increasingly lost amongst the torrent of people who populate the streets around him. He appears almost invisible to them as he tries to redial and pick up his dialogue. The degree of his alienation is revealed when we start hearing the words that are responding to his. They are not the voice of his mother but a stranger, perhaps a worker at a call centre. Perhaps he has gone mad or his mother is dead but it is clear that, like the inventor of the telephone, he wishes this device could communicate with other realms.

Mark Waugh,

Director,

A Foundation